The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1916. GERMANY'S HEAVY SWORD.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 July 1916, Page 11

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1916. GERMANY'S HEAVY SWORD.

'"The Allies will fight until they have ( won the right and the power to impost terms, because they are resolved that , Europe in coming years, twenty or fifty years of future time, shall not be compelted to consume their substance in ( forging new swords to defend them- 1 selves against the blows of the German i weapon, always a menace so long as it ' exists." The above statement is from ] the New York Times—one of the most influential of the United States news- , papers, and one which may be regarded ] as the mouthpiece of a very big and inv i portant percentage of Americans. < Amongst the reasons advanced by the Times for the determination of the . Allies to fight to a finish and break Germany's heavy sword are that, in ad- • dition to fighting for liberty, eivilisa- , tion, and guaranty of the rights of small nations, they must put themselves be;ond the risk of having to assume the impossible cost of continuing upon an unprecedented scale military preparations for defence, and that risk will ■onfront them and must be met if they do not now make an end of Prussian militarism, ir they do not, in the French Minister's words, break Germany's heavy sword. In reaching this determination, says the paper from which we quote, the Allies have bad to take into .iccount the financial condition of Europe. At the beginning of the war, on August 1, 1014, the combined debt of the five great belligerents, Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and AujtriaHungary, was £4.000.000.000. V';: ccui-.

binod debt on these Powers on August 1, 1910, will be approximately £12,000,000,000. They have increased their indebtedness by £8,000,000,000, which represents the cost of two years of war. These figures include the permanent war loans, which up to Hay 1 hud amounted to £5,000,000,000, and added to that currency expansion and floating debt in the form of Treasury bills. Tiie charge upon the national resources of the belligerent countries for the payment of interest upon these obligations and tbo discharge of the principal debt, so far and so fast as it is possible to redeem it, will be burdensome beyond all precedents in Government finance. The back of the taxpayer will be bent under the load he will have to carry. It will break, he will be crushed prostrate, if to this burden it is necessary to add the cost of great and always greater armament. In the past the cost of maintaining Europe as an armed camp has been enormous. It would be immeasurably greater in future, for this war, by its unparalleled extravagances in the use of man and material, has established new standards of fighting efficiency, which in common prudence would have to bo lived up to by every nation, determined to do its part in the next conflict. Britain and Russia could not afford again to be caught unprepared, and France would be compelled to redovible her efforts. It could not be, it cannot be, says the Times, which proceeds; The contemplation of it takes one into the realm of the impossible. In Paris and London and in Petrograd repeated utterances of responsible statesmen have mads it clear that whether the end is to bo nearer or distant, the Allies arc of one mind that it must and shall bring them victory, that the heavy German sword shall not be merely sheathed to be drawn again after a' breathing spell, but that it must be broken, never again to stir Europe with alarms when it rattles in its scabbard, above all, never again to drench the Continent ill blood. The war will be followed by the inevitable period of business distress and stagnation. It may be deferred. Possibly the depth of the hard times will not come for five or ten years. But the penalty will be the sooner paid, the years of depression will be the fewer, the awful wastes of the war will be more quickly made up in proportion as the future coats the military preparation are diminished. That aspect of the matter is of profound interest to neutral nations, to this great nation, with its enormous commercial interests. By breaking Germany's sword the Allies will put themselves in a position to lay aside their own weapons. It is not merely that mi end is to be made of German militarism, but of Russinn militarism as well, of French militarism, and of British. Forces will be maintained by land and sea, adequate forces, that is one of the safeguards of peace. It is the weight of the sword that endangers peace. The German sword is too heavy. That is proved by the tremendous diflienlties the Allies have encountered in shielding themselves from its blows, in attempting to beat it back. They are now determined that henceforth there shall be no State in Europe forever fortifying itself for conquest, concentrating all its energies in the effort, to become a conqueror of others and bo made unconquerablo itself. • The danger is too great, the cost of defence against it impossible to be borne.