Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-01-14
Cost of Disuni0n---s8me European Statistics.

Cost of Disunion---some European Statistics.
A recent report of the chief of the Stats
teal Bureau of the French Ministry of Agri-
culture, Commerce and Public Works, gives
a carefully compiled exhibit of the cost in
money and men of sustaining the g armed
peace of Europe.
These figures are especially suggestive to
Americans at this time. They give an idea
Of the condition of affairs on this continent
which would follow the dissolution of the
Union, and the establishment of rival and jeal-
Gus governments from its fragments Peace
then would be, as it is in Europe now, pur-
chased only by maintaining a constant readi-
ness for vigorous war. Immense armies and
navies, supported at prodigious expendi-
ture, would be the only security against in
vasion and subjugation. 1t would not be
peace but an armistiee interrupted by the
frequent resumption of hostilities.
Here are some of the items as given in this
official report-the sums of money in francs
may be reduced approximately to our dollar
standard, by dividing by five: Austria keeps
up an army in time of peace, of 467, 900 men,
at a cost of 336 100000 francs; France an
army of 573, 900 men, at cost of 6SS zoo, 900
franc Prussia an army of 81, 900 men, at a
cost of Sc 900, 900 francs; England an army
of 100000 men, at a cost of GIT 1000, 900
francs Russia an army of 100000 men,
at cost of 529, 900, 900 francs Of the total
expenditures of these States in time of
peace, there is paid for the support of stand
ing armies: thirty-seven per cent. by Austria,
ty-nine by England, and forty-two by Russia.
Italy supports an army of 3l4 900 men, Tur-
key one of 424 900, Denmark $4,000, Sweden
81, 900. The aggregate of the standing armies of
Europe, in time of peace, reaches the enor-
nous number Of 3,8l5, s47 men, costing for
their maintenance an annual sum of about
seven hundred millions of dollars.
The general war now imminent will, Of
course, if it occurs, add enormously to these
In the light of these facts we are enabled
tojudge something ofthe quality ofthe arrogant
pretensions to superiority made by the mon
archical and aristocratic systems of European
as compared with the Republican form of
government which prevails here. Divisions
however, and the establishment of a number
of separate sove,eignties within the present
limits of the United States would inaugurate
even more deplorable state of affairs here
than exists in Europe. There, after centu-
ries Of connections, something like establish
ed order prevails, but here with disunion we
should be preci plated into the widest anarchy.
herence to the Union, and vigorous and unre-
lenting war upon all who raise hand against
its perpetuity
THE NATIONAL DEBT OF ENGLAND.-The
English correspondent of the New York
Times says {" War feeds war, and has it's
own prosperity. When England was engaged
in the great wars with Napoleon, the Bank
of England suspended specie payments for
twenty years But money was plentiful,
wages were high, there was work for every
body, and though England came out of the
war with a debt of 100000, 900, it has
never impeded, but rather increased her
A great debt at home is an ele-
ment of that prosperity. Owed abroad it
would be constant drain upon the country.
Owed at home, it is a stimulus to industry
Not a penny Of it is lost. 1t is like taking
money from one pocket and putting it into
the other. Those who pay the interest on
this debt must work little harder, and those
who receive it have more capital to invest
and more money to spend. The effect upon
the nation has been a constant and vast ac-
emulation of wealth. 1t is not debt, but
capital. There can be no doubt that the
wealth, power and security Of England have
been immensely increased by this so-called
national debt and where is there any reason
to apprehend that like causes will not pro-
duce like effects on the other side of the At
lantic?"