The Economist, February 13, 1915. Article: “Financial Arrangements and the War Debts of Europe”....
...“The more one looks into the financial and political future of
Europe after the war the darker and more obscure do its problems
appear. But that is all the more reason why independent men with knowledge
and penetration and foresight should exercise their minds upon the
political economy of this war. Never has there been such a collision of
forces, never so much destruction in so short a time. Never has it been so
difficult or so necessary to measure the calamity, to count the costs, to
foresee and provide against the consequences to human
society. Philanthropists profess to hope that the peace settlement will
bring with it a great international reduction of armies and armaments,
which will enable the nations to support their new war debt, and so to
avoid the
bankruptcy court. No doubt the fear of bankruptcy will count for something;
otherwise the peace settlement might be expected to breed another series of
preparations for another series of wars.
N.B. ||
But those who know the forces which really control the diplomacy of Europe
see no Utopias. The outlook is for bloody revolutions and fierce wars
between labour and capital, or between the masses and the governing classes
of Continental Europe”. (End of article.)
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