THE COLONIST. Published Every Morning. Firday, November 20, 1908. THE COST OF WAR.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12404, 20 November 1908, Page 2

THE COLONIST. Published Every Morning. Firday, November 20, 1908. THE COST OF WAR.

Advocates of the substitution of arbitration for warfare as the means of settlement of international disputes have on their side an argument which will appeal more strongly to tho leading naval Powers as time goes onviand the vast expenditure on the construction of- vessles continues. At the present rate* it will not be long before war will, by its cost, be rendered an impossiblity. A short time oga General Blume, a Gorman officer, intimated that a comparatively short campaign under conditions ' as they are now, would bankrupt Germany, and since then other writers have confirmed his opinion that soon, owing to the cost and deadly effectiveness of modern imple- . ments of destruction, no world Power will bo able to f aco war without the almost certain prospect of total ruination. M. de. Bloch, a Warsaw banker and economist, in a remarkable book entitled "War of the Future," contends that enormous mortality, disorganisation of society, and even the destruction of the State would be the result of a European "conflict. M. Bloch, who is said to have inspired the rescript by which the Czar summoned the first Peace Conference, suggested that the^ Conference should set itself, to inquire' whether "modern warfare had not practically become impossible without sacrifices of life hitherto unheard of, without total dislocation of the fabric of society, and without inevitable bankruptcy and revolution." M. Bloch was a civilian. "What the "soldier thinks of the question may bo gathered from General Brume's report to the German General ■Staff. According to this expert, Germany will bo able to put four and three quarter millins of troops in the field in the next war. Other Powers have armies of corresponding dimensions. A war fought against another European Power would cost Germany in hard cash at least £300,000,000 per annum as long as it lasted. The indirect loss through financial depression, financial stagnation and the paralysis of industry would bo far greater. The Power opposed to Germany would be subjected to the same financial drain, and if three or four or more European Powers were involved in tho war, which is probable in view of the existing alliances, the drain on the resources of Europe would be appalling. Incidentally, General Blume expresses tho opinion that the loss of life would bo heavier than in the recent Russo-Japanese war, when 20 per cent of the Japanese armies in the .field were killed and wounded. Reckoning in the same proportion, a groat European Power would lose approximately 500,000 killed and wounded during the same length of "time, and_ General Blume believes that tho proportion would bo much higher. Ho declares, in fact, that ia would be "a veritable orgy of blood."