The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1909-12-31
TO SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT.

Theodore Roosevelt said that the sur
est way to prevent war was to prepare
for war. This maxim being correct
there should be no war between great
nations for many years as every great
world power is straining every nerve
to put its military forces on a plane
little higher than its neighbor. The tax
for naval and military expenditures i'm
posed by the various governments is
sorely straining the credit of each ma
ton. Japan, still bowed down under
the financial pressure of her late war,
is yet steadily adding to her naval ar
mament. Great Britain and Germany
are straining the resources of their
countries to the utmost in preparation
for war which their diplomatic say
will never come, but which each nation
secretly believes is inevitable. Our own
United States, free from the brols and
ENGAGEMENTS of continental Europe, in
the midst of a profound peace, is pill
ing million on million into war fund
from which warships, naval defenses,
land Notifications, shall grow.
Judson C. WelIiver, writing in Mum
sey's Magazine on the subject of
"Growing Expenditures of Our Govern
ment," gives the following trenchant
figures on our military outlay:
"When the Civil War broke out. the
country had almost no fighting ships.
In 1860 the navy cost only ll,5l4, 900.
In the next five years the first iron
and steel fleet in the world was con-
structed, and blockade of the Atlantic
and Gulf Coasts from Hampton Roads
to the Rio Grande was established and
made effective. Hundreds of vessels
were built, manned, sailed and fought
That blockade was the most wonderful
thing the North accomplished during the
war. 1t sealed the South and starved
it into submission. 1t was one of the
greatest proofs of the efficiency of sea
power that the world has seen. To build
and maintain that great new fleet was
a tremendous costly business. In
1865, the year when the navy cost most,
its bills footed up $l22,6l2, 600 And
vet, in 1910, on a strictly peace footing,
the navy will cost the nation Sl36,93
600"
THE army of the United States to-
tails about 1000 officers and men. In
1864, the Union, at the climax of the
Civil War, maintained about a million
men under arms, engaged in the expen-
sive business OF campaigning. The con
tinent resounded to their tread That
year the army cost S9O,79l SAP; the
navy, $S5, 1894. Total cost of army
and navy for 1864, $776,5l7,436. Now
let that be compared to the military
expenditures for which appropriations
have been made for 1910 They are:
Army -------------------S l0l, 1915, 1888
Navy ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS l36,935, lg9
Pensions ------------------ l60,00S, 900
Fortifications -------------- S,l701ll
Military Academy ---------- 1881, 52l
Total 49, $409, 740, ia
a simple calculation develops the
fact that the military establishment
in 1870 without the suspicion of a war
cloud above the horizon, will cost 527
per cent as much as it did in 1864
Comparing with ls63-the year of Vicks-
burg and Gettysburg-it is found that
military expenditures for 1910 will be
Gl.6 per cent of those for 1868. And GO
ing back to 1862, the comparison de-
velops that the military budget of 1910
il 93.5 per cent the cost of the war in
the year of Shiloh and the peninsular
campaign.
Evidently the military establishment
Is coming rather high, for a time of pro-
found peace 1t is calculated to stagger
he pocketbook of humanity to consider
what a war would costa real war such
as Japan fought against Russia"
It is evident that the white dove
Of peace must be a very valuable bird.
Judging from the price we are paying
10 possess it.
That is one way, and the one which !