Huntsville gazette., 1889-09-28
MILITARIsM IN EUROPE.
Some of the Features Of Converting Ma
tion Into an Army.

Some of the Features Of Converting Ma
ton Into an Army.
Why is it that under the weight OF
the enormous armies Of Europe the
accumulation of wealth still goes onP
How is it that the life of the people is
not exhausted and the resources OF the
governments woefully, reduced; that
the growing debts incurred by mill
tarism have not become too grievous
to bear and that gaunt impoverishment
has not commanded the abatement OF
the devouring extravaganza of army
establishments? The answer is, first,
that the Invention Of modern inven-
tons. labor-saving machines, facilities
for travel and the diffusion of intelli-
gence, information, in makingsthe best
of the resources of nature, and con-
trivances for developing all the boun-
ties of earth, have given the world
new sources of wealth. and altogether
bestowed upon the industry by which
millions of men approach omnipotence
O. broader profitable application.
There is a. greatly enhanced ability
of the people to work to advantage.
A vast portion of field labor in West
ern Continental Europe is done by
women, and when one sees, though
they are OF bronzed compilations and
by no means of fashionable appear
ance, how stalwart they are, it does
not seem that their lot, hard as it is,
is quite SO gdeplorable as the,surface
indicatioAss would declare it, The
mothers of the masses of the common
soldiers of Germany work in the fields
are excellent harvest hands, patient,
faithful and enduring. Though poor.
they are strong. and not subjected to
neuralgia headaches or liable to nerv-
GUS prostration upon slight provoca-
tion. 1t has been picturesquely said
that in Europe the men and the
horses go to war, and the women and
cows stay at home and do the
work. This is one OF the features
of converting a nation into an
army. Some one has to till the soil
and win the bread. This is the be-
ginning of military glory. The bril-
liant officers promenading, wearing
spurs and swords, have to be sus-
tanned. They contrast vividly with
teams of cows pushing with a bar un-
der their horns light wagons with
loads of hay or vegetables, or with
fhni
their heads A pair of COWS driven by
a woman to plow or wagon would
excite astonishment and possibly the
wrath of any rural community in this
country. but the sight is very COM
mon one in Germany and in France
the nations armed to destroy each
other--and the work that is accom-
plished in the fields and on the roads
by the women and cows, is part of
that which the necessities of the army
require. Every thing is made to count
in these armed countries. The leaves
of the trees are swept together. and
with the dust and litter of roads are
the basis. of manure heaps. All the
little streams are directed in bitches,
and collected in pools swarming with
food fishes. The waysides are adorned
with fruit trees, and the walls of the
houses in the villages are covered
with grape vines. When field is
harvested it is cleaned entirely; the
hay, Or oats, or barley, or wheat is all
gone from it, and there is nothing left
for the CLEANER; and then the greatest
attention is given to keeping up the
soil. There are the most rigid regu-
lations for taking care of trees. The
people are not only intensely indus
trious; they are painfully frugal.
They save and make wealth because
they toll all the time and do not waste
any thing; and there you have the
primal secret of the avoidance of uni
versal ruin under the standing army
system. m.-Murat Halstead, in Cincin-
natl Commercial-Gazette.