The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-02
WARS EXPENSE AS
 NAVY ARGUMENT Would Soon Bankrupt the
 Greatest Nations S15,000,000 PER DAY The Navy League Argues Our Navy Should be Kept so Large as
 to Insure No War in
 the Future
$15,OOO,0O0 PER DAY
By C. E. STEWART

Washington, April 1.-tSpecial.) )-There will never be another war between two
 great nations that will last anything near the time that the civil war in the United States later is the opinion of experts connected with the Navy league
 Such a war, or one running through half the time that it took to settle the strug- gle between the north and the south would bankrupt any nation on earth The cost of modern equipment and machinery and ammunition for war is so great that no country could stand the financial drain, even if they held out in other respects. 'The cost of war between two first class
 nations would amount to sl5,ooo.ooO day.
 A war of 90 days would cost s1 ,35o, ,0oO. .ooo
 Should fleet leave foreign country for the purpose of bombardment or invasion of this country, who is there that could calculate what the scare of such fleet would cost this country in depreciation of value alone?"
 Such are points made by Commodore A. V. Wadhams, U. $. N, in answer to queries from the Navy league of the United States in an attempt to get at the
 cost of possible war that such cost
 might be balanced against that of main taining a fleet of sufficient strength to
 keep the peace.
 There has been no war" he con- tinued, between first class nations since the great increase in the size of guns now carried on board modern men-of- war , In the Russian-Ja'panese war the Japa-
 nese with their 12-inch guns sank Rus sian ships at a distance exceeding one and one-half miles. The Japanese ships ! At ta..t, had Tr..r ..l.
 naughts carry 10 big guns, and the cal iber has increased tos15 inches. with twice
 the muzzle velocity of the Pinch guns The increase in the size of these guns vii increase the cost and the destructiveness of war.
 Alfred H. Friel of Vienna winner oi the Nobel peace prize, estimated that the
 Balkan war in a few months cost between $l ,250, ,000C00 and $l.500,0 ,0C9 OO9. This amount covered merely the military expenditures for the maintenance of the armies during mobilization, and the destruction of ma terials. The destruction of economic values and the obstruction of commerce. industry and agriculture will swell the grand total to additional billions In this account there are no entries of nationa loss because of the flower of the young
 manhood that is sacrificed. Neither is there any consideration of the hugh cost
 of pensions, which, under the American system, live for a century after the war
 and make up the largest appropriation oi the nation
 We should remember that the wars of late years, the Boer. the Manchurian and the Balkan, from which estm ates can be
 made, have all been fought in the out skirts of civilization. For more than 4 years there has been no great war be- ! tween the great nations of Europe in tn, Strongholds of civilization.
 Were this country to maintain a navy of such strength that there was no ques tion of it's ability to defeat the forces of any possible army, where would be
 the nation that would make war with us. This would require no small expenditure but it would mean protection against not improbable national disaster and incal- culably greater expenditures And of all
 nations the United States is best prepared
 to hold the pace in shipbuilding. If she
 would build ship for ship with the best
 of them, other nations would become
 bankrupt while her financial position was
 yet unimpaired.
 The Navy league is engaged in an earn
 est effort to induce Congress to allow
 appropriations for two immense dread
 naughts carrying the heaviest armament
 and biggest guns afioat