Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1914-04-18
NEWS FROM WASHINGTON, D. C.
"Wor Is He'll" And Expensive.

prices on fighting at sea 1t is doubtful
whether big nations can really afford
the luxury. OF course big navies cost
a lot of money, and the people of all
great nations, including Britain. Ger
many, France, and our own, are inter
ested in the progress of universal
peace, largely because the game Of
preparation IS so expensive. Real
statistical results on the cost of actual
frst-class warfare among frst-class
nations are even more startling. Com.
modore A. Y. Wadhams, U. S. NJ, who
claims to know what he is talking
about and whose braid is SO extensive
as to carry the conviction that possibly
his is not a vain concert, says:
The cost of war between two first.
class nations would amount to SIS, 600.
600 a day. A wsr If ninety days woulf
cost 81, 350. 600, 600 Should a fleet leave
foreign country for the purpose Of
bombardment or invasion of this coun-
try, who IS there to calculate what the
scare of such feet would cost this
country in depreciation of value alone.
There has been no war" be con
tinued. between hrst-class nations since
the great increase in the SIZE of guns
now carried on board modern men-of-
war. In the Russlan-Japanese war,
the Japanese, with their twelve-nch
guns, sunk Russian ships at a distance
exceeding one and half miles The
japanese ships each had four twelve
inch guns. Now dreadnauRhts carry
ten big guns, and the calber has in
creased to fifteen inches, with twice
the muzzle velocity of the twelve-inch
guns. The increase in these guns viii
increase the cost destfuctivenessE of
war.
Alfred II. Fre, of Vienna. winner
of the Nobel peace prize. estimated
that the Balkan war in a few months
cost between a billion and a quarter
and billion and half dollars. This
amount covered merely the military
expenditures for the maintenance OF
the army during mobilization and the
destruction of materials. The des.
truction of economic values and OBJ
struction Of commerce, industry and
agriculture viii swell the grand total
to additional billions. In this account
there are no entries Of national loss
because of the flower of young man.
hood that is sacrificed Neither is any
entry made in the huge cost of pen.
sions, which under the American sys
tenn, live for a century after war and
make up the largest appropriation Of
the nation.
We should remember that the wars
J of late years, the Boer, the Manchur-
ian, and the Balkan. form which
estimates have been made. have all
been fought in the outskirts of civil
ization. For more than forty years
there has been no war among the great
powers Of Europe IN the strongholds of
civilization.
We're this nation to MAINTAIN
navy of such strength that there was
no question Of It's ability to defeat the
forces Of any possible enemy. where
would be the nation that would make
war with Us. This would require no
small expenditure hut it would mean
hDrotecuon against not improbable
B national disaster and intellectually
greater expenditures. And of all nat
ions the United States IS best prepared
20 hold the pace in ship-building. She
# them all is most productive. If she
I ehould build ship for ship with the
lest of them, other nations would be-
ONE bankrupt while her financial
y position was yet unimpairad. "
Unde..oood's Victory.
The people of Alabama who support
"A 4 O-o.- t,5 ~