Evening star., 1922-02-05
FRANCES MILITARY
EXPENSE DEFENDED
"Help Us Collect Money Due
Us and Well Pay U. ST."
Says Lauzanne.
BY STEPHANE LAUZANNE,
Editor-in-Chief, LIE Matin, Paris.


Editor-in-Chief, LIE Matin, Paris.
PARIS, February 4.-The United
States Senate passed a resolution,
presented by Senator Medill McCor-
mick. inviting Secretary Hughes to
provide the Senate with full informa-
tion regarding the-military expendi-
lures Of European governments and
the effect of such expenditures on
European indebtedness toward the
United States.
OF course. the resolution caused a
good deal Of comment in France.
why does the Senate care only
about military expenditures and not
about naval expenditures" many
Frenchmen asked me. why only Is
money set aside for the upkeep Of
soldiers and fortifications, and why
doesn't the Senate ask about money
set aside for the upkeep of sailors
and capital ships?"
But what I do know very well is
that the figures asked for by Senator
Mccormick are extremely easy to
give, at least so far as the French
republic is concerned.
Found in National Budget.
There is no mystery about them,
nor is there any secrecy. They are
known; they are public. They are to
be found at length in the national
both chambers. Credits granted the
French ministry of war for the year
1929 amount to exactly 3,709.345. asa
francs-namely, 2.960.815,269 francs
for the ordinary permanent expendi-
lures of the French army and 74s.-
47O,185 for exceptional and extraordi-
nary expenditures resulting from the
.hostilities in the near east.
In all good justice, 1t is right to
deduct the last figure representing
exceptional outlays-for the name
itself indicates these expenses to be
exceptional and that they will fall.
to zero as soon as peace is established
in the Balkans and Asia Minor.
1t is also proper to deduct from the
permanent expenditure
of the army 43S, 900, 900 francs which
represent the cost of occupation of
Morocco and the cost OF military
service established there; 225.000,0 900
francs representing the cost of
French colonial troops IN lndo-China,
Africa and Madagascar; 150,000.000
francs representing the cost of the
in France. and 100000
francs representing the cost OF con-
stabulary for Alsace-Lorraine - for.
when one possesses colonies, troops
must be maintained to keep them in
order, and when--one has no army at
all it is necessary to have a con-
One.Twelfth of Total.
These deductions made. it is seen
that the French army will cost ex-
actly the sum total of ,2.139.4S5.2 269
francs to France in 1922-namely.
about a twelfth part of the budget for
the total expenditures of France,
which exceed 25,000,000,000 francs.
Let US convert this sum into dol
lars. A dollar today being estimated
at twelve francs, this represents $17S,-
290,439. Now if we look at the Amer
lean budget we note that for the
financial year 1s21-1s22 the expendi-
and that for the financial year 1916
1917-the last year preceding the en-q
try of the United States into the
wAr-these expenditures amounted to
exactly $s36.15s.361.
France, therefore, spends much less
on her land army than America, and
she spends half Of what America spent
of what England spent during the
financial year 1921-1922, when the ex-
penses Of the British army exceeded
$4o0 0.000, 900, exactly 106,315, 900 pounds
sterling.
That settles the military expendi-
lures of France.
"But," wrote Senator Mccormick in
a cable sent to Paris, "the American
taxpayer is conscious, patiently con-
scious, that he is paying for military
establishments in Europe"
"NOt n Cent for French Afmy.1
If the American taxpayer ia con-
scious of any such a thing he is
wrong, at least in regard to France,
because he is not paying a cent for
the. French army.
American, taxpayers advanced
France upward of $3,057, 100000 dur
ing the course of the war, which was
not only Frances war, but which was
also Americas war from April, 1917,
to November, 1918. 1t was for muni-'
tions, guns, foodstuffs and shipping
that the money given by the Ameri--
can taxpayers was used. However,
France owes it, and she will never
stop saying she will pay; but there
is one condition, that money owed
France be paid, too.
The American taxpayer Is not the
only creditor in the world. There is
q, much larger creditor than he-the
French taxpayer. More than $16,-
00o, ,000, 900 is due him. Germany, who
willed the .,os war; owes 81 France, @ BY yir. E
form and bearing the signatures of
seventeen civilized nations, more
than S12.000,0 ,000,0 900. Russia, accord
ing to all the commercial rules of the
war, owes France more than $4,000
So long as Germany and Russia
wont pay q cent to France, it will be
hard for France to pay
America. The interests of the Amer
lean and French taxpayer are prac-
tically inseparable. Let American
help the French taxpayers
collect $12 100000 due from Ger
many, and 1t will bring in the $3,-
200 .000. 900 due America. By all
means do not let the American tax
payer encourage Germany not to pay.
100000 FOR CANCER FIGHT. i
oNnoN Fehruarv "A Reute,- dis.