Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-04-15
THE RE-ARMAMENT OF EUROPE.


ception abroad. In this country we
have had quite enough of fighting, blood
shed and increase of national debt to
satisfy the present generation, and
henceforth we are likely to paraphrase
the proverb to make it read: in time
of peace beware of war" But in the
Old World the case is different. Prep
arations for possible war are now said to
be making on grand scale in nearly
every country of Europe especially in
the matter of substituting new and i'm
proved weapons for the less perfect ones
in general use. Advices from Germany
state that all the establishments for the
manufacture of firearms are to be en-
larged so as to quadruple their produc-
ing capacity. The purpose of this en-
largement is to provide for the re-arma-
ment of the entire military force of the
German Empire within the next five
years, to accomplish which it will be
necessary to produce Of small arms at
least 100000 per annum. Such re-
armament is rendered necessary by the
unsatisfactory performances of the nee~
die gun in the late war, during which it
was very conclusively shown that it was
in every respect inferior to the chasse-
pot, although the latter is not the best
in the world. Nor is Germany alone in
her formidable and significant military
preparations. The agents of the Rus
sian Government are said to be making
contracts in Great Britain and this coun-
try for machinery necessary for the es-
tablishment of several factories through
out the interior Of the Empire for the
manufacture of small arms of various
patterns, the total producing capacity of
which is to be 100000 per annum. In
Austria, the factory at Styria is said to
be in active operation, turning out about
$4,000 stand of arms per annum. In
France the works at ST. Etlenne have
accepted contracts for the manufacture
of 100000 chassepots per annum, and
the Government is considering plan
for still larger establishment at the
same place, with improved machinery
and appliances. In Italy and Spain the
establishment of like factories has been
agreed upon; in Belgium the manufac-
ture of arms employs several large es-
Establishments to their utmost capacity !;
in Bavaria the number of Werder rifles
annually made is estimated at about
100000: and even the peaceful and
prosperous little republic of Switzerland,
not to be outdone by her neighbors, is
said to have taken contracts for 10000
Werder rifles to be finished in two years.
Even the British Lion-that excitable,
but after all, rather prudent animal,
who growls more frequently than he
bites, and shows his teeth even when he
has no immediate intention of using
them-has been quietly sharpening his
claws for some time past, and both the
Government and the private establish
ments for the manufacture of arms are
constantly and actively employed.
In this country, the arm trade is some
what dull after the season of unusual
activity which followed the outbreak Of
the late continental war, but it i:
not likely to remain so for very long
IIIIC. NEW IOlh, SOuuoOUlCuO anu SoF
eral other states have decided to discard
the muzzle-loaders and adopt the breech
leaders for the armament of their STATE
militia, and it is probable that mos
other states will follow suit before (;
great while, the demand thus created
will give active employment to those es
Establishments engaged in the manufac
ture of the most approved patterns TO
breech-loaders.
This very general re-armament is sig
nifcant of something a great deal NOR
) serious than dress parades and holida,
professions. Arms are made to use
and their possession is, of itself, a con
slant temptation to use them upon
slight provocatlon, or no provocatlon a
e all. We think there can be no reason
: able doubt that the late Franco German
war is, in very great degree, due t.
the fact that France and Germany had
respectively, their needle-guns and chas
sepots, and were both anxious to dem
5 onstrate the superiority of their favor
v lite and trusty weapons. From the da
n of the re-armament of the French an
German armies was completed, war be
' tween these two powers was imminent
9 and few were so short-sighted as not t
e see that a pretext for such war woul
S be found before long Bullies arme
/ are great deal more apt to seek or az
cept quarrel than DULLES unarmec
and monarchs whose troops are equiv
n ped with improved weapons are a grea
e deal more disposed to encourage the pc:
/, sibility of war than monarchs who hay
. no such temptation. If we must hay
wars-and few are so sanguine as I
: hope for the immediate dawn of an Ell
IS of universal peace-it is, perhaps. be-
l. ter that the most effective and deadl
machinery should be employed, and d,
cisive results sooner reached: but it
sad to think that so much human labor
} employed in producing the means of d
1t stroying human life and making nation
e poor and wretched which, were wars
i cease in the earth, would soon becom
;, prosperous and happy, andsadder sti
Il that, in this interval of very gener;
l. peace, broken only by the civil strife
e in Cuba and Mexico and Paraguay, a
10 the world should be contemplating
: making preparations for the wars of tt
= future knowing that, sooner or late
:, - the challenge will be sent and accepte,
~ and the nations hurl themselves again
each other to furnish some statesmans
= plans or crafty some selfish monarch
ambition -Neac Jersey Mechanic.
w INuI-uAN I'pEArMENr OF YORK