MONEY WASTED OH WARS.

NZ Truth, Issue 174, 17 October 1908, Page 8

MONEY WASTED OH WARS.

The question of reducing armaments,, towhich the International Peace Congress has drawn attention, comes up for discussion at 'an opportune moment. National finance is very much m the air at the present tiriie, and the objects on which we spend the money raised by taxation are exciting some little interest 1 among the people. A' howl of indignation has gone up from the House of Lords at the . bipod-curdling proposal to spend six millions of money on old age pensions ! Ingenious jobbers like Lord Halsbury, graceful bit melanchony 'drones' like Lord Rosebery, plausible • reactionaries like Lord Croroer and Lord Lans,do\\ne are all equally horrified by a proposal which, while directly benefiting the aged poor, adds a small burden to our national expenditure. Pot the first time since the Tory reaction set m, "more than twenty years ago, these ornaments of the aristocracy have begun suddenly to think of out natural finances. When they egged on this country to clarrior for war against the Boers, it never occurred to them that it meant money. As two hundred and fitty millions of golden sovereigns were poured into the South African soil to sow the seeds of racial animosity, they boasted "that the country was rich enough tp stand the strain twice over. When the

TORIES VOTED AWAY ' MILLIONS m the way of doles to parsons and the landlords, the guardians of the national purse never realised that the money came out of the pockets ol the taxpayers, When the millions spent on our army and navy went up till the amount was practically doubled, not a word was raised by the selfish, indolent, and worthless mediocrites who lounge on the red .benches of the House, of Lords ♦ But when the British workmen asked for a little corner , at the national feast tbe scene changed. Forthwith the landlords, the employers, the capitalists and the millionaires who sit m the House of Lords,, thought of the national finances. "You are ruining, the Empire and pauperising the workman" eried — who ? Lord Rosebery and the other idlers oni life's highway, who throng the House of Lords!. The impudence of these pietentious drones is on a level with their crass ignorance of ' the conditions under which the aged poor live. At present we spend every year the sum -of sixty million pounds on the army and the. navy— almost) .double .the, amount

we spent ton years ago. There is no1 ; h- 1 ing to show -for the increased expenditure. According to the military critics, the army is worse to-day than it was then, and the navy has not yet been tested. What has this vast sum of money been spent for ? No one knows— least" of all the War Office or the Admiralty. It has been the fashion among nations m recent years to increase the programme m armaments. To-day there 'exists m England a SCHOOL OP BLOODTHIRSTY ! SCRIBBLERS _ who write learned articles demonstrating the necessity of increasing the expenditure of the army and the navy. Of this mad and insane policy the pensioned peers who are opposed to pensions for the poor fully approve. In their eyes it is the height of wisdom to spend as many millions of the - taxpayers' money as possible, provided that none of it is spent m giving pensions to the aged poor. It never seems to them "that" the State owes a duty towards its citizens. The only duty they recognise is that of piling up armaments so that we may be ready to cut Germany's throaifc. Your genuine Jingo is always" the same. He is always preaching the gospel of declaring war against a neighboring nation. ,Fitty years ago it was France who was the "inevitable" enemy. Ten years ago it was the South African Boer War. To- ( day* it is Germany. Why? No one knows. It is true that there are Jingoes m Idle Fatherland, just as there are m the Motherland. It is true that you have a school of politicians m Germany engaged IN THE 'MAD d6g'S HABIT of snarling and! biting at -other nations. But war between England and Germany is no more, inevitable than it is between England and America. Civilised mankind spends every year no less a sum than 400 million pounds on armaments which are designed for the . purpose of destroying human life. Every ' year that passes witnesses an increase m the awful tribute which is thus exacted from the fruits of man's labor. If these Christian nations ceased for 12 months the hideous work of sharpening their knives against one another, tour hundred million goltlen sovereigns would, ■be available to ; feed the hungry and the starving m, all countries arid relieve the misery and the suffering that are going on around us. The period of 12 months fa but a fleeting moment m the history of a nation. Let civilised humanity only pause for a moment from pursuing its gruesome ambition ' to slaughter its neighbors, and it : ' SAVES AN AMOUNT, OF MONEY which is sufficient to banish all discontent and , all human misery within ' its boundaries. Cynics laugh at the ideal of international peace. But the cause is nat so hopeless as the hair-brained Jingoes make out. The era when it will be considered a crime for a civilised country to raise its arm against a neighbor is drawing nearer and bearer, because two irresistible forces are impelling mankind m this direction. 'Preparation for war means' money. And the Lcener the competition m armaments becomes the huger and huger grows the expenditure on armaments. ' To-day every civitised l countryis groaning beneath the oppressive burden jof spending more money than ib can afford on armaments. And m all countries- sane and reasonable men are com- j ing tp the conclusion that the policy of ' preparing yourself to kill your neighbor is as ruinous as it is wicked. In other ; words, racial . HATRED IS A LUXURY which the state of men's pockets will not permit them to indulge m. The other influence, which is helving' such cctfJius as the International Pep.es Congress, is the increasing lnfercoutse among the nations of the world. The cablsgram, ■ h. v telegraph, and ocean liner, the railway, the motor-car, -are bringing ;he nations oi the world into dosser comsiuaicatloa wife fine another. Radical , auuftowty v-xixgp •from steer i&noranca. The Bwnfe .tina aa» ! fcpns of .the world know ami tnd£Es>fcuul each other,, the less r&aion they Imlvg • to hate of fear one another. The aj»paJfe'ii(£ amount of our expenditure .on armaments and one growth of international goodwiij are the . two infiuecces, wnich are opening the eyes of mankiad to the folly and tine evil 61 international strife. Perhx] * the most significant fact of all is the attitude of monarchs like King Edward towards the movement. Time was whan wars were waged, for dynastic u*as*ns. To-day tbe very ruisrs m whose interests it was centuries ago that waxs should .be prosesuted are opposed to rear. In the past a Hiag whose throne was insecure may ha\e "found it pctlitie tp plunge his people '"nto war. Th*se days ; are gone. The natable words wh;-*. Kin* Eldward addressed to the delegates to tbe Peace ■ Congress afford, the sttb.nj.es!; possible evidence of the folly 'of wa'stieg- the people's millions on armaments and unproductive expenditure.— -'■' Beynohls's Newspaper."