THE WONDERFUL CENTURY. 



from productive labor, and devoted, nominally to de- 

 fence, but really to attack and destruction. This, how- 

 ever, is only a portion of the loss. The expense of keep- 

 ing these three millions of men in food and clothing, in 

 weapons, ammunition, and all the paraphernalia of war; 

 of keeping in a state of readiness the ships, fortifications, 

 and batteries; of continually renewing the stores of all 

 kinds; of pensions to the retired officers and wounded 

 men, and whatever other expenditures these vast mili- 

 tary organizations entail, amounts to an annual sum of 

 more than 180 millions sterling. 1 Now, as the average 

 wages of a working man (or his annual expenditure) 

 considering the low wages and the mode of living in 

 Russia, Italy, Austria, and the other Continental states 

 cannot be more than, say, twelve shillings a week, or 

 thirty pounds a year, an expenditure of 180 millions 

 implies the constant labor of at least six million other 

 men in supporting this monstrous and utterly barbarous 

 system of national armaments. If to this number we 

 add those employed in making good the public or pri- 

 vate property destroyed in every war, or in smaller mili- 

 tary or naval operations in Europe, we shall have a grand 

 total of about ten millions of men withdrawn from all 

 useful or reproductive work, their lives devoted directly 

 or indirectly to the Moloch of war, and who must there- 

 fore be supported by the remainder of the working com- 

 munity. 



And what a horrible mockery is all this when viewed 

 in the light of either Christianity or advancing civiliza- 



1 This is the amount obtained by adding together the war expendi- 

 tures of the six Great Powers, as given in " The Statesman's Year 

 Book "for 1897. 



