Ten Years of Naval Expenditure
Every year witnesses a marked increase in national expenditure for army and navy equipment. The nations of earth are vying with one another in their wild preparation for the coming conflict. A recent number of the Philadelphia Public Ledger furnishes the following figures of naval expenditures and the amount of new construction, in tons, on the part of seven leading nations for the last decade:— |
NAVAL EXPENDITURE
1900-1910 |
NEW CONSTRUCTION
TONS |
|---|
| Great Britain.. |
$1,695,000,000 |
1,486,800 |
| France ........ |
645,000,000 |
366,400 |
| Russia ........ |
550,000,000 |
293,000 |
| Germany ....... |
680,000,000 |
621,700 |
| Italy .......... |
290,000,000 |
120,000 |
| United States.. |
1,110,000,000 |
603,100 |
| Japan .......... |
285,000,000 |
97,000 |
It will be seen that the British expenditures are still more than twice those of Germany, and that in this decade the United States spent far more than any of the powers except Great Britain. The tables in detail show also that the increase from 1901 to 1910 was most marked in the cases of Germany and the United States, the advance in the case of Germany having been from $47,000,000 to $106,000,000, and in our own case from $80,000,000 to $137,000,000. France maintained its budget at about $62,500,000 annually until 1909, when the total was swelled to $75,000,000. The yearly aggregates for both Russia and Japan fluctuated during the decade, for pretty obvious reasons, and Italy’s outlays increased from $24,500,000 to $36,500,000. The prophecy of Joel is meeting a rapid fulfilment. The nations of earth have been awakened, and are rapidly preparing instruments of death and destruction to use in the last great struggle for supremacy. We are to see in this growing spirit a sign of the end, and be admonished by its significance.