REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Weitminster Gazetted 



THE COMPETITION" IN ARMAMENTS. 

 Which Will be the First to Burst. 



would bind them, before going to war, 

 to have the points of difference care- 

 fully considered by the impartial court, 

 and on its findings decide whether to 

 ero to war or to arbitrate. Everyone 

 will trust that Mr. Bryan's earnest 

 efforts will be crowned with success, 

 for it is imperative that something be 

 done to arrest the suicidal expenditure 

 on armaments which is hastening 

 many nations into bankruptcy and 

 crippling all attempts at the social 

 betterment of the people. The follow- 

 ing figures show w'hat has happened 

 during the last thirteen years. In 1900 

 the six great powers, Britain, Ger- 

 man\-, France, Russia, Austria and 

 Italy spent ;^2o6,ooo,ooo on naval and 

 military armaments. To-day the\' are 

 spending ^310,500,000 a year! Dur- 

 ing the interval the national debts have 

 increased by ^^773,000,000 to the col- 

 ossal total of ;^4, 498, 000, 000, on 

 which the interest is ;^i45,ooo,000. 

 Adding this to the war expenditure we 

 get a total of ;^45 5,000,000 required 

 this year to meet the war bill of 

 Europe's six greatest nations. That is 

 to say, they are spending no less than 

 i, 138,000,000 more this year than they 

 did in 1900. . These figures do not in- 

 clude the war expenditure of the 

 United States, Japan, the minor Euro- 

 pean powers, or that of the Dominions, 



who now, alas! are dragged into this 

 wild jamboree of waste. 



Why not Feciaies? 



Whilst all this money is being poured 

 out like water, nothing is being spent 

 on organised effort to improve the 

 friendly relations between nations, and 

 smooth away differences. The Romans 

 had ministers of peace, called " Feci- 

 aies," whose official dut}- it was to 

 strive to bring about peace and avoid 

 wars. The price of a single Dread- 

 nought would enable a Peace Depart- 

 ment to be started whose head, the 

 Peace Minister, would have duties as 

 defined and even more important than 

 those of the War Minister, whose func- 

 tion it would be to endeavour by every 

 means possible to minimise those petty 

 differences between nations which so 

 often develop into grave questions, 

 who would direct all his energies to 

 organise the forces of peace, just as 

 the War Minister organises those of 

 war. He would arrange for interna- 

 tional visits and try in e\ery way to 

 bring the peoples closer together. It 

 is certain that if such a Minister were 

 created he would soon be instrumental 

 in reducing the prodigious war bills of 

 Europe. 



Balkan Complications. 



liie Balkan situation is still causing 

 grave anxiet>' in Europe, despite the 

 fact that Turkey has made an armis- 

 tice w^ith the Allies and has agreed to 

 the terms of peace laid down by the 

 Powers. The immediate trouble is over 

 Albania and Scutari. The Powers com- 

 manded Montenegro to raise the siege 

 of the beleagured city, which was to 

 become the capital of the new State. 

 King Nicholas refused to abandon his 

 attempts to capture it, although his 

 Servian allies retired as requested. It 

 is evident that Essad Pasha, the de- 

 fender of Scutari, learning that in any 



