The Children's Story of the War Volume 4 (of 10): The Story of the Year 1915Parrott, Edward
History
The Children's Story of the War Volume 4 (of 10): The Story of the Year 1915
Parrott, Edward
World War, 1914-1918 -- Juvenile literature
Money, as you know, is "the sinews of war." Without money, and a great
deal of it, armies and navies cannot be arrayed, or kept in the field.
The British Empire, according to the statement of the Prime Minister,
has a yearly income of £4,000,000,000. This sum is vast, but so was the
cost of the war. In March we were spending five millions of money a day.
If you work out a little sum, you will see that one year of war at this
rate uses up not far short of half the total money earned in a year by
the whole British Empire. Of course, in war time the Empire cannot
produce as much wealth as it can in times of peace. Large numbers of men
are taken away from their work, and, instead of being producers, they
have to be kept and fed by the nation. Thousands of factories are
engaged in making war material for the Government, and they do not,
therefore, add to the national wealth at all. Our overseas trade falls
off greatly, because we need many of our merchant ships for transport
and supply, because we cannot produce such large quantities of goods for
export, and because we cannot trade with enemy countries at all.
In time of peace the goods which we get from other countries are paid
for by the goods which we send to them, by the money which we receive
from foreigners for carrying goods to all parts of the world, and by the
interest which comes to us from money which we have invested abroad.
Usually these three items not only pay for our imports, but give us a
large profit as well. In time of war, however, we are in quite a
different position.
At all times we must import much material from abroad. We are always
obliged to import the greater part of our food and the raw materials for
our factories. During the present war we have also been obliged to
import large quantities of machinery and munitions from the United
States. Our imports of goods always exceed our exports of goods in
value, but in time of war the imports soar up to a great height, while
the exports sink. For example, the excess of imports over exports during
the first nine months of 1914 was 99 millions, while for the same period
of 1915 it was 256 millions.
Thus you see that, while the war lasts, our exports, the profits on our
shipping trade, and the interest which we receive from foreign
investments are not sufficient to pay for our imports. In order to make
up the balance, we must either draw on our national savings or run into
debt. If we draw on our savings, we shall have so much the less money
left for the expenses of the war. If we run largely into debt, we shall
find ourselves heavily burdened when the day of peace arrives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account