Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-10
THE COST OF PEACE
Expense of Maintaining Armies
and Navies Appalling.
DISARMAMENT NOT LIKELY
Nations Would Not Agree to Such
Proposal, Is Belief.
misunderstood MR.. TAFT
President Mystificd Over Recent
Action of Hungarian Parliament
Favoring His PROPOSAL
DISARMAMENT NOT LIKELY
misunderstood MR.. TAFT
EN WILLIAM L. CI RrIS.

Written fer The Star anti the Chicago Record
Herald.
The Inhabitants of the White House
are a little mystitied over the action OF
the committee on foreign affairs of tho
hungarian parliament. which according
to newspaper dispatches has unanimously
adopted resolution in favor of Pres
ident Taft's disarmament proposal The
President. however, is of the opinion that
his remarks at the banquet of the Amer
lean Society for the Judicial Settlement
of International Disputes may lie referred
10. In that address, he said
ITO say that one is in favor of peace
is not much more startling than to say
that one is in favor of honesty, in favor
of virtue i'll favor of good, and opposed
to evil. That from which the world can
derive the most benefit is a practical sug-
gestion leading to a more permanent
peace. Many have thought that this
could be brought about by an agreement
among the powers to disarm, and some
thought of d convention by which the
race to bankruptcy in the maintenance
Of great armies and the construction of
great navies might cease and a gradual
disarmament follow. Future events may
justify some different conclusion, but
movements in the past along this line have
not been fruitful of practical results.
Bankruptcy and the burdensome
weight of debt involved in continued
armament may bring about a change in
the present national tendencies. Mean
time, however, l am strongly convinced
that the best method of ultimately secur-
ing disarmament is the estab lishment of
an international court and the develop
ment of a code of international equity
which nations will recognize as affording
better method of settling international
controversies than war We must have
some method of settling issues between
nations, and if We do not have arbitra-
ton, We shall have war.
Of course, the awful results of war.
with its modern ornaments and frigltfui
cost of life and treasure, and its inevita-
BILE shaking of dynaSties and govern
ments, have made nations more chary of
resorting to the sword than ever before:
and the present, therefore, because of
this, would seem to be an excellent time
for pressing the substitution of courts
for force
In speech before the PENNSYLVANIA
Society Of New York. January p, the
President also referred to this subject,
and expressed the hope that sooner or
later public opinion would force nations
to settle their quarreis before peace trib-
unals, and when adjudication by arbi-
trail courts shall be accepted, the motive
for armament will disappear. But we
cannot hope to bring about such a con-
dltion before decades"
Armament Cheaper Than War.
The German kaiser, Theodore Roosevelt
and other high military authorities con-
tend that it is cheaper to maintain ar
mics and build fleets than to wage war.
According to their theory the Angel of
Peace. as we'll as the Almighty Power, is
on the side of the biggest battaiions, and
they would doubtless recommend the war
shoppers whom Mr.. Carnegie has ap-
pointed to spend his ten-million- dollar
peace-promoting fund for artillery and
The German kaiser. who is recognized
as the great war lord of the world,
claims to be the most earnest promoter of
peace, and is especially proud of what
Mr.. Carnegie said to him III a letter writ
ten September % last when the iron
master donated a hero fund to Germany.
In this letter the ironmaster said: II
desired this to do the more because dur
ing the present long reign Germany has
kept the peace under your guidance.
Your hands are guiltless of shedding hui
man blood, an example which cannot but
impress and influence the rulers of other
lands in the direction of blessed inter-
peace"
And when the kaiser read this he gave
his mustache another twist and looked
around at his field marshals and generals
as much as to say Il told you sou And
then he went off and made speech, in
which he said:
I'VE should review with increased sat
isfaction the manifold successes with
which the Lord has blessed our reign,
could We carry with us to the grave the
Of having given our coun-
try an additional and lasting assurance
Of peace, and the conviction that we
have rendered the needy that assistance
to which they are Justly entitled. To de-
wise the fittest ways and means for MAX
ing provision, however difficult, is one of
the highest obligations Of every nation,
based upon the eternal foundation of
A Way to Insure Peace.
II all the nations would agree to re-
duce their armies to a minimum and
stop building battleships and casting thir-
teen-inch guns they might insure the
peace of the world quite as securely as
by maintaining maximum armies and
their mad rivalry for building