ABILITY TO ENDURE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 11 December 1914, Page 6

ABILITY TO ENDURE.

endure the strain the longest? A correspondent to tiie .Economist discusses this matter intelligently. "One cannot," he says, "assume offhand that a war which, under present conditions, may be costing three hundred millions per annum to this country (Britain), and perhaps more than twice as much j to Germany and France, must necessarily biing exhaustion, even if it be continued for several years. So far as. Great Britain is concerned, she evidently could defray out of her current income, were it necessary to her existence, the whole expenses here ascribed to her. That is to say, she could divert to the production of foods and other ' stores and munitions a sum amounting, j say, to one-seventh of her total income, \ the portion at present consumed by its \ owners upon luxuries or other unne- '. cessaries, or saved and put into fresh > capital. Much dislocation of indus- I try and a temporary stoppage of all ' processes of industrial improvement J would be involved, but this sacrifice of ! luxury and saving would yield the ne- \ cessary revenue for the war. The labor j withdrawn from the distributive and j transport services^ as well as from the : profession and other -occupations not Engaged in -handling material wealth, ' need not imply a proportionate r-eilue- . tion in the current material resources available for maintaining the nation' during the war." j COMBATANTS LIVING ON ONE ANOTHER. 1 '•'Now, there are two ways in which a } country at war may draw upon the resources of other countries. One is by invading those countries and living on the supplies of food, etc., which they find there. This from a military standpoint has the twofold advantage of economising the supplies of one's own country and weakening the supplies of the enemy country. It is true that the seizure without payment of the property of non-combatants is forbidden by the rules of war, and that in point of fact payment is usually made. But since there is no means of converting such 'payment' into actual goods until after the war is over, it does not differ from mere pillage, so far as regards the immediate effect on the economic resources of the two countries. By 'requisitions' or by 'fines' an invader may thus throw on to the enemy a part of the cost of maintaining his forces in the field. But this, after all, can apply usually only to partial supplies of food, supplemented sometimes by capture of military stores and arms. Moreover, two can play at that game, and if Germany may now be 'economising' her expenses by living upon Belgium and France, Russia will similarly 'economise' her-expenditure in Austrian territory, and if the German forces should retire to their own lands the tables may be turned upon her by the western Allies. In any case, this living -on the enemy country cannot play a determinant part in the economical problem of exhaustion." It is no more possible than that a country can thrive by each member taking in tho washing of the other.