The Washington times., 1916-02-18
the WARS SUPREME LESSON

pEOuhDiy SOmctHinB pcbb, thau pAVV,-
000, 900 per day, according to the
best calculations. There is the word
Of Mr.. Asquith that it is costing
Great Britain alone $25,000,000 a
day, England's being the biggest bill
of the lot because she is doing the
biggest work: building an army
where Germany and France already
had armies, making munitions for
current use, and storing a surplus.
where more military countries had
equipped themselves in advance for
such needs, maintaining navy now
vastly greater than 1t ever was be-,
fore, loaning her cash and credit to
her allies.
France, according to her fiscal au-
thorities, is spending $4,000, 900 a
fday, which, considering the lower
scale Of incomes, is probably quite as
heavy a burden as that Of Britain.
Russia, Germany, Austria, Turkey,
and the minors will surely bring up
another $5O,0O0,OOO, possibly $780,
100000.
How can they keep on doing It?
They do it, not out Of accumulated
wealth, not from current income in
the accepted sense, but by a redirec-
tion of their expenditures; by get
ting along without things they once
regarded as necessary, and produc-
ing other things, which they know
are more necessary. They are DEM
onstrating what thinkers have long
, kpown, that the greatest wealth Of
the world after all is its human
wealth; its skill of hands and head;
its producing capacity. Given land
! and people, wealth becomes an Incl.
dent. Given land, people, and peace
) there will always be vast produc-
! ton of things which represent waste
Bring war, turn every possible en-
, ergy of the people to it, and the
waste will be directed into new chan
3 nels. That is the reason why ma
: ton, under proper economic control
: can spend in war proportion Of it,
income on the affairs of war, 81
e great that it would seem utterly pre-
: posterous, viewed from the stand
n point Of peace conditions.
Four men sit down to dine, and thu
E check is 500. The repast actuall!
/. cost most Of that sum; cooks, wait
a ers, gardeners, hothouse men, rea
estate owners, transportation, and al
s the other elements contributed u
! make up the sum. Yet the four mel
v might have spent 80 cents apiece ant
n been quite as we'll nourished. Their
It would have been left $18. Assum
n that the cooks, walters, gardeners
! etc., had done $18 worth of worl
e making powder, shrapnel cases, o
h machine guns, and it is apparen
Il that the $18 of effort has merel
# been turned from one kind of vast
to another kind. The four diner
will be just as efficient workers to
" morrow, on their 50-cent dinners
probably considerably more so-tha
% !. on the $40; and the powder an
: shrapnel may be exploded withou
- any greater waste than would hav
- taken place if it had been eaten i
= the form of Holsters, hothous
grapes, and pate de foie gras.
- That is what Europe is doing now
- it is eating 50-cent dinners an
W spending $18 for war materials.
is working harder, faster. more eff
* ciently, in the production of shral
ie mel and machine guns than it eve
ct did to turn out the things that rel
r resented the wastes of peace. It ca
We go on increasing its efficiency, redu
Va ing its wastes; it will not be &c,
= nomically exhausted, but 1t will
" economically reorganized; and aft,
r. the war the new economics will
n turned to the service Of peace an
a. humanity.