Smyrna times. [volume] (Smyrna, Del.) 1854-1987, 1888-02-08
The Military Mania.


Prince Bismarck continues to keep
the peace by preparing for war. His
new army bill virtually adds 100000
men to the army Immediately available
for service. Last year the active army
was increased from 427, 900 to 468,OOO
men, the new contingent including
twenty-fOur batteries of artillery. On
a war footing the reserves would have
added 100000, swelling the number
of men to 1,568,0OO, with nearly 5000
guns. The Landsturm would then
have remained as a final reserve for
garrison duty. This enormous host
Is not considered sufficient for the de-
Tense of the Empire. By the new bill
100000 men will be added to the re-
serves, so as to enable the Government
to place 100000 men in the field for
a campaign. The cost of this vast un-
dertaking has not been accurately esti-
mated, but 100000 is asked for as a
partial instalment. This provides for
the equipment of the new reserves and
the preliminary expenses of the change
of system. What the annual cost of
the enlarged reserves will be the bud
get will show next year.
SO amazing fact as this enormous
increase of the German army cannot
be satisfactorily explained on any 9TH
er theory than that of military mania.
The German army, while inferior to
the French peace establishment by
"a, 900 men, already exceeds the " war
effective" of the Republic by at least
100. 900 men. Even if General Boulan-
ger were in the War Office and an ag-
gressive Ministry were goading the
French people into war of revenge,
the Empire would be more than a
match in numbers for its traditional
enemy. But General Boulanger is in
retirement. President Carnot and his
Ministers have made no hostile dem
onstrations. There is no menace of
war beyond tee Rhine. There is an
abatement, if anything, of military ar
dor in France. Prince Bismarck has
unmlstakable assurances of peace on
that side, and no pretext for adding
100000 men to the reserves. Russian
policy, on the other hand. may be more
aggressive, but Germany has fortified
itself against assault from the Eastern
border by diplomatic alliances with
Austria and Italy, SO that apparently
there is no need for reinforcing the re-
serves to the extent of 100000 men.
If there were a Napoleon III. on the
throne the contingency of an alliance
between France and Russia might
make it expedient for Germany to
make preparations for concentrating a
million men on each frontier. Not
since Sedan has there been so faint a
prospect of an anomalous alliance
between the most Democratic and the
most despOtic nations in Europe. The
Russian French coalition is only a re-
mote possibility. Germany's own ALI.
ances with Austria and Italy are undis-
puted facts. Why, then, does Prince
Bismarck increase his vast ornaments
in preparation for war after he has
succeeded in making diplomatic ar
engagements for maintaining European
peace?
Militarism is a mania which has pre-
vailed on the Continent since the
Prince became the central figure in
diplomacy. Whatever may have been
his original purposes in arming Prus-
STA against Austria and Germany
against France, he has kept the Fa-
therland in the saddle since Sedan,
because he has believed that arma-
ments on vast scale were essential
for the preservation of European peace.
Every year he has wanted more men
and more guns, although he has never
lacked allies and never been seriously
menaced with war. He has converted
first Germany and then Europe into a
military parade-ground and taught a
generation of statesmen to believe that
peace like victory is ON the side of the
heaviest battalliOns. The 100000 new
reserves are, if you please, SO many
well-armed policemen whose duty it
will be to aid the 100000 constables
already enrolled in keeping the peace
of Europe. This is Prince Bismarck's
mania. Let all good Americans rejoice
that none of their own statesmen has
gone mad in the same way.-N. Y.
Tribune.