On Tuesday the House of Commons occupied itself with a
not very profitable debate on the growth of national expendi- ture, raised on a Motion by Mr. Buchanan, and seconded by Mr. Souttar. Their chief complaint was, of course, that we were spending too much money on the Navy and Army. It was ridiculous, urged Mr. Souttar, to say that we needed our Army and Navy for the sake of defending our trade, for our trade was so widely diffused that no one would dare to attack it. If we would only live peaceably we would find our trade the best bulwark we could possibly have. Naturally, this sort of argument did not much affect the House ; but Sir Charles Dilke made a greater impression when he strongly defended our naval expenditure, but declared that we might, and ought to, get far better value than we do out of our Army expendi- ture. With this we agree. We believe that if Lord Kitchener were put at the War Office as a real Commander-in-Chief, and given a free hand, he would bring about enormous economies. No doubt there might be a mutiny of Major-Generals and first- class clerks, but when that was quelled we should find not only that we had got a cheaper Army, but should realise also the truth of the maxim that economy and efficiency, as a rule, go hand in hand.
Previous page
