Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1870-08-17
THE PEACE OF STANDING ARMIES !
The T'01 OF BLOOD.

When rumOr after rumOr comes TO
us of war and revolution in Europe
when nearly every telegram and every
mail brings us some fresh account of
wrong and outrage, until
"The ear is panied, the soul is sick
With every days report"
of struggling nationalilies, protesting
bondsmen, toilers driven to the last
extremity of desperation by bitter,
grinding poverty, the most natural
question that springs TO every lip is,
"Why such wretchcdness among so
many races What causes all this
fearful troubleY7 Eighteen hundred
and twenty-thrce thousandable bodied
men now actually in array in time of
peace and, in case ofgeneral warfare,
five millions of the very flower of the
youth Of France, Germany, Russia,
Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Tur.
key in Europe, not TO mention the
British Islands, not merely withdrawn
from the productive, soGening and
humanizng arts Of peace, but drilled,
trained aud by everything that can
inhame their greed aud their ambition
for the feroeious, soul-hardening devil
tries of war. What wonder that hu.
manity groans and writhes beneath
so frightful burden
Let us take France, essentially, in
fact and by tradition the almost mill
tary nation on the globe, as an exam
pie Of the workings Of this organized
anarchy, which has so revolted her
present Empcror-a blood relative Of
the greatest warrior of modern times,
and the inherilor of his glory-that
he has repeatedly proposed general
disarmament 10 bis great military
neighhors. What do we find there z
A peace establishment of nearly half
a million men, a framework requiring
field force of 647,27l, aud a grand
total of 100000 soldiers liable to be
summoned into service at any mo-.
ment The cost Of maintaining the
peace quota is 100000 francs, or
nearly s7O,O00,0OO pcrannum, while
the war budget is almost $3.50, 600
per annum. OF $4,000 young men
who every twelve month reach the
age of twenty, no less than 60,O0O
arc taken for the Garde Mobile alone.
Look at the figures: In FIVE years
S350,000,000, with interest, drained
from the effective capital of the nation,
and 800, 900 pairs of sturdy arms and
sets Of active brains withdrawn from
its laboring strength. Now, it is the
merest folly to point TO tho consump-
tion made by these uniformed idlcrs at
home. The soldier is the minimum
consumer in the useful direction. AS
an artesian, or even as an agricultural
toilcr, he would use moro commodities
in quantity and better in quality by
far than he does as the slave of routine
and diciplinc, while at the same time
he would be Identifying the country
and multiplying its material wealth.
Moreover, such use of goods as the
poor nameless private in the ranks
can mako is simply waste, resulting
in absolutely nothing but additional
impoverishment TO himself and his
compatriots. or the total Of 100000
men required annually TO keep the
army ranks full, 10000 belong TO the
agricultural class and poor families
ia tho cities OF these 10000 at least
are farmer boys This, in the seven
years term Of service imposed 10y law
amounts TO 100000 men, or seventy
three apiece for every commune ia
France for that whole lapse of time
Thus, as the ablcst French slatisu
clans estimate, an average Of 100000
families have to look elsewhere foi
the aid in their field work whicl
would have been rendered by the sor
of the house. The substitute has no
only to be fed, but paid, and there II
another drain upon the feeble resour
ces of the poor farmer. What misery
what deprivation, what "hope defer
red that maketh the heart sick mus
these wretched people endure in al
the long period Of their boys absence
Why, il is again computed that on
hundred thousand families are kept il
positive penury by .his terrible bur
den. Al last the son returns, expect
E ing, it may be, TO find the old hearth
stone, the little field and garden plot
the lowly cabin, cndvared amid al
their humbloncss TO his childhood
In too many instances, alas he find
: them in other hands; toll, infrmity
despair, too well seconded by the tax
gathcrer and the bailiil, have swep
, away his home aud consigned hi
parents, il they still survive, TO tb
lender mcrcics, the straw palct, ih
black bread and Cruel of the parish
4 And this is the gallant soldiers rewar
for seven years faithful service Thi
= is the nations aud tho individual
glory How much moro sad th
story when the returning soldic
comes tottering back feeble with di.
case and only half cured wounds 2
. Even should tho hospital receive bin
! l.. a. .a.~r ~. 80.