Instruction versus Destruction.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 104, 30 May 1885, Page 6

Instruction versus Destruction.

Some gentle enthusiasts are at times blamed for enunciating the doctrine that the spread of enlightenment among the nations of the earth will eventually lead to war being abolished. Such people are laughed at as Utopian dreamers, unpractical theorists, and so forth ; but statistics heve now been found to support the theory in a way as pleasant as it is surprising. A Belgian statist, M. Leon Donnatt, has collated the relative expenditure of European States on war preparations and on public education, the result being to prove that the quarrelsomeness of nations is in inverse ratio to their educational status. Taking the population basis, M. Donnatt shows the annual expenditure of different countries as follows : — France, per head, war, 20s ; education, Is sd. England, war, 18s 6d ; education, 3s Id. Holland, war, 17s 9d ; education, 3s 2d. Saxony, war, lls 9d ; education, 3s 4d, Wurtemburg, war, lls 9d ; education, Is 9d. Bavaria, war, lls 9d ; education, 2s 6d. Prussia, war, 10s lid ; education, 2s sd. Russia, war, 10s 2d ; education, lOd. Denmark, war, 8s 8d ; education, 4s 7d. Italy, war, 7s 6d ; education, 2s 3d. Belgium, war, 6s 9d ; education, 2s 3d. Austria, war, 6s Bdj education, Is 6d. Switzerland, war, 4s lOd ; education, 4s 2d. It will be seen that while the war expenditure of peace-loving Switzerland is very little over its educational disbursements, that of the once warlike but now pacific kingdom of Denmark is just double ; while in Italy the war vote is a < 3to 1 of the educational ; Austria 4 to 1, Russia 12 to 1, and France 15 to 1. That England's war expenditure should be as high as 6 to 1 of her educational is due to the fact that she maintains a much larger naval force than any other Power. This is necessary for the protection of her commerce, and is by no means a warlike menace. The colonising spirit of England also involves her in heavy war expenditure, which helps to augment her total. The fact that Russia only spends lOd per head per annum on the education of her people, while Switzerland pays 48 lOd, is very significant of the posi- i tion which our rival in Central Asia occupies in the company of nations. The ignorance and servility v, hioh characterise the majority of the population of Russia, and which make them ready tools for the furtherance of despotic designs, will assuredly disappear, however, in the course of time, and a great and progressive people will turn to the task of making conquests in the realms of peaceful industry. ,