The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1914. THE PEACE OF EUROPE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 218, 14 March 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1914. THE PEACE OF EUROPE.

The war " scare" which periodically sweepa over Europe has of late assumed new shapes, and the sensitive zone hai shifted from the West to the East. For years it has been assumed that the coming great war would be between Britain and Germany, or between France and Germany, but now it would seem that the Powers most likely to be involved are Russia, Austria and Germany. There were a few days ago mutterings of trouble over an allege! plot to have part of the Austrian Empire handed over to Russia, Following upon this come rumors of feelings o! animosity between Russia and Germany. The cause of this hostility is riot quite apparent. If anything is disclosed, it is simply the fact that certain German "jingoes" are bent upon having war declared against some Power or another. The fact that Russia is now indicated as the object of attack would seem to show that the war party in Germany has become convinced that disaster would overtake them if they attacked France or Britain, whose "entente" has of late developed into a definite undertaking to help each other against Teutonic aggression. Russia is to some extent isolated, and is therefore lookei upon as a fair mark; and probably the Germans calculate upon the active assistance of Italy and Austria in the event of war with Russia—help which they could not rely on in a war with Britain. All this only emphasises the truth that Germany is the chief menace to the peace of Europe. She is so hemmed in that she is peculiarly sensitive to any slight disturbance of the balance of power as expressed in armies and armaments. At present she fears that the army increase* in France and Russia constitute a menace to her, and her fighting men are advocating an attack on Russia, while still there is a chance of success. This is a confession that the strain of armaments is becoming unbearable to Germany, and that war is looked upon as a lesser evil than further taxation to keep up the defence expenditure. It is patent that even the richest countries cannot much longer stand the terrific strain. It has been pointed out that the warlike expenditure of Europe amounts to £500,000,000 per year, and ii rapidly increasing. About 5,000,000 people serve permanently in the European armies and navies, and as these might earn £500,000,000 in civil life, armaments practically coat Europe £1,000,000,000 per year in time of peace, The British Empire spends £ 100,000,000 annually on the army and navy, and if to this we add the amount lost through about half-a-million men being withdrawn from productive industry, the loss to Britain is not less than £150,000,000 a year. Sir Max Waechter, a German naturalised in England, is an earnest advocate of peace, and has been privileged to have interviews on the subject with the leading European rulers. He has now come forward with a project to secure peace, and is forming what he calls the "European Unity League" to secure that desirable end. He holds that popular enlightenment, followed hy popular pressure, can alone ensure permanent peace. His plan is to convert the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente into a Sextuple Alliance, so that practically all the Great Powers of Europe, instead of being ranged in two hostile camps, should he joined in firm friendship. This dream of a Federated Europe will some day come true j but we fear "the time is not yet." And long hefore the Unity League can do effective work, the signs are that the nations will be flying at each other's throats, and Europe will be drenched with blood. The avoidance of fratricidal strife seems, on paper, to be an easy thing; but it will require a super-man to accomplish in practice the tremendous tasks of quelling the mutual jealousies, hatreds and prejudices, that keep the nations apart, and of reconciling the conflicting interests and ambitions that have for over a century made Europe an armed camp and her statesmen and rulers little more than feudal lords breathing threatenings of slaughter and plunder against each other.