the industry there. I had many negotiations with the Foreign Office with reference to this question of dyestuffs." (Gerard, My Four Years in Germany, p. 264.) War Chemistry, High Explosives. Guncotton, nitroglycer ine, trinitro-toluol (TNT), etc., all compounds the manufacture of which, in this country, was in its infancy at the outbreak of the European war. One of the most important chemicals in the production of these compounds is sulphuric acid, which is obtained from sulphur and from pyrites, or "fool's gold." The principal source of the latter substance has hitherto been the Spanish mines, but submarine warfare has served to direct attention to deposits nearer home, those of Cuba, the New England States, Alabama, etc. Sulphur is obtained in considerable quantities from Louisiana. Scarcely secondary in importance is nitric acid, which is obtained from Chile saltpeter. One of the results of the British embargo has been to cut off Germany's supplies of this substance, forcing her to obtain nitric acid from the air by elaborate and expensive processes. Toluol and ammonia, both ingredients of high explosives, are obtained from gas and coke, distillations of which also lie at the basis of the aniline dye industry. Thus Germany has cleverly combined the business of making gaudy colors for her neighbors with that of preparing to kill them. War, Cost to the United States. The estimated ordinary expenses of this Government in the first year of its participation in the war is $12,067,278,679.07. This does not include a penny of what we have lent and are going to lend to our associates. It is merely the sum to be spent, with no financial return, on the running of the Government in war time, including, of course, the expense of the greatly enlarged Army and Navy on the new war footing. This total for the present year is $27,807,000 more than the Government spent in the entire 17 years from the beginning of the present century to the present year. On August 1, 1917, it was estimated that the war was costing as follows: War Council, Allied. See Interallied Supreme War Council. War, Declarations of. The following table shows the dates at which the war, or breach of diplomatic relations (the latter being shown in the following table in italics) involved the various countries: 15963°-18-19 *War declared by a Central Power (named at top of column). other cases declaration was first made by an Entente Power. In all In the case of Portugal a resolution was passed on Nov. 23, 1914, authorizing military intervention as ally of Great Britain; on May 19, 1915, military aid was granted; on Mar. 8, 1915, Germany declared war on Portugal. War, Declaration against Austria-Hungary. In his message of December 4, 1917, the President asked Congress to declare war on Austria-Hungary, which was done on December 7. In the Senate the vote was unanimous, and in the House of Representatives only one Member (Meyer London, of New York, a Socialist) voted against the joint resolution, which was in the following terms: "Whereas the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Govern ment has committed repeated acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America: There. fore be it "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a state of war is hereby declared to exist between the United States of America and the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Government; and that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Government, and to bring the conflict to a successful termination all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States." See Austria-Hungary, President Recommends War. War. Declaration against Germany. President read to the new Congress his On April 2, 1917, the message, in which he asked the representatives of the Nation to declare the existence of a state of war, and on April 6 the following joint resolution passed: "Whereas the Imperial German Government has committed repeated acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America: Therefore be it "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial German Government; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States." See Aim of United States; German Government, Break with. War Finance. "Public finance is the name given to the operations of Government in obtaining the wherewithal. Before the present war the facts with which finance deals, and which are usually expressed in terms of dollars and cents, were often given an exaggerated importance. To-day, however, we see that money, while a convenience, is not an absolute necessity in waging war; that the prime essentials are men, munitions, food, and clothing. Indeed, even public credit need not rest on any immediate evidences of financial power, but upon the patriotism and resolution of the people. Finance, therefore, can do little to lighten the burden which war means to the community as a whole, but it can do a great deal to distribute this burden fairly and equitably as among the different classes of which the community is composed and as between the present generation and posterity; and this must be its task. See Bond Acts; War Loans, German; War Tax on Excess Profits; etc. War Finance, Loans, and Taxes. The things used in the war must be on hand during the war itself, but the work of supplying them can often be shifted in part to other nations, and thus the amount of them increased, in return for engagements to be met in the future. Also bonds furnish a convenient way for taking up the "slack" caused in certain industries by the disturbance of war, while too heavy taxes may make inroads upon capital which is being used in producing the very things most demanded by the war. Both loans and taxes will, therefore, be needed in financing our part of the war, but it will be fairest to posterity, and in the long run, to ourselves, if we increase gradually the proportion of taxes to loans. The relative burden to be borne by the different classes of the community, on the other hand, will be determined by the kind of taxation we have, both during the war and after it is over. Government should at all times get its revenues from the kinds of taxes which are most equitable and so from income taxes rather than consumption taxes. The financial plans of our Government meet these various demands admirably. We are already relying upon taxation to a greater extent than we ever did in the course of the Civil War, and our principal taxes are levied on incomes and profits at progressive rates. See "Pay as You Go" War; “Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Fight." ... ... War, German Ruthlessness (1). "War," said Clausewitz, the great Prussian authority on the subject, about 1827, "is an act of violence intended to compel our enemy to fulfill our will. . . . In such dangerous things as war the errors which proceed from a spirit of good naturedness' are the worst. . . . He who uses force unsparingly . . . must obtain a superiority if his adversary uses less vigor in its application. . . . To introduce into the philosophy of war itself a principle of moderation would be an absurdity." "Its procedure," echoes Hartmann, another German writer, "is completely ruthless." "Since the tendency of thought of the last century," says the War Book, compiled by the German general staff," was dominated essentially by humanitarian considerations which not infrequently degenerated into sentimentality and flabby emotionalism, there have not been wanting attempts to influence the development of the usages of war in a way which was in fundamental contradiction with the nature of war and its object. By steeping himself in military history an officer will be able to guard himself against excessive humanitarian notions. It will teach him that certain severities are indispensable." "We are compelled to carry on this war with a cruelty, a ruthlessless, an employment of every imaginable device, unknown in any previous war." (Pastor Baumgarten in Deutsche Reden in Schwerer Zeit, 1914-15.) War, German Ruthlessness (2). Feudalism plus science, thirteenth century plus twentieth-this is the religion of the mistaken Germany that has linked itself with the Turk, that has, too, adopted the method of Mahomet. The state has no conscience,''the state can do no wrong.' With the spirit of the fanatic, she believes this gospel and that it is her duty to spread it by force. With poison gas that makes living a hell, with submarines that sneak through the seas to slyly murder noncombatants, with dirigibles that bombard men and women while they sleep, with a perfected system of terrorization that the modern world first heard of when German troops entered China-German feudalism is making war on mankind.” (Secretary Lane, before the Home Club of the Interior Department, Washington, June 4, 1917.) See Atrocities; "Frightfulness"; Hague and Geneva Conventions, German Violations; German War Code; "Hun"; Kriegs-Raison"; Submarine Warfare. War, German View. The German theory of the purpose of war is stated by Bernhardi as follows: "War is an instrument of progress, a regulator in the life of humanity, an indispensable factor of civilization, a creative power." The same idea is expressed by Lasson: "War is the fundamental phenomenon in the life of States"; or, as Trietschke has put it, "War is the forceful extension of policy." The Anglo-American theory is different and points to very different results. It is that war is primarily remedial, a redress of grievances, a method of self-help. And being a means rather than an end, with 66 the vindication of the law its object, the rules governing it must be followed as a matter of course. More than that, however, since war takes place chiefly for the lack of a better method of obtaining one's rights, the essential step in its abolition must be to supply something better. In short, where the Prussian idea of war presents it as a positive good, the Anglo-American idea presents it as a necessary evil, and offers the hope that it will not always be necessary. See Arbitration; Disarmament; German War Code; Militarism; Permanent Peace. War Industries Board. The War Industries Board, which acts as a clearing house for the war industry needs of the Government, was created July 28, 1917, by the Council of National Defense with the approval of the President. It absorbed the work of the former General Munitions Board of the Council and also of the automotive committee and the committees on raw materials and supplies of the Advisory Commission. Of the members of the board, Mr. B. M. Baruch gives his attention in particular to raw materials; Mr. Robert S. Brookings gives his attention in particular to finished products; and Judge R. S. Lovett exercises such priority control, including transportation, as is authorized to the Government. The board assists the purchasing departments of the Army and Navy, and in conjunction with the Federal Trade Commission assists the President in fixing prices of basic products, such as copper, steel, etc. In addition to the priority control which it exercises through the powers delegated to Judge Lovett by the President, it controls, with the assistance of the exports council, the buying of the Allies. For this purpose three of its members-Mr. Baruch, Mr. Brookings, and Judge Lovett-together with Mr. Herbert C. Hoover in food matters, constitute the Allied purchasing commission. "The luxuries of peace must give way to the necessity of war. We must standardize, economize, and then produce, produce, produce. This country has three great necessities for making modern war-men, metal, and machinery. We must make them all available now," says the chairman of the War Industries Board. The members are B. M. Baruch, R. S. Brookings, Hugh Frayne, R. S. Lovett, Lieut. Col. P. E. Pierce, Rear Admiral F. F. Fletcher, and Frank A. Scott, who was chairman until October 25, 1917. See Council of National Defense; Munitions Ministry; Priority. War Information Series. A series of pamphlets prepared and distributed, without charge, by the Committee on Public Information, 10 Jackson Place, Washington, D. C. No. 1. The War Message and Facts Behind It. No. 2. The Nation in Arms, by Secretaries Lane and Baker. No. 5. A War of Self Defense, by Secretary Lansing and Assistant Secretary of Labor Louis F. Post. No. 6. American Loyalty, by Citizens of German Descent. |