New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-22
UILTTARISM THEN AND NOW.

UTLTTiRISM THEN AND NOh'
IT has long been the amiable fashion to point
TO Continental Europe as q horrible example Oh
the evils Of miltarism We are told that nNe
of its chief nations are crushed Dencath the
load. that the load is steadily becoming heavier
and more CALLING, and that it is thing OF MOI
ern origin, dating only from the inception Vi
Otto Won Bismarck's ''blood and iron policy.
All that sounds well on the part of distant
Nation. secure in the self-righteousness OF non
militarism. And indeed, it is not Tor a moment
to be doubted that our freedom from the con-
scription and from great standing army Is
blessing The establishment of the European
system here would be absolutely int0eraOe
II is not even to he reckoncd among remote
possibilities Nevertheless. II is as well to be ac-
curate I'm orr statements Of fact about other ma
lions and iudicious In our drawing OF cOnclu-
slons therefrom 1t has already been pointed
ont with convincing force that the military sys-
fem Is by no means an unmitgated evil, IN
asmuch as It takes the raw undsciplined youth
and not only gives him his living for term OF
wears but educates him. trains him. and gives
him hack 10 civil life far more efficient work
or and therefore n far more valuable member
Of the community. than he would otherwise
have been. We shall also on due investigation.
find that mllitarism far from being new thing
and growing steadily worse, is really an old
thing. now growing more tolerable.
NJ Duruv. the French historian. reminds us
that II was not Bismarck who established mill
tarIs1n. but the Grand Monarque," Louis XIV
Of France. 1T is from his reign says VI.
Durlly, that date the great standing armies
heavy charge upon the national
.hot fz a0tlr trIQ
reIgned over not more than twenty million
subjects; yet he maintained n standing army OF
100000. To-day France has 3S0o0OO0 inhab-
itants. and an army Of $4,000 Louis mus
made 2H per cent of his people soldiers, while
the Third Republic thus employs only 6-l0 per
cent To equal the army Of the Grand Mon
argue" proportionately, France should To-Day
have an army of more than S55,OoO. or nearly
30 per cent larger than she actually has. Nor
is that the only difference In favor OF the pres
ent status In old times there were wholesale
exemptions of privileged classes, and cor
responding harshness and ruthlessness in draw
ing from the subject classes. Still more strik-
ing is the record Of Germany. Frederick VIII
/ lam I Of Prussia had 100000 subjects and
| 10000 soldiers. and Frederick the Great had
/ 45OOOOO subjects and 100000 soldiers, while
| William II Of Germany has 100000 subjects
and 1000 soldiers. The first named monarch.
/ therefore had a military ratio OF 3la per cent
and the second one Of 3 1-3 per cent, while the
present War Lord keeps only I ITO OF his peo-
ple under arms If William III were to main
tain as large army as did Frederick VIII
lam l. he would have no less than 100000
soldiers in time of peace an increase Of no less
| than 215 per cent. Or. II we turn TO England.
with her "bloated naval armament" we find the
same facts prevailing. Before our Revolution
and the Napoeonic wars, with a population OF
100000. she had $4,000 seamen. To-day, with
n population OF 4O.0O0.000. she has 10000 men
In her navy And while her national wealth
has in the interval increased more than twenty
fold her naval expenditures have increased only
a little more than twelvefold
The fact is then. that the "boated arma
ments" OF to-day are not nearly as bloated as
those Of a century or two ago. The tendency Ii
toward a reduction Of them. The manner OF
nrocuring them is also incomparably more hui
name and less CALLING TO the people. And the
direct or indirect returns from them to the
neople. in the shape OF education discipline and
the like. are very much greater. These facts
are of course no justification Of the evils OF
tho system. but they do show that In con
demnation Of them IL is possible TO outrun iudg
ment and truth. which is not commendable
thing 10 do not even in talking about other ma
lions and their rulers.