BLIGHT OF MILITARISM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18754, 6 January 1923, Page 10

BLIGHT OF MILITARISM

tTNREPENTANT EtJROPE. LARGER ARMIES THAN EVER. I RANGE’S ARMY UNJUSTIFIABLE. “WHERE IS IT TO STOP?” Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON. January- 4. (Received January 5, at 5.5 n.m.) [The following and all of Mr Lloyd George’s articles are copyright by the United Press Association in America (all countries), copyright in Australia and Noyv Zealand by the Australian Press Association, copyright in Britain by the Daily Chronicle. Reproduction in full or part is prohibited.] Mr Lloyd George, in his latest article,, continues: Marshal Foch once told me he’gprisidered the German Army of 1914 whs' the finest the world had ever seen in number, training, and equipment. Mitch has been written and spoken as to the' origin of tho Great War, and as to who or what was responsible for so overwhelming a cataclysm. No one ever believed that it was the assassination of a Royal Archduke. Some said that it was the working out of the Pan-German scheme to ■'tide the earth ; some that it yvas the German fear of tho growing Russian power. But the great trench marshal’s dictum is the real explanation, and unless duo weight is given to this outstanding fact, the diplomatic muddle of •July, 1914, becomes unintelligible. Were It not that the German Army yvas then more perfect and more ]>otent than either the French or Russian Army; were it not that -every German officer was convinced that the German military machine yvas superior to all its rivals, there would Rave been no war, -whatever the Emperor’s diplomatists and statesmen said, thought, !©r intended. 1 All nations have ambitions, but they are not tempted to them upon their neighbours if the hazard is too. obviously great. But a sense of overpowering force is a constant incitement to ruthlessness, greed, and ambitious patriotism. The more one examines in a growing calm the events of July, 1914, the more one is impressed with the shrinking power of the nominal rulers of the attacking Empires as they approached the- abyss, and with the relentless driving onward of the military organisations behind these terror stricken dummies. Navies are essentially defensive weapons. No capital in the yvorld can be captured by navies alone; no country can be annexed or invaded bv a fleet. But armies are grabbing machines, and a transcendent army has always led to aggression. No country can resist the lure of an easy triumph, paraded before its eyes for two Buccessive )*enerati oils. The inference is the obvious*one that to ensure .the peace oh-the earth the nations must disarm their striking forces. Without disarmament, pacts, treaties, and .covenants are unavailing. They are the paper currency of diplomacy. A statistical survey of the European rnnies to-day is calculated to cause alarm. Europe has not learned the lesson of the war—has rather drawn the wrong inference from that calamity. There are more men tinder arms in Europe to-day than in ] 913-14. yvith none of the justification ■which could be pleaded then, when Germany and Austria created great armaments because their frontiers lav open to attdek 'by two great military Powers who had' 'engaged to pool their resources in the event of war. France and Russia, on their side, raised huge armies because Gfertaahr, possessed the most formidable r% nrty in the world. But since the yvar these mutual excuses do not exist. The two great military Empires of _ Central .Europe have disappeared, and their equipments reduced to modest proportions. In, spite of this France has still 756,000 melt’ under artns, yvith a trained reserve ’of from 2,000,000-3,000.000 more. She is strengthening and developing her Air Force, as if she feared or contemplated an immediate invasion. Amongst her 1152 air machines to-day are to be found bombers of a destructiveness that was undreamt of in 1914. Should human folly drift once more into war, these preparations are full of evil omen as to the Character of the conflict. Where is it to g)tpp,'t What is it all for? Where is the jneniy, where is the menace which depends such a gigantic military development? Not one of France’s neighbours ha* a.force reaching one-fourth of hey formidable army. Germany no longer affords a decent pretext. Her .young men afie-no longer permitted to train, her military equipment has been destroyed, her arsenals and workshops are closely inspected by Allied officers. Against this clandestine preparation the only other formidable army is Russia’s. It is difficult to. gather reliable facts about her, for mists, starting from that unhealthy, political and economic swamp, obscure and distort.all .vision. The latest figures given by tjie Russians is 800,000.. On paper that indicates an army as formidable as ■France’s, but the events of the past few years show clearly that the Russian Army is powerful only in defence and is valueless for invasion. It has neither the transport for mobility nor the artillery that makes an army redoubtable in attack. Her army, therefore, does not afford justification for'keeping un European armament* on the present inflated scale. The fact is, Europe was thoroughly frightened by its recent experience, and, like all frightened things, does not readilv listen to reason, but is apt to resort to expedients that aggravate the evils which terrified it. Militarism reduced it to its present plight, and to save itself from a similar disaster in future it has become more militarist than ever. Meanwhile, no country in Europe pays its way, except Britain, - with her reduced Army and Navy. France, in many ways the richest country in Europe, displays a gaping and growing rent in her national finance, which has to be patched up with paper. Her deficit grows in spite of tho fact that a large part of her Army is chartered on Germany to the detriment of reparations. That German contribution conceals much of the cost of her large Army. The economic recovery of Europe is seriously retarded bv the cost of this new militarism. The Old Continent is with both hands throwing to tho dogs of war btead that should feed its children. One of those dogs will, in arrogant savagery, turn and rend them.—A. and N.Z. Cable.