No Wonder Europeans Pray for Peace
No wonder that Europeans pray for peace. The number of men in the armies and cost of the respective armies for 1897 is given by the N. Y. World as follows: Germany, 607,308 men, $130,000,000; France, 559,260 men, $125,000,000; Italy, 216,235 men, $42,000,000; Austria-Hungary, 277,192 men, $70,000,000; Great Britain, 220,199 men, $91,349,000; Russia, 1,743,244 men, $213,000,000. The navy expenditures are thus given: Germany, $15,000,000; France, $51,000,000; Italy, $20,000,000; Austria-Hungary, $7,250,000; Great Britain, $110,850,000; Russia, $45,000,000. The whole aggregates the enormous sum of $920,449,000, wrung from the soil and brain and brawn and blood of Europe in a single year for warlike purposes among professedly Christian nations! And, per capita, this country will soon have a heavier war burden in expenditures and pensions. Qui bono?