Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-06-01


stage of the struggle now in progress,
that there has been any improvement
in the art of war. Out OF the welter
of blood. the wreck of cities and the
crush of civilization which make the
war so appalling there emerges just
one man who appears to have touch
lof Napoleonic genius-von Hinden-
burg. All the rest, on both sides,
seem to be the servants rather than
the masters of the mighty machines
that have been fabricated in order
that warfare may be more efficient,
A commander of first-rate talent
seems to be the need of the hour in
Europe. 1t is not too much to say
that the side which first develops one
will have preponderating advantage,
providing he comes forward while the
contending forces are yet fairly well
balanced in all other particulars. But
to be of any use. he must come soon.
After all, economic pressure is much
more powerful in protracted wars of
great magnitude than the weight OF
the mightiest armies and the skill of
the most brilliant captains. If the
Corsican had understood the principles
of political economy as thoroughly as
he understood the importance of hav-
ing the more effective artillery at a
given point and at particular time
his dream of empire might have come
true.
In one detail we seem to have ac-
tually gone back since Waterloo.
When Napoleon got his first army
the affairs of France were in the ut
most confusion. The, Directory told
the young commander that all 1t could
give him was an army; how to feed 1t
and clothe it were problems he would
have to solve himself. During the nine
teen years that intervened between
this inauspicious beginning and the
| crash at Waterloo he not only. overran
practically every country in Europe
with the aid of huge and expensive
military establishment, but he recon-
structed France from the very founda-
tions. He found her bankrupt, disor<
ganized, threatened on every frontier,
her people starving. He restored the
administrative, financial and CONNER
cial prestige of the nation and not
only lifted burdens from the shoulders
of the individual citizens, but made 1t
possible for them to enjoy a degree
of prosperity such as no people of
continental Europe had known be-
fore. When the end came for the
Emperor, France was the most illus
trious If not actually the most power
full, single country in the whole world
and was free of debt
Debts are increasing so rapidly at
the present time that many genera
tions yet unborn will groan under the
burden that is being piled up, and
financiers gravely predict that no mat
ter how the war ends the nations will
be so completely exhausted that 1t will
be impossible to exact money in
demnity from the vanquished party.
The case for funded debts in the main
is strong one, but 1t is admitted that
it is a moral wrong as we'll as a glar-
ing economic error to create perpetual
or even long term debts to meet cur
rent expenses. Most military expendi-
lures are just that. 1t is among the
possibilities that one of the conse-
quences of the war will be sweeping
changes of opinion on the whole sub
ject of bond issues by national and
subordinate governments, and It would
not be surprising if there should be
general agreement that each genera
ton ought to pay for its own wars.
The immediate effect of the accept
ance of such a principle would be to
deter nations from going to war for
any but the most righteous rea-
sons and to encourage them to reduce
ornaments. An ultimate effect would
be widespread improvement mentally.
morally and materially in people of
all classes, but particularly of the
masses, who from the beginning of
time have supplied most of the blood
and treasure that has been poured
out on the altar of Mars. This would
be different, a much more comfort
able and an infinitely happier world
if the money that has gone into public
debts of all varieties in violation of
the principles of sound finance had
gone instead into the encouragement
of industry and the development of
the natural resources of the world.
And it is obvious that If the employ
ment provided by public bond issues
were curtailed along the line here
suggested surplus capital would be
compelled to go to work at something
really constructive.
But however discouraging one may
find a comparison of the financial fea-
lures of the struggles with which the
century following Waterloo began and
ended. it is the spiritual side that is
apt to make us pause the longest and
ponder the most. The indictment
against Napoleon was that he had con-
tempt for humanity and was ignorant
of its instincts and needs; that he
knew only force and in matters of
thought only that which serves force;
that while he re-esta blished the
finances of the French, he sup
pressed their liberties; that, In fine,
he misunderstood all the ideas of
which civilization is composed Be-
cause of these delinquencies Europe
united and drove him forth, an outlaw.
But what of the present? Only one
thing prevents the conclusion that
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