Evening star., 1939-10-25
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.

~ WAN tAA> DAtovv ANs
Il am going to disemboWel you;
I am going to cut your tongue, put
out your eyes, and throw your dirty
head to the vultures." These were
a few sentences which this writer
heard as he arrived at the Tula
(Russia) railroad station during the
last World War.
Two Russian soldiers were
stretched out on mattress of SUM-
flower seeds, eating that great deli
cacy OF the Russian peasantry and
hurting blood-curdling threats with
out making the slightest gestures Of
hitting each other.
The new war seems to be made in
the same spirit. The Germans
threaten the British with destruction
OF the empire; the British threaten
the Germans with complete annihi-
lation and the French are second
ing the British. But neither power
dares actually move against the
other.
Since the first of September there
have been only skirmishes on the
western front. The air fleets of the
belligerents have stayed home. The
little raids made over Britain and
Germany with maximum of -
alrplanes in each raid cannot be de-
scrloed as more than scouting oper-
atoms on a minor scale. Before the
war broke out Germany was allow
ing the news to come out that SQUAD
rons OF 100 planes each were kept
IN readiness to visit British and
French industrial centers with raids
every hour for "a hours a day. The
french and British were getting
eeared up to do the same thing or
oetter IN Germany. The sea warfare
has been costly to the allies, but can
not be considered as an important
ana decisive military operation.
X X X
FROM. the humanitarian point of
view this IS an ideal war. But the
governments of all European coun-
trles-belligerents and neutrals alike
wonder where this is going to
lead them. And the answer is that
unless some definite peace pour
parlers are started within the next
few weeks, this war might fizzle
into some serious internal disturb
anceS.
Let's take the neutrals first.
Switzerland is compelled to keep on
war footing because otherwise her
neutrality might be violated.
This precautionary measure costs
the little European public no less
than 81 100000 day Furthermore
1t had to curtail the productive in
dustrial work and replace it with
work on eventually useless war ma
terlal-stuff which, when the danger
Is over, will have little or no sales
value. The production is being fur
ther curtailed by the fact that many
OF the industrial workers have been
compelled to join the national army
Swiss authorities figure that if this
war is going to last another 18
months, one of the most prosperous
countries in Europe will be bankrupt.
The same thing applies to other pa
cific European states like the Neither
lands. Sweden. Norway, Denmark.
They are all on a war footing now,
spending far above of their income
and unable for many reasons to
pursue their old policy of producing
and trading with outside nations.
X X X X
It is not definitely known how
much Britain and France are spend
ing every day on this quiet var. 1t
is conservatively estimated that
their expenditure, with millions OF
men mobilized, with factories pro-
ducing war paraphernaha, must ex-
ceed $50, 100000 day. True enough
France and Great Britain are
wealthy nations, but they too will
find themselves in a hopeless pre-
dicament if they have to spend
some $40, ,000, 900 900 a year or moth
ing. The tanks, the airplanes, the
gas masks and the ammunition,
which are the principal production
of the national economy of both
countries, have no commercial value
IN time of peace. It is just money
thrown away without any hope OF
recovering it.
The money will have to come
eventually from somewhere. In
democratic states private property
is respected and when the govern
ment is spending money it has to
come into the treasury from some
where. And that is from the tax
payers, regardless of what their in
come may be. Heavy taxes spread
economic ruin, and in these days, it
is feared, major social disturbances.
For the time being the men at the
front must be spared; they cannot
be asked to fight and pay. The same
kind of economic bankruptcy is
looming in Germany, where there