The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-04-13
Copyright. Western Newspaper Un.
VII.
WARS HORRIBLE WASTE

Mr.. f. {. Leftingwell was the as
sistant secretary of the treasury In
charge Of finances during the war.
While he was in the treasury he be-
came deeply impressed with the mag
nitude of government Expenditures and
the looseness, ~inefEciency and waste
that are a part of government meth
cd. All the secretaries of the treas
ury since the outbreak of the war
have shared this feeling of apprehen-
sion and concern with Mr.. Letting
we'll. I quote here a recent utterance
Of his on war expenditures:
"Of the $4,000, OOO, 900, exclusive of
interest on the public debt, spent In
the fiscal year 1921. 81, 101, 615, O13.3 80
was spent by the War department,
$3.50, 1873, 1855 by the Navy depart
ment, $500, OOO, 900 on the railroads,
$3.50, 900 900 by the bureau of wal risk
insurance, and 1857, S14, S97.O1 by the
Interior department, mostly, I take 1t,
for Civil war and Spanish wal pen
sions-a total Of $1,000, 600, 1000 under
these heads.
I'm the fiscal year 1920 the War de-
partment spent 81 $40, 900, 200, and the
Navy department $74O,O coo, 1000, a total
of $2,35O, 600 1000. Secretary Mellon
estimates that In the fiscal year, 1921,
the War department will spend $1,O25,-
100000, and the Navy department
800, OOO, 900, a total of $1,725, OOO, 900
and that in the fiscal year, 1922, the
Val department will spend $570,0OO,-
600, and the Navy department $685.
100000, a total of $1,115, 100000. This
makes a three-years' total of $780,
zoo, 900.
Germany went to war to realize ON
her investment in arms and armies.
The burden of universal military serv-
ice, expenditures on the army and
navy, subsidies and doles, became In
tolerable. She thought she would re-
peat the exploit of 1870 and make war
SO profitable in territory and indem-
mites al to recoup herself for the
outlay of 40 years preparation. The
splendid resistance of the Belgians and
the French and Of the little British
expeditionary force made the short
war a futile dream. The unframed
manhood and unmortgaged resources
of the Western World, of the British
empire overseas, and finally Of Amer
lea, determined the issue. Germany
suffered economic collapse, though her
armies, beaten but not routed, were
still on enemy soil. So Germany's
military preparedness was her cause
for making war and was the cause Of
her defeat. In the issue, 1t was eco
nomic preparedness that mattered
most.
To-day, men, IN and little chill
dren are starving to death in Europe be-
cause of the wars horrible waste and
because of the still more horrible waste
of after the war. Two years and a
half after armistice, nearly two years
after peace was concluded between
Germany and the allies, millions of
men are under arms, eating and wear
ing the produce Of the fields and of
the labor of q civilian population
which must bear the load Of taxes and
imitation necessary to maintain those
armies in economic idleness. The peo-
pies Of continental Europe are stag
gering under the load of ornaments.
far too great before the war and In
tolerable now. Their rulers hold them
selves In power by subsidies and doles.
by playing. now on their fears, and
again on their ayarice, stu again on
nationalistic ambitions Or ancient RI
cial hatreds. The allies have under
taken to insure Germany's economic
recovery By insisting upon her disarrn-
ament and the payment Of ~reparations
which means the development OF =
huge export balance: but for them
selves they reserve the doubtful prfvt-
Iese of remaining armed 10 the teeth.
1--WE have demonstrated our mill,
tary powsr. have shown Whist
may BE- done Ii I few short months
d make IN army ma transport II to
w4re . foreign war. M have ~ need
ID b ageressors abroad, we arr invuI-
ner3bie 81 heSna Let u aecept tne
mnonalhiIittes4 fha 1al1inkLAe11