One of the Reasons why Armaments Grow.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 26, 28 June 1911, Page 8

One of the Reasons why Armaments Grow.

In connection with the war scares that periodically plague civilization there is one fact upon which it would be hard to lay too heavy an emphasis. In every country it is easy to find a large number of persons who benefit directly from the manufacture and use of armaments. Putting upon one side the members of the military and naval professions, who see in war their chief hope of advancement, we find a large and influential body of civilians whose financial interests would be seriously affected by an era of peace. There can be no definite statistics of influence, but in such a country as England, where a governing class or caste may be Baid still to exist, it is possible to get some indications of the power actually exercised by those whose incomes are directly dependent to a greater or less extent upon preparations for war or upon war itself. Some tables prepared by the “Investor’s Review” help us largely toward such an estimate. The “Investor’s Review” examined the list of shareholders in three of the large armament-making companies, choosing for the purpose Vickers, Sons, and Maxim, John Brown and Co., and Armstrong, Whitworth, and Co. On these shareholders' lists were found the names of three dukes, two marquesses, 120 earls and barons, or the wives, sons, or daughters of earls and barons, 32 baronets, 30 knights, 13 members of the House of Commons, 19 justices of the peace, four financiers, and 17 journalists, including newspaper proprietors. Now this list of worthies represents a political influence of the most formidable kind, and it is an influence that can not possibly escape the bias of pecuniary profit, and there is no bias so subtle or so strong. These lists contain the names not only of those who largely help to decide the issues of peace and war by their direct participation in government, but also the names of newspaper proprietors, who can create a public sentiment that is either provocative or conciliatory. Tt is safe to assume that the majority of men will do whatever it seems to their material interest to do, and it is thus evident that those who advocate a decrease of armaments are heavily handicapped by those others who depend upon armaments for their income and who are thus in a position to protect their own investments.