The Cost of Peace by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 27, 1913

The Cost of Peace

By F. M. W.

We frequently see comparisons and comments upon the terrible cost of war in the expenditure of vast sums of money and the sacrifice of human life. This is indeed terrible to contemplate, particularly the toll of human suffering and life which every war exacts. But the money cost of actual war is as nothing compared with the continual and rapidly growing expense involved in the maintenance of standing armies, the preservation of naval prestige, and all that figures in the great powers of earth keeping their national defenses up to the highest possible point of efficiency for the sake of maintaining peace. According to the Fortnightly Review for September, the naval expenditures of the great powers of Europe for the present year are enormous. They are given as follows: Austria-Hungary, $31,590,000; Italy, $49,907,340; France, $90,522,360; Germany, $111,230,820; Russia, $118,958,220; Great Britain, $225,504,000.

Figures presented in the Christian Herald of October 22, add to the interest of this comparison. Quoting from the Sphere, a London (England) magazine, the Herald says:—

From tables giving the totals of the national trade which pays the taxes for the support of armies and navies, we learn that the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, and Italy) does an annual business of $5,695,920,000; the Dual Alliance (France and Russia) has a yearly trade of $320,760,000; the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, leading the world, has $6,006,960,000.

Nor is this all, for while these large sums of money must be raised for the support and training of men for national defense, there is withdrawn from industrial pursuits a large army of able-bodied men, who, if they were not a charge to the state in consequence of this imposed occupation, would actually be producers to the extent of many thousands of dollars. The quotation from the Sphere continues:—

There is yet another important economic matter to consider. The Triple Alliance has 1,555,000 men under arms on the normal peace footing. The Dual Alliance has 1,000,000. The five powers thus keep 3,455,000 men out of industrial occupation as against 156,000 men employed in the army and navy of America and 380,000 men in this country [Great Britain]. Every working man serving as a soldier is unproductive.

To these figures the writer in the Christian Herald adds:—

Assuming that these men will average an earning power of only $100 a year, there is a loss to the great military nations of Europe of $345,500,000 against a similar loss of $38,000,000 in Great Britain and $15,600,000 in the United States.

Small wonder is it that in view of this vast expenditure and continual expansion Winston Churchill, first lord of the Admiralty of England, should suggest a holiday in naval construction. In a recent speech he proposed a postponement for twelve months of British shipbuilding, provided Germany would agree to do the same, as in carrying out their proposed naval program their relative naval strength at the end of the year would be the same as at the present time. This proposal, however, was not welcomed either by German statesmen or by Mr. Churchill’s own associates. And so the war program will continue. More powerful and more destructive battle-ships and engines of war will be constructed. It is the hastening of the world to the last great conflict. Notwithstanding the organization of peace societies, and the agitation of peace movements, which of themselves are a fulfilment of the prophetic word (Isaiah 2), the industries of peace continue to pay tribute to the demands for war which exist on every side, thus fulfilling as well the prophetic prediction of Joel 3:9-16. F. M. W.