... Colonel von Schwarzhoff tells us that Germany easily bears the burdens of its military organization, and that in spite of these burdens it can point to a great economical development.
I come from a country which also bears cheerfully the obligations of national defense, and we hope next year, when the Exposition will be held, to show the world that our products and our economical development stand on a high level. But the colonel will grant me that in his country as well as in mine, if a share of the considerable resources now spent for military purposes were devoted to the service of productive activity, the total of prosperity would be developed at a much more rapid rate.
Moreover, we have here not only to take into account how our country endures the burdens of the armed peace. Our task is higher,—we are called upon to consider the joint situation of all the nations.
After further considerations, Bourgeois proposes that the question be referred to the governments for further discussion at the next Conference. But, that the position of the present Conference may be brought to a definite expression, he offers the following amendment to the report:
The commission takes the view that the limitation of the military burdens resting on the world would be in the highest degree desirable for the improvement of the moral and material condition of mankind.
This resolution was adopted.
I immediately translated the text of both speeches and dispatched it to the Neue Freie Presse.
July 2. Yesterday a ball at the Staals’. When we arrive, at ten o’clock, the drawing-rooms are already almost full. All the lower rooms of the Vieux Doelen—the peristyle, salons, dining-room, and other apartments—have been engaged for this function and are richly decorated. The walls of the ballroom are adorned with greenery from which gleam white lilies. Nothing but white flowers everywhere, the symbols of peace. There is a flood of electric light from the chandeliers. The orchestra is hidden behind a hedge of palms. Softly lighted corridors lead to smaller adjoining rooms, in which the guests find nooks for confidential conversation. The doors leading from the ballroom to the terrace stand open, and a broad flight of steps leads down into the lighted garden.
All the delegates are present except Admiral Fisher,[[42]] whose absence is all the more to be regretted because he is one of the jolliest of the dancers.
Baron Bildt presents his son to me, a young man of twenty-two, just arrived from Upsala, where he is studying at the University.