The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-08-04
Awful Cost Of LAST Century's Wars;
''Flaf Might Have Been Prevented 7

''Ealf
Chief Justice Brewer, of the supremeC
Court of the United States, is credited
with a statement that had we allowed
tne negotiations With spain to con- 4
tihne for thirty days longer, Instead OF
terminating them for the arbtraimpnt
OF war. Spain would have made Cuba,
Tree and we should have obtained the
!, nlilippines at no greater outlay thnn{
the sum they cost as
It Is a striking statement and one
That may Wellsform the basis Of dis
cussion of the real use of the so-called
Npeace movement of the day. says
World IS Work for July. For. II the
Spanish American War could have
been averted by a common sence pol
icy OF arbitration or delay, then the
movement has a tangible and practical
meaning to every citizen OF the United
states. It may be aYfactor In prevent
ing other wars into which we might
plunge.
\ study OF the last century and its
wars reveals the. startling fact that
civilized races, more than halfamight
have been prevented by the applica-
ton of common sense. backed BY o
powerful and well-organized peace
movement throughout the world.
IT is difficult to reckon with any de-
gree Of certainty the exact loss In men
and money entailed upon the nations
~. these wars. Fairly reliable stats
tics are obtainable for about seventeen
OF the big wars since 1916, and these
figures are shown III the accompanying
table. .i&S
These figures take no account Of
hundred wars" the punitive.
expeditions by the dozen carried out
by the other colonizing nations
throughout the whole period. nor OF
ma ny other clashes more or less cost
" and serious. In a Burmese war,tun
listed here, the British alone spent
over s60,000,00o and lost 10000 men
In the retreat from Cabul, 10000 Brit
ish soldiersSafell. The list does not
include thefIndinn nutiny, the British
war against China for the opium
trade. the Danish-Prussian war. the
war of Russia against Persia. The
omissions arc made because while In
many instances fairly accurate figures
can be obtained for one side, the
losses of the other side are impossible
even to guess.
It Is undoubtedly conservative to
say that the direct cost of the wars
In which the civilized or semi-civil-
lied races have been engaged In dur
Ing this period will run to 100000
men and over 100000 900 in money.
Much Of this enormous loss might
have been averted
OF the forty important wars Of the
period covered, about one-half were
Revolutionary: but in seven OF these
iptarOanPd To
affect or change the course Of the
struggle OF these revolutionary out
breaks, twelve may be traced to the
Influence Of the principles that were
born in the French revolution, and
that found q fertile soil for their
growth In the disturbed conditions that
were general throughout Europe after
the fall OF Napoleon Bonaparts These
wars were the natural result OF the
great clash between the PRINCIPLES OF
ldespotismt and liberty in the French
revolution.
| OF the other revolutionary move
ments, four were the btrth-throes Q
South American republics. and were
directed against Spain, Greece. Bel
GUM and Italy, Two others wer'
brought about by personal ambition
the revolt of Mahommed All in Syrii
and the coup d'etat OF Napoleon III
The last two revolutionary wars-th
| Indian mutiny and our own Civil w
had their origin the first in'Fth
natural clash Of two civilizations. tn
second in the clash OF two great prln
ciplcs.
Roughly. there were twenty impor
i tant wars In which the underlyln
causes were true international quess
lions. OF these, three were probabl
4 fought on principle, although the pric
OF victory In each case was territoria
4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS These three were tn
a war OF France against Austria to es
Z tnblish the kingdom Of italy, in re
I: turn for which France became mis-
tress Of Savoy: the war that folloWe
England's interference in dynast
. troubles in Afghanistan, and our ow
war with Spain.
4 Another division OF this great grow
OF war embraces three wars fougf
i primarily and principally for comme1
cial reasons, not always too lott
| The three wars are the so-calle
( opium war" whereby Britain force
!. the opium trade into China: the Boz
. war, and the Boxer troubles In China
! The fourteen other great inferno
tional struggles were wars for terri
: torial ACKNOWLEDGMENT, although In eat
3 case there were plausible preteXts
] the shape OF national honor, CONNIE
3 cial rights and other consideration
!. that weigh with the nations.
{ OF the forty wars classified in t
/, preceding paragraphs, twenty-five a
! pear to be Of kinds that might ha
8 yielded to a possible solution throul
r the medium Of a peace movement SUI
9 GENTLY powerful.
I To-day the considerations of col
n merce outweigh all others before t
" councils Of Britain, Germany, Fran
n and the United States, at least. The
. have been few real commercial wa
!, since the beginning of the last &c
It fury. but the questions that tod
! look most likely to result In war a
IS commercial questions, rather tn
h questions Of national aggrandizeme
=, or even class freedom.
81 The very essence of the peace mo'
,r ment seems to lie in this matter
commerce. The problem that broue
r, 1T to life seems to have been stranf
as ly compounded OF humanitarian
D. and of commercialism. First, It is
- y 4 s.