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296 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUDIES
there are no doubt large additional savings and invest-
ments going on at the same time.
We come finally to the question of the expendiyne
upon armaments in time of peace, which are the,sub-
ject of those re~arks by American and other critics
referred to at the beginning of this paper, to the effect
that European nations are at a disadvantage, economic-
ally, as compared with America, in consequence of these
peace armaments. What has been said as to the ex-
penditure in time of war itself, and the possibility of
capital accumulating notwithstanding, obviously sug-
gests that, perhaps, the nature and effects of expendi-
ture upon armaments in peace time have not been fully
considered by some of the economists and statisticians
who have made such remarks. But we may look at the
facts directly. To take four of the great European
nations, we find that the outlay of these four nations,
England, France, Germany, and Russia, for military
and naval armaments in time of peace, may be stated
something as follows:
Army. Navy. Total.
England 1. £30 ,000,000 £30 ,000,000 £60,000,000
France. 27,000,000 12,000,000 39,000,000
Germany. 3 2 ,000,000 7,000,000 39,000,000
Russia. 3 0 ,000,000 7,000,000 37,000,000
These are the figures taken from the latest Budget
statements of the respective Governments. I fear that
they are under~statements to some extent, as it is some-
what difficult in these matters to get the" true truth"
out of the official documents. But even if we add to
them a considerable margin for error, or in consequence
of the very latest figures of actual expenditure not being
available, say, if we add altogether 10 or 20 per cent.,
we should still have figures that are quite inconsider-
able, I believe, compared with the aggregate income
and capital of the nations concerned.
In our own case the comparison would be with an
I Excluding India and the Colonies.