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Show B 0 PREPAREDNESS AND H J COMMON SENSE H 1 j; The following Is n Bcliolnrly and H A j weighty article on Preparedness and fi I 1 Common St-nso. by Hon. Olfford PI" HL' chot. Wo concur In tho analysis and 1 coiicIubIous of Mr. Plnchot and rce- H H ommend tho article must heartily to 11 our Along with thousands of our citl-zens, citl-zens, I am deeply Interested In the I question of National defenso. Mko thoin, I am anxious to Know tbo facts ! nnd to use whnlovcr common r-iiso i i hno In reaching a wise conclusion 1 as to shat we ought tc do for our own protection. I am not stampeded, B nnd 1 do not propose to be, but I do m want tho United Stats to take what HH precautions nro reasonablo In fev B (-r tho facts. Tho situation looks to H tnc llko this: m J Certain pacificists assure us that 1 I Preparedness in useless because Hf tbero is no danger of war. Do they H , know, or are they merely asking us H to accept their guess In a matter H which vitally concerns tlw safety and H' welfaro of the Nation? Millions of H pacinclsts In the past liave given B tho same assurance, and have been B' mistaken. Wars have come In splto K of them. England was full of pcoplo B who alllrmed that tho present war B was Impossible up to tho very mom- Hj cut of Its breaking out, and who op- Hj posed with all their might any In- B crcaso In armament until war actual- B Tho United States has already had H' flvo warB. each ono of which was nn- B desired and unexpected by great B numbers of our people. For a year ij pnst our Stato Department 1ms bcon i occupied with questions which might lead to war. What If our present pacifists pa-cifists should In their turn provo T to bo wrong, and war should como J nml nnd us unprepared? It Is a Be- f rlous chanco for any Nation, this Bj? Braul n thelr i,lnlon' whlch B pnclllclsts oro asking us to take. HI Preparedness is Insuranco against B . war. It is not militarism and must Hn not bo confused with It. Militarism HBJ Is making ready for aggressive war. HB Any ono who believes that tho peo- HV ,,lo of tho United States can bo drlv- HB en or dragged into aggresslvo mill- HB-' tarlsm must havo forgotten tho whole trend of our hlstqry, and In partlcu- Hl lnr our recent voluntary retirement Hfl from Cuba. It is nonsense to Bay that our peo- HB plo will pluugo Into militarism bo - B cause they preparo themselves in H order to dlscourago aggression. On B that theory, no citizen should bo nl- M lowed to own a B', because guns Bv can bo used to kill people, or to In- HH biiro his lioiiso, lest Insuranco should HJ on a Hro. HJ Hero and thor.o an extremist will H mako excessive and ridiculous pro- B posals for Preparedness or against It. B Sucl1 proposals Bhould not bo permit- Ht ted to upset our Judgment. Tlioy HB lead nowhere. Wo wasto our time HH dlsciiBBlng them. For us tho ex- B tremes of militarism and of non-re- H sistanco aio equally ouf of tho iues- H tlon. In sober fact, our Unnl cholco B will H "ot l,otwcon any fantastic H extremes, but between reasonnblo H National defenco nnd an Imitation of i. that will fall In tho day of trial H between moderate genuine Prepared- H ness and a slmm. Wo may preparo V too Httlo, but there is no danger Jj vhatover that this country -will rush H to tho other extreme. J Tho paclflclsts assure us that such Bll military training as the Swiss people HJ nro giving themselves endangers de- HJ mocracy, and that our young men Hfl will bo hurt by learning to obey. B Hut neither democracy nor personal H ! lndopondonco havo been Injured In HM Switzerland, which is tho most demo- j cratlo country ot Europe Unlvorsal H 1 military service In New Zealand and K Australia goes hand in hand with tho HM j4HjV hbIIhhVhWJhw most thorough going labor controlled democracy on earth. Franco, whoso mllltnry training Is far .mors thorough than ours will over bo, In tho living proof that an nrmy can be n great democratic In- i stltution, nnd that citizens trained to I arms may possess the highest Personal Per-sonal Initiative and Intelligence. Qor- I many can not bo offered ns nn exam- !plo of what military training does to democracy, because Germany never has been democratic. Ilut oven If all this woro not true, it would Btlll bo idlo to mako a bogy I of universal military service, bocauso oven those who believe in it most heartily understand that it lias not tho Bllghtost chanco of being adopted. No National leader in any political I party la iiBklng for Its adoption. It 1 in not an Issuo, and nothing less than tho pressure of actual Invasion could mako It an issuo in tho United States. Tho American people have a way of reaching common sense decisions nftcr long nnd often bitter discussion. Thcro Is hope that this Is about to hnppcn In tho present case, Tho reasonable rea-sonable advocates of Natlonul defenso nnd tho reasonnblo pnclllclsts seem to bo on the vergo of a reasonnblo ngrccment of views. For -jxaniple, tho papers of April 23 report uiai Henry Ford Bald, In an Interview given In Now York: "I bollovo In reasonablo Preparedness," nnd "I wouldn't object to an army of say 2r.0,000 mon." Loss than a week bo fore this ulntcmont of Ford's, 1 asked Colonel KooBovolt what he would consider con-sider reasonnblo Preparedness. Ho replied: "The second navy In tho tho world and on nrmy of 2.'0,000 men." 1 In this case, pnctflst and ndvocato ! of Preparedness nro In agreement as to tho size of a reasonablo arm). An army of 230,000 men means one soldier to about 430 people. Tlterc is ono pollcemun for every I1C pcoplo i In Philadelphia, and one to every -421 people In New York. To me at least an army of that proportionate slzo carries with it no threat that mill-tr.rlsr- Is about to overwhelm democracy. democ-racy. As to the Navy, from 1905 to 1000, our Navy was the second In the world. Having it second did not endanger en-danger democracy then. I see no reason why l should endanger democracy dem-ocracy now. j So far as I am aware no one familiar fami-liar with naval affairs bellees that submarines and mines ut sea nnd guns on land, without a fleet, can bo depended on to defend a coast llko 1 nura. The whole teaching of the present war shows that they can not. , (iernum submarines, It is true, havo . succeeded In preventing any lncreaso In the ltritlsh merchant marlno by destroying vessels about ns fast as now tounngo could bo added. Uut that Is all they havo dono.'Thoy have not oven threatened, much less endangered, endan-gered, tho supremacy of tho Urltlsh fleet. It Is the Urltlsh fleet which keeps Fnglnnd safo from Invasion, Just as our fleet must keep us safe. I It will not do, however to forget that genuine Preparedness includes j far moro than arms. A navy and dn nrmy nro not enough. In modern wnr nations fight not alone with weapons, but with all their natural icsourceJ, with their Industry and transportation, and abovo all with tho patriotic devotion of tlielr citizens. Hounded National Preparedness on modern lines works not only toward securing peace, but also toward making mak-ing this country a better placo to j live In for all of us when peaco has been secured. Tho great natural resources, re-sources, llko cool, iron, copper, nnd water power, nro tho raw matorlals oi prosperity as woll as tho raw materials ma-terials of National defenso. They must bo mndo available fo tho uso of tho neoplo both In peace nnd In war. Ilut abovo and beyond all else, wo must hnvo a country defendod against attack from within nnd without with-out by equal opportunity and sotlnl Justlco a country whoso pcoplo will Btand by It becauso It has stood by them. Let no man imagine that becauso ho lives Inland ho Is safo from In-Jury In-Jury by war. Tho capturo of Now York or San Frnnclsco would break tho routes of trado and tho resulting dislocation of business would bo felt In overy homo in tho land. Farmor, miner, merchant, wago earner, employe em-ploye overy man who works would And his livelihood In danger it tho normal demand for labor nnd tho ptoduota of labor were overturned by I rccognlzo that in tho manufacture of munitions and supplies for war ex-cesslvo ex-cesslvo profits nro often found. 1 nm in favor of eliminating thorn with n strong hand. Hut It seems to mo as foolish to decide against National defenso becauso thcro Is graft as it would bo to abolish tho police forco In any city becauso thero Is graft. Tho thing to do is to drlvo out the graft, and yet maintain tho protec- lion which Is so necessary to all our pec plo. You and I arc protected b7 our laws becauso behind the law thero Is forco. International law hns no force behind It. Somo day, wo hope nnd Intend, It will bo made unsafe to break tho low of Nations As yet, howover, each Nation must still go unprotected or protect Itself. Until tho Nations unlto together to enforce International law, our Uost hope for peaco lies In mnklng it dangerous for uny Nation to attack us. You and I belong to a great peaco loving people. Wo hnto war nnd do-slro do-slro peaco. Wo seek with oagerncss for any means that will hasten tho coming of permanent peaco. Wo are ready to do everything that Is 'Just and honorablo to securo It. Doubtless wo Join with overy lover of peaco In looking forward to tho day when reason rea-son nnd understanding will settlo or provent disputes among tho Nations. Ilut the road to peaco docs not Ho through flabby weakness, as the history his-tory of China proves, but through Belt lespectlng strength. That Is why I bellevo in National defense. Tho moro'deslro for peaco, and the best Intentions on our part, can not always al-ways secure peaco. Among nations, as among rncn. it often takes but ono to mako a ouarrel. Last year I was In Belgium. What I saw thero I shall nover forget. No sacrifice can bo too great to prevent our peoplo or nny part of them from being ruled by foreign bayonets. Talk is always cheap, but never cheaper than when it sets guesses and wishes against -the tremendous facts of tho world wnr. Guessing nnd wishing aro no defenso. de-fenso. Guessing and wishing cannot oven keep tho peaco between our citizens. Tho forco behind tho law docs that. How then can wo trust them to keep peaco between tho nations? na-tions? 1 am for Preparedness bocauso bo-causo I bellovo it offers tho best chanco to escape war. It is cheap Insuranco at tho prlco. |