DID RUSSIA WANT WAR?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 80, 26 August 1914, Page 6

DID RUSSIA WANT WAR?

I ' - i ! '" V " I cz.u.ri i'l.ij'\ f j!; Y-, SlGj' .NJHCANT.i Paul ».us.iimc!h -i !!'i;>:,i : j writer on polrncs,' is-i„ ( - lolluwln': 1 warning sentences „n i::e ... ' weeks ago, when i-.uj..- v hjoai,: ] lorwaril w h wim-Hii! siimn.-'r. U ". . be luuembereil that suuii.i'- .-..ories h.i ■ .been in c.n u;.i:-;jon -n I;: ~ .German , i;i d i.;^ ;l . 'j.7 ■ sian e.\"laiuu:on 01 !r.-r ii;--r,-ased arm • , Blunts 13 ittwt s'hc .' , j.",, | with Germany ami i.-::i, ' , I ''France ami ;tuss:.i -ire iUine v. i a j'econouLC and financial eriv .. . Ami j lluss'ia sti.i pursue,, s . j,, jTurkei, conquer I o.nnV , , ...,,1 ~'. ; Dardamlli -to f0e,... J the J.aihails, :lid L : eplrre . \ l-ir -; | ami France oaris ,■ \ ■ j L , : I, : : 1 . t(J| n her 'hopis <t 'reTaii.lf t-ii'iis in both (•(Hiir.-i:i v «-•:-• n state, 0111 Ji rbe j.' i.i,,;, j ( .I the future witli ,e,-, .loei-eMi, . allairs are pol so, .■ r t ,.| !-!:a; ... -1,.. ( , danger is- so great. !,, ci-li-!- coin'!--•'lie critical situ-atioii ::;a-:;i., more --in more urgently to .hvine , j 1 jSi:-rt to a trial of very soon ,-r I to renounce it altofcTih.ir lln tain leiiig'th of time. ' , { financial -ysietn. wWch 1i...| (received a passing W t|!]u.ri in.m iof immensely ricli h.uves:, anil ', earlier loans, shows it,,-!,' Authoritative writeis, ..fii.Mai |' official, admut the ea!a:„i:;,. K «nr Jii,.dred -mill-ion roubles is . ,-;rl v - -, count of interest Kn -.i i i.„ , , . pay; Chiefly to foreiy o'.' has to add purchaser m' s. re ~,." i Ride its frontiers, Ki,.,,.:,, u ;bj| U ."V. -.foreign cargo boats-. 'l'm. v.:,:,,,;,,. , ;1 jexpoiit over import is her 0.1! mt-a,U |s° these obLigauins. ' !' "This surplus was. e':rii.-< v | before 1!)12, 400.WW,WKi r„iib!e s "on U.e average. It fell in j>ij a t i. :i47,0(J00,A> jioubies, 111 1913 to !U „i , ing tile -first three nionih- of 11114 ~ ■ iiussian baknee of ira,!,. has becoeie I.passive to such an cxte,;:. t |,a,l. ; R, • has to export gold. Slioui-I ikis slate of <tfiaiis last for sonic finie. it will be j impassible to keep tin- value and the ci edit of tlhe Sutfc alloat. The Kussian Government «>,. . neatest gold treasure as vet but «i- ---! ready it has been fdrct-d to oreak inn, it, to steady the. sinking rates of its I 'l'Vance, although in ,lif;iciil'tie S hc,--Jse.f, has granted £l,t)Ut),uo,! Berlin'.' a:i i given a great ptirt of it a i read v. "to Jill he vacancy created by the otiltflow of K?W, and, at the same li.nc, ti; . tt!l a,b!e t- e new strategic railways agaimjl tJci,ll any to be built. The ExclWuge and Jit- banks 111 Kp s ,a are ; u u ■ jJLrs .ii l , un | w ch caii only be called hjghly critical. , the Kuss-i-an tvOvei'mncuL ; i,o-.uesscii the greatest gold treasure as'. U :t, but ai- . eady it has been forced to break into ! '''f 1 ' 11 ' I'.*' 1 '.*' sinkiiie- Us stocks through buying 0 n t,.ie Exchanges. I -i'lanco ai-thoug'h in dilikulties hev;selt, has granted £1,000,000 slerling, and I given ia great part of it already, to fill , the vacancy created by the outflow of :„old, and at the'ii-am,: time, to enable I the new strategic railways against Gor- ; l " b ? K-'Hiiange and I 1 ■ Jarlks 1,1 Kusvsia arc .11 a nositiou I which can only be caiied hi»hly criticai. I the Kussian Government has ibought iu j-London frwli imasse., oi ;.old. j| t u Ujiheu t to say what for, if not for new obligations. U is calling in the foreign . deposits.. And m this situation tn • j ltussKin Govtirnment imdcrtakc-s measures whieSi are d'irecftiv alaiinting, and niake i(. known'that a decisive action la\ ill Ik; rwtdied very- hliorii j , " Tho t ' { » La 'l amount ol' "the' Kussian I Army Ludgtit was raised .in IUH tun to 2,X!0,0<J0,W0 roubles. The mecsurc'- in uetail are tije following: (1) Prolongation of tiir.:: service for three mentlis, from January 1 to April 1. By this action tile infantry and artillery during one year consists of .soldiers trained for three vears. , Tho "Uinlber of soldiers in aHual service was raised b> 400,C00 men. this means, when fully- established m K-Ilti, that 1,800,000 are always "in s"'Vice; ill tile w-inter months, through l:u prolongation, the numb-,- wou-d 2,200,000. (3) The formation of two new army corps in Poland, one in tUie Caucasus one iu Siberia. ' (4) New formation of 19 caYalry rvi- , ments. I (;j> The mtmher of field guns in one I army corps to be augmented from iOB to 144. I ((>) Ci cation of a new modern hiv-ivy ! artillery. I (7) Augmentation of Ui? technical ! troo|u (railway, engineers, aviators, | etc.). 1 "Besides all this, immense amounts are claimed for a fleet in the Black Sea; vast sums of money are expended for jn .trial mobilisation to a degree. 1111- , heard of. I ".Such military and financial policy ' can only be understood i-f it be intended to carry it all cut in a very ivhort time. The financial crisis forces liais-ia t:-o choose either to draw the swerd soon or to retreat. Should victory come, tile adversary will pay; in ease of ilefesvt., •thingfo would happen wMch would have occurred in anv case,. A lost war has no < terror for a iState: like Kussia, which has such enoimio-us debts. "i' 1 ranee has 'lost enormf.Usly in Brazilian and Argentine investments. 'ihe French .saving people do not care to go on losing by selling 'at lower rates. Therefore, they throw theiy Kussian -sto-fk 111 [lie inai'ket wit'i loss (laiinage to themselves. Tlin resenl►meut over th.e calamity is deep and I>i'titer. Tlienvseems to be no chance of improvement. There, is, further, the three years service, w.;t'h t'.'ie .anxictV cf finding the money for it; and the .iiussian Government decrees ' peremptorily, in sin articl'. wrjtlten by the Mi-nister of 'War l\iniself, itha-t it claims, 'under e.ll ciminwtanees, that the three years' service should remain. "On the one h:ind, liinwien deficit and liie haled income tax; oil t.h other, stands the question to deride, either to shoulder ail life, or more yet, or renounce all national -here. The army is good; public opinion believes il to he superior to the German; Lit:' army officers are hoasiiiu l ' in .'in ovcr-'ie;irin ; immncr; in tine theatres, in tlit* street.-, in restaJir'tnis .the Hood cf insults 'against Germany rises ever wilder and 'ever fouler. ' "iW'hal. use is then; IV.v p'.Mcefnl '?p"eches of well-meaning politicians win 'have neither the courage to ,«pi-ik out 'at, the ln-osl. iiuport.ant places nor the 'power to decide'; The -who';- situat'en is running headlong to a irisi-i. ai d there is little indication Dial it'-iis crisis \vill be one of slackening of the niiftior.nl tension. ''Never before have the.se thine - -looked so :tioi'ribl'- threatening, ami yut any'boily lookinj; -belcw the - are! ■■- could 1-avc fores"en this developre-ent."