A LEAGUE OF PEACE 415 



war breeds war — a hateful progeny. It is the poorest of all remedies. 

 It poisons as it cures. No truer line was ever penned than this of 

 Milton's, ' For what can war but endless war still breed ? ' 



No less than twenty-three international treaties of arbitration 

 have been made within the past two years. The United States made 

 ten with the principal powers, which only failed to be formally executed 

 because the senate, which shares with our executive the treaty-making 

 power to the extent that its approval is necessary, thought it advisable 

 to change one word only — ' treaty ' for ' agreement ' — which proved 

 unsatisfactory to the executive. The vote of the senate was almost 

 unanimous, showing an overwhelming sentiment for arbitration. The 

 internal difference will no doubt be adjusted. 



You will judge from these facts how rapidly arbitration is spread- 

 ing. Once tried, there is no backward step. It produces peace and 

 leaves no bitterness. The parties to it become better friends than 

 before; war makes them enemies. 



Much has been written upon the fearful cost of war in our day, the 

 ever-increasing blood tax of nations, which threatens soon to approach 

 the point of exhaustion in several European lands. To-day France 

 leads with an expenditure of £3 14s and a debt of £31 3s 8d per head. 

 Britain follows with an annual expenditure of £3 8s 8d and a debt of 

 £18 10s 5d per head. Germany's expenditure is in great contrast — 

 only £1 15s 4d, not much more than one-third; her debt, £2 12s 2d, not 

 one-sixth that of Britain. Eussia's expenditure is £1 14s 6d, about the 

 same as the German ; her debt £5 9s 9d per head. 



The military and naval expenditure of Britain is fully half of her 

 total expenditure ; that of the other great powers, though less, is rapidly 

 increasing. 



All the great national debts, with trifling exceptions — Britain's 

 eight hundred millions, France's twelve hundred millions sterling — are 

 the legacies of war. 



This drain, with the economic loss of life added, is forcing itself 

 upon the nations concerned as never before. It threatens soon to be- 

 come dangerous unless the rapid increase of recent years be stopped ; but 

 it is to be feared that not till after the financial catastrophe occurs will 

 nations devote themselves seriously to apply the cure. 



The futility of war as a means of producing peace between nations 

 has often been dwelt upon. It is really the most futile of all remedies, 

 because it embitters contestants and sows the seeds of future struggles. 

 Generations are sometimes required to eradicate the hostility engen- 

 dered by one conflict. War sows dragons' teeth, and seldom gives to 

 either party what it fought for. When it does, the spoil generally 

 proves Dead Sea fruit. The terrible war just concluded is another 

 case in point. Neither contestant obtained what he fought for, the 



