AFTER THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 November 1915, Page 7

AFTER THE WAR.

KING OP SPAIN AS. PROPHET. The Paris Journal publishes a conversation between King Alfonso and an Argentine journalist. Speaking of the European war, his Majesty said it was impossible to predict the date of a return to normal conditions. In reply to a remark that if the result of the war was general disarmament one might foresee progress for all humanity, the King said:

I "After the war the nations wiy arm more than ever. When it is seen that a country like Belgium, neutralised by the consent of all the nations, finally found no other defence than by the force of arms, it is easy to understand that other countries, large and small, will consider that in order to exist it is indispensable to work in time of peace to surround themselves with the most positive guarantees." The journalist asked the King if he believed that the lower social strata would exercise sufficient pressure on the Governments to prevent them from imposing new burdens to maintain an armed peace. The King replied: "I believe, and you may repeat it, that Socialism will become daily more Governmental. The Socialists will attain the satisfaction of their most just aspirations by legal methods alone without recourse to violence, but I also believe that they will evolve and that they will recognise, after the war, that so long as humanity does not modify its instinets there will be no better way to safeguard their rights than by foresight and force. Besides, I believe that after the war there wil lbe no stoppage of labor, but that work for everybody will continue to be what it is to-day. Tn ten or twelve years we shall be surprised, and shall ask ourselves \v!iat has happened."