Salt Lake Tribune | 1915-12-22 | Page 3 | Opposes Wilson's War Programme

L OPPOSES WILSON'S I WAR PROGRAMME I Former Secretary of the In tenor Severely Criticises J Preparedness Plan u SPEAKS TO STUDENTS 1 I Do, the Things That Pro ( mote Peace, and Not I War, He Says CHICAGO Dec 1 C sn o the , preparedness p ogran n e o the na ona administrat on v,blb vo ed today b Wa ter L Fisher forn e sec etarj of t e I Interior In an address a e Un era r of Chicago Mr Fisher as p nc pa epeaker at the qua e y on oca on o the unlve s t which co fe red degrees upon 15o s rdents Preparat ons fo Peace -was the tl e ii of lr Fisher s d scuss on and he began b po ntlng out the danger hat the United Sta es might be mis ed into be lie ing that preparat on for war is t e most Important th ng for us if wo des re a to secure our own peace and promo e j the peace of the world He argued tha the only certa n nav to prepa e for r peace is o do he th ngs hat p oniote I pfc-1 e and no the th ngs that make for war and pro note ar A.nd jet he added hese peaceful measures are the th ngs tha are rece In scant attent on Mr Fisher po n ed out hat the great d fferences between the warr ng na ons 1 are d Terences of deg ees of m ta sm, demo acy and po ca and social n telUgence. Evil Is Pointed Out The real e i sa d Mr Fisher 1 es In the doctrine of po ca and econom c imperial sm common to so many na tlonthe doctrine that o ds that the economio we fare of e ery hation depends upon securing constantly expand ng op portun ties for trade and that such opportunities op-portunities are best to be found by ac quiring po t cal domin on o er or spheres of nfluence n other countr eg especially in countr es re at vely back ward n industria de e opment but ca pable of such de e opment. I do not be e e that this doct ne win Jndefln te y con nue to control po Jes and internat onal re at ons It s not morally or economically sound It is not even enlightened selfishness It must disropear w t the demonstrat on of its futl ty and the rap d y of the p ocess win depend chiefly upon he progress of educat on and nte gence among the ma s of mankind. To Reduce Chances If therefo e, we desire to reduce the chance of war the surest way to ac coryp sh this result is first, by see ng that our own national purposes and methods are not baBed upon the desire t for econom c expans on by means of any sspeclal priv ege that d ecr n ates n favor ot our people as aga nst those of any other nat on and second v by do ng ev erything in our power to b ng o her na tions to this same conclus on Including active co operation w th othe nations to secure this resu t Mr Fi her sa d it was imposs ble to determine just when causes for war wou d be removed from the wor d and therefore the onlv sane a ternat ve w as for the Ln ted Sta es to p epa e for effect e defense Policy of Defense In (?e op ng thought he entured to suggest that tl ere s such a th ng as a defens ve m 1 tary po cy vh ch s es sent ally d fterent from an aggress ve mi tary policy and that the p ans wh ch are be ng p esented to us do not app y the d st net on He dep ored the orde s wh ch p evented pub c d scuss on of m ary and naval p ob ems by army and navy office s as erted that d ffe ences Of op nion among the experts of the two serv ces were not be ng made pub c and said the public was entit ed to know whether the defense plans contemp ated reten on of nsular possess ons the Panama cana and o her outiying nterest or me el app ed to thecontJnental In ted Sates