Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1892-05-20
TIE COST OF ARMED PEACE.
Europe liz Poorer by at Least ST. o O.OO0,-
900 IL fear by 1t.


900 IL Year by 1t.
In Europc to-day 1900. 900 nlcn,. the
physical flower OF the continent. have
hccn drilling. marching. and counter
marching, pTacticing at targets. learn
ing the Use uf bayonct and saber and
performing as nearly us is possible in
sham tignts-the cvolutions of actual
war. III was 50 Yesterday and last
year and through all the Yesterdays
of twenty years. Seven times during
this period has the personnel. of this
vast host been renewed: consequently
there are now about 20, 900. 900 Euro
pcsns not yet beyond middle life who
have been. trained to the fighters
proft ssion and. who, could at briefest
notice take their places in. the active
army or in the reserve.
Every city has its barracks. and.
parade ground, says a writer in. the
Forum: every frontier frowns with a
double row of Notifications. AT the
end of thanincteenth century Europe.
from tho DOurO to the Don. is.a.camp
wherein ten times 300, 900 of her
able-bodicd men are. bivouacking.
ready at a. sign to spring to, arms and
Stay each. other. The. spectacle. is
without parallel in, the HISTORIC of the
world. Even. in. the b~oisterous days.
of antiquity, when wars. We're fire..
quent. fighting. was. the business OF
comparatively few. Alexander's. pha-
lanN and C;esar'ss legions were COM.
posed of picked. men who adopted the.
soldiers, career and followed ii. until.
they were. retircdor killed.
So. too. THE armies of Charles v.
and Philip, H. OF Gustavus Adolphlls,.
and. Turennr,. varied in numbers, from,
Year to year: The majority of Napo-
Icons old guard and Of many of his.
regiments of the line fought through
Il dozen campaigns, and he regulated
the quota OF each years. CONSUMPTION
according to. each years needs. But
ous generation has witnessed the ex-.
pansion in Europe of Il military sys-
TEN. as. severe i'm time of peace as the
old systems We're. i'm wartime. a. sort
of perpetual levy en- masse.
Measures which once have. been
deemed ,iniustitiable. except in the
most threatening emergency. are now
employed. every day. and what was
the standard of war has been fixed as
the standard of peace. Under the,
new system every eligible man is. at
agiNcn aga,,. withdrawn from his trade.
or occupation and converted for three,
or five years into a soldier, till he
becomes proficient in firing IL breech-
loader and in the appropriately named
goose-step after which he may 60
back tn his civilian calling. but with
the liability of being summoned to
fight at any time until he is As or so
years old.
The economic waste which is due
to this system needs no comment.
To estimate the sun we must reckon
in not only the money actually spent
on food. clothes, lodging. arms, and
ammunition. the salaries of officers
and the stipend of common soldiers.
besides the building and repairing of
Notifications, but also the wealth
which these idle multitudes could
produce, were they protttably en-
ployed. This computed. Europe is
poorer by not less than 81, 600, 900. 900
Il year. Her armed peace during the
last twenty years has cost her as
much as she paid for all Napoleon's
terrific campaigns from Lodi to
Waterloo.