21 JULY 1917, Page 10

" arovris UTILE BELLUM." its 57E EDITOR or um "

SPLCUTOR."1 Sm,—The following passage culled from a pamphlet written by Dr. Johnson in 1771 seems to be peculiarly apposite at the present time:- " If he that shared the danger enjoyed the profit, and, bleeding in the battle, grew rich by the victory, he might show Iris gains without envy. But, at the conclusion of a ten years war, how are we recompensed for the death of multitudes and the expense of millions brit by contemplating the sudden glory of paymasters and agents, contractors and commissaries, whose equipages shine like meteors and whose palaces rise like exhalations? These are the men who, -without virtue, labour, or Mimed, are growing rich as their country is impoverished; they rejoice when obstinacy or ambition adds another year to slaughter and devastation, and laugh from their desks at bravery and science, while they are adding figure to figure, and cipher to cipher, hoping for a now contract from a new armament, and computing the profits of a siege or tempest."