Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-06-02
MONEY MADE
IN MANY WARS

1t is customary to suppose that war is
an expensive luxury, that it is SO costly |
an experiment hat nations hesitate to
engage in it for monetary if for no other
reasons, and that many a difficulty i'll
be automatically arranged to avoid the
possibility of the enormous expenditure
that armed conflict would nacassirate. !
In spite of popular opinion, however,
history proves c2nclusively that il is
foreign to fact, and that while val is
costly enogh to those who are vanuished,
there can be no question that it is one OF
the best methods of naAkonaf money
making, providing it is aged successful
ly.
Sush al historic review is particularly
interesting at this time, in view of the
fact that Great Britain has been called
upon to make the, most enormous appro-
priations for the purpose of carrying on
the war in South Africa, and yet, in spite
of the immensely of these figures there
is reason to believe hat the English gov
ernment ould be able to end the war with
"a profit to itself providing the Beers can
be defeated within a comparatively short
time.
There have been many wars between
the nations of the world during the past
thirty years, and in nearly every instance
the victorious nation has been able at
the close to regard it's bank account 18th
a considerable degree of complacency,
and there is more than one of the power
! full diplomats of Europe who would
agree in the assertion that there are
man, things in this world that are worse
than war.
Of course, if the campaign that is be-
ing Waged is long and arduous, there is
l. possibility that the vanuished nation
may sink to such an impoverishd condl-
tion that it. is impossible to realize a
profit from the conflict, and yet these in
stances have been SO few within the
memory of the present generation at
least that it is difficult to understand
the argument on which the current opin-
ion is based.
At the present time it would be some
what difficult for the United States au-
thorities to tell just how this nation
stands in relation to its war with Spain.
If the fighting had ended With the sign
F.; States would have had a large sum of
money On the right side of the books,
but the long drawn out campaign In the
+ Philippines. which can only "be, regarded
as part and parcel with our Spanish
war, has drawn. heavily against our IA
vorable balance. ~ - ~,
In all the conflicts that England has
/ aged, however, the profit has been quite
a considerable item. In her war with
China, more than half a century ago,
there was a profit of more than N,O00.-
600 to show for the three years fighting,
and thisw was a particularly excellent per-
centage when one considers that the
original expenditure of Great Britain only
came to a little over ST.. 900, 900 It was
at about this time that England learned
how to wage wage war successfully, and
since that day there have been few bat
: t1nc p,1o11t NV EfhnE 3Cn1Hiotc fNE 3fha imam
that have not been made to pay the ma
ton well.
In the recent war between Turkey and
Greece the result was most satisfactory
to the former from a financial point OF
view. and Japan made an exceedingly
fine thing out of her last misunderstand-
ing with china In that war. which was
managed extremely well. Japan had only
$1,000 men engaged, SO that the cost to
her altogether did not exceed the COM
paratiye trife of $50, OOO, 900. China, on
the other hand, as compelled to pay her
the neat little sum of $1S5, 600, 900. leaving
a clear profit of $155, 0O0,O 0 which, reck-
i oning the time the war lasted, worked
out a profit of $50 a week per soldier.
Remarkable as this achievement was.
however, other nations have done fully
as well. Germany, for instance, is the
admiration of fnanciers, owing to the
manner in which she runs her wars and
TIE cOlIllOIlHDle Hllle DdldHce lHHl SHE
has managed to make out of them. Her
famous war with Franc in 1870 is one
that ministers of finance dream about,
as it is regarded as one of he most won
derfully successful conflicts of modern
times. Speaking roughly, this war cost
Germany about $575. 900, 900. The govern
ment voted 5000, 600, 900 of this for ex-
penses and the pensions that she was
compelled to pay afterwards to her dis
abled soldiers amounted to about $25.
900, 900.
To these items has to be added one Of
$3.50, 900, 900 as he loss sustained by her
owing to the fact that a million soldiers
ere taken away from their occupa lions
but on the other side of the book there
are items enough to more than balance
these immense sums of money. For in
stance, France was compelled to pay al
indemnity at the finish to the tune OF
more than 5000, 600, 600, but ever this huge
amount by nc means represents the to-
tai of the profits derived by Germany
Alsace and Lorraine, hich she captured
from the French, are c~onservatively val
ued at $325, 600, 900, and, in addition tc