Rock Island daily Argus., 1893-06-16
OPPRESSIVE PEACE.
VI EUROPE is NOW LIVING THE
LIFE OF A CANTONMENT.

In Constant Expectation of War, Industry
Dare Work For Fear of a Call to Fight.
A Graphic Review.
Two accounts have reached London as to
military preparations on the continent
which may prove to have even a historic
importance According to one, the Aus
trian government and the people have alike
determined that they will not increase the
numbers of their soldiers or the expendi-
ture ON their army, believing that they
have already nearly reached the limit of ex-
ertion and had better wait for the last su-
preme effort until war actually breaks out
According to another, the moderate leaders
of the German liberals are earnestly en-
treating the government not to dissolve on
the army bill lest the emperor should be
defeated, but rather to seek some COM
promise, or even withdraw the measure
The country, these liberals had previously
said, is sick of sacrifices.
Even should both these accounts be q
little exaggerated and some further conces-
sions be made to militarism they indicate
general opinion among persons not hos
tile to governments in the abstract that
the great military states of central Europe
have reached the limit of warlike prepare
tion in peace time and must henceforward
may. They can polish their weapons, ac-
quire better arms or avail themselves of
any new inventions, but they can utilize no
more of their population until war actually
arrives. This decision, moreover, had pre-
viously been announced by Italy, which,
indeed, pressed by her financial burdens,
had even slightly reduced her forces and
revised with view to economy all the ar
rangements for sudden mobilization Of
her troops. The whole of central Europe,
therefore, may be reported to have agreed
that they will not invade and can do no
more to render themselves safe against in
vasion.
Nearly the same may be said of the threat
ening powers upon their borders. France
is completely armed as she can bear;
has indeed reached the end of the conscrip-
ton possible in peace time, has finished her
fortresses, and in spite of her extraordinary
wealth, which the rest OF world even yet
hardly realizes, is most unwilling before
war is actually upon her to increase the
burdens on her people. Russia is in almost
the same position. Her finances are strained
to the last point, and it is doubtful whether
she would gain strength by accumulating
moro of her army in the west, where al
ready the increased cost of food, forage and
barrack accomm odatfon is severely felt by
the military department, which still re-
Quires large sums to perfect it's supplies of
scientific munitions OF war.
If this is an accurate account-and we
believe it to rest upon the best information
the whole continent has at last reached q
position in which an armed peace, exces-
sively but not unendurably costly, may last
for years, perhaps even for a generation.
The rulers are afraid to break it, and the
peoples are not even inclined The former
understand the magnitude Of the risks to
be run, the equality Of the two great par
ties into which Europe Is divided and the
difficulty Of discovering the military genius
which alone could secure durable victory
to one side or the other. The latter under
stand the horrible carnage which will mark
the next campaign, and though they will
face it II attacked they do not urge their
rulers to be,gin-are rather inclined indeed
to praise their wisdom when they close up
questions which might lead to war. They
are sensible folk and have their bones to
take care OF if they can.
This is a kind of peace. and one would
say a priori that except as regards taxa
tion, it was a satisfactory kind. But this
kind of peace has, nevertheless, peculiari-
ties which weigh upon the minds of men.
For one of them il does not produce conf
dence either in rulers or their peoples. The
former will not disarm for an hour, how
ever great the relief would be to their treas
uries and their subjects; the latter will rot
finished in few months. Industry does
not languish, and enterprise is not dead, but
the capital of the world accumulates in
heaps, only to be retained in heaps until
there is more certainty"
The projectors of new undertakings find
themselves dealing with capitalists sudden
ly gone old, stricken with caution, inclined
to count time and to say they must leave
projects so great to be considered by their
successors. 1t is time for the direct rail
way to India, time for great works in the
way of storage of water, time for making
the interior of Africa fully accessible, but
the nations shrink back, and with money
choking all markets say they would rather
wait for a more assured peace. The quiet
is real, as real the quiet in camp at
night, but it has none of the material ad-
vantages OF quiet.
Nobody, so to speak, dare strip to his
work or put himself in any position in
which. if the quiet were broken by loud
cries. he could not instantly be ready to
meet any danger, however unexpected. The
pace of the whole industrial world has be
come slower, and if the truce lasts 80 years,
those years will show less advance in indus
trial progress than in any of the recent
thirties which have preceded them. The
nations grow rich, it is true; but it is as
men grow rich by agriculture not as they
grow rich in bustling and prosperous work
shops. There is a lull even in intellectual
life, lull in the production of great men, u
lull in the appearance of great books, a life
going on like the life of cantonment,
where there is no war and no peace, and
everything is DULY eXpectant of a contin-
gency which may never occur, but to meet
which everything must be kept in an or
derly routine. The armed peace produces
something like the halt of an army where
all is quiet, but all effort is felt to be useless
or out of place and is consequently half
hearted.-London Spectator
Squire Abingdon's One Joke.