ORGY OF EXPENDITURE

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20728, 11 February 1939, Page 11

ORGY OF EXPENDITURE

WORLD ARMAMENT RACE STAGGERING COST COMPUTED RISE SINGE THE CONFERENCE Nearly 9500 million gold dollars were spent on armaments in 1938 by the nations of the world, according to the Armaments Year Book, just published by the League of Nations; 9500 million old gold dollars represents, in round figures, 16,000 million paper dollars, or 3400 million pounds sterling, or 604,000 million French francs. This figure compares with 8000 million old gold dollars spent on armaments in 1937. Although these figures are only approximate, since, in some countries, it has been necessary to estimate the amounts, it must be noted nevertheless that the figures quoted represent only military, naval and air expenditure proper and exclude other expenditures on semi-military organisations and certain public works such as roads, aeroldromes, etc. Expenditure Steadily Mounting The comparative study of military ! expenditure which is' rendered pos- i ftible by the successive editions of : the Armaments Year Book brings out i several noteworthy points. I Taking as a starting-point the year ! 1932, which saw the opening of the I conference for the reduction and limitation of armaments, it will be noted that during the five years preceding ; that of the conference, that is from ; 1927 to 1931 inclusive, the world ex- \ penditure amounted to 20,600 million i gold dollars, or an average of 4100 ! million goid dollars a year; whereas | during the five years which followed the virtual suspension of the work • f the conference —namely, from 1934 ! !o 1938. the military expenditure of 1 the world amounted to 33,000 million, ..r an average of over Gsou million per i ~nnum. The military expenditure of the \ world from 1925 to 1930 may be re- I ginning at 3500 million and rising to 4300 million. From io3U to 1932 inclusive—that is. the period of the preparation and opening of the conference—the expenditure remained sta- i tionary '42<iO to 4300 million); from ( 1933 to 1938 the curve starts again . to mount, beginning at 4 500 million and rising to 9400 million. Race Among the Great Powers Out of 9400 million gold dollars which represent the military expenditure of 64 countries in 1938, seven great Powers were responsible for 74 00 million, or about 78.7 per cent of the world military expenditure. Ten years

ago. in 1929, the same seven countries accounted for onlv 2800 million of a total of 4200 rr.Mlmn gold dollars, or about 66.7 per cent. In ten years—that is. from 1929 to 1938—the seven great Powers have spent a total sum of 41,000 million gold dollars. On an average, each of these Powers has. therefore, spent about 5800 million in the course of the last ten years. The rest of the world, comprising 57 countries, has. in the same ppriod spent only 14.500 million: the average expenditure of each of these 57 Powers during that period was only 254 million. Finally, in 1 938. 72.3 per cent of the military expenditure of the world I 6800 million out of a total of 9400 I million gold dollars was borne by the ! European countries. I