New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-08-03
COST OF AKMED PEACL."

Although the Triple Alliance has undoubt-
edly contributed to preserve Europe during 'h'
last few wears from the horrors OF a genera
war vet il is extremely unlikely that 1t VIII
be prolonged beyond January, 1892, when
the existing treaty expires. lis continuation
after that date is improbable, and even lmp"S-
.,bIo il consequence of the inability of either
I,aiv or Austria u meet the financial burden
which il impose, upon IT. The treat! oil ALI
ance contains o series of stlpuations OF an
essentially military character, fixing the nun
her of troops 81 be kept mp by each OF the
three Powers during the term of the agree
lnent: and there are other obligations concern
inc the army which involve certain e1pchdl
t1re that must he incurred as long a. the treat!
lasts. These have all been fulfilled TO the let
ter. both by the Austrian and Italian Govern
ments. and will continue TO- be So unlil the
present compact lapscS, AZ the end OF next
wear. But the strain 10 which il has subjected
Austria. and in particular Italian finance, ha>
been eXceS,iyc-far moro 50, III fact than Is
generally known. Neither Of the two nations
i in q po,ition 10 submit 10 II any longer, and
the Austro- Hungarian Minister of War Cen
cra Won Bauer, did not cXagecratc the other
day when he Informed the Parliamentary Dele
cations in tones of despair that the present
state of affairs could not last. And, indeed,
doubts have arisen in the minds Of most OF the
leading statesmen of the two countries III queS
ton as to whether an attitude OF concllation
and Annexation rendered necessary by diSama
mcnt. would not after all be preferable to the
disgrace Of national bankruptcy and to the
ruin of national trade and industry.
Even in Germany the same feelings on the
subject Of military expenditure have become
prevalent among the people and large mum
her of constituencies especially those i'll the
southern portion of the Empire, have instruct
ed their representatives. IN the ReichStag to
abstain from voting any OF the new supplies
asked for by the Emperor for military pur-
poses, which will necessarily involve the crca-
ton of new taxes The people claim that they
are already ovcrtaxed, and that they can do
no more. Nor is it possible to regard their as
sertions upon the subject as mere figures OF
speech For. although the German has until
now escaped the tyranny of direct taxation by
the Imperial Government, yet taxes of the in
direct order face him at every moment of the
day On waking in the morning the German
artisan drinks cup OF coffee on which the
Imperial Treasury has levied a duty of 20
pfennge or about cents pound. The
sugar with which he sweetenS il has been taxed
at 10 pfenniee a pound, and the bread at 3
pfennge. On leaving home for work his wife
provides him with a crust of bread CON which
the duty is 3 pfennige pounD, spreads II
with a layer of lard duty of pfennige a
poundj and >prinkleS it with salt duty &
pfennge pound. During the course of his
mornings worl, the man will probably take a
small glass OF brandy duty rs plennige pei
quartz. At noon he will return home to dine
with his family OFF soup made of hour duty
, pfennige per pound, with slice Of bacon
duty pfennige poundj or a piece of beet
duty 0 pfennige per pound), or, perhaps, a
herring duty l pienngc a piece. In the
evening, after his work is over, he will prob.