Show preparedness AND COMMON SENSE by gifford pinchot along with thousands of our cin Pens ens fam I 1 am deeply interested in the question of national defense like them I 1 am anxious to know the facts and to use whatever common sense I 1 have in reaching a wise conclusion as to what we ought to do for our own protection pro I 1 am not stampeded and I 1 do not propose to be but I 1 do want the united states to take what precautions are reasonable in bew of the facts the situation to n D looks to me like this certain assure us that preparedness is useless because there is no danger of war do they know or are they merely asking us to accept their guess in a matter which vitally concerns the and well fare of the nation millions of pact paci filiata in the past have given the same assurance and have been mistaken wars have come in spite of them england was full of people who affirmed that the present war was impossible up to the very mo merit mant of its breaking out and who opposed with ah all their might any in crease in arm armament amt until war actually began the united states has already had five wars baeb one of which was undesired and unexpected by great numbers of our people for a lear ear past our state department has been occupied with questions which might lead to war what if our present pacifists paci fists should in their turn prove to be wrong and war should come and find us ua unprepared i it is a serious cliance chance for any nation this gamble on the r opinion which the pacifists paci fists are asking us to take preparedness is insurance again against st war it is not militarism and must not be confused with it mil Miltan taoism sm is 13 making ready for aggressive ive war any one who believes that the people of the united states can bedri so en or dragged into aggressive mill mili taoism must have forgotten the trend rend of our history and to in par barlic c benir ular our recent voluntary retire e ment from cuba it is nonsense to say that our people will plunge into militarism because be na they prepare themselves in norderto order to discourage aggression on that at theory no citizen should be at al lowe lowed d to own a I 1 run gun because guns nn can be used to kill people or to in sure his house lest insurance should bring on fire he here and there an extremist will ma make k excess excessive we and ridiculous proposals for Prepa preparedness or against it such PP P proposals P 1 should tot not bf be permitted to upset our jud judgement gement they lead nowhere we waste on our time discussing them for us the extremes extreme of militarism and of ton non re resident rei dence are equally butof the question in sober fact our findl final choice will nut not lie between any fantastic extremes but b between tween reasonable and national defense and so an mat imitation of it that will fail in the day of trial between modern genuine preparedness cas and a shame we may prepare t too go little but there is IB no danger whatever v er that this country will rush to th the 0 other th er extreme th the P pacifists paci a fists assure us that such military training as the swiss people are giving themselves endangers d democracy carGe raCY and that our pur young men will be hurtley learning to obey but n neither S ither democracy nor personal independence have been injured in ln switzerland which is ia the most de democratic country of europe un U iveral military service serice in new zealand end and australia goes hand in hand with the most thorough going labor controlled democracy on earth france whose military training is far more thorough than ours will eer baer be is the living proof that an army can be a great democratic in alit ution and that citizens trained to arms may possess the highest personal initiative and intelligence germany can cannot not be offered as a an example of what military training does to democracy because germany never has been democratic but een it if all this thia were not true 1 it t would still be idle to make a bogey of universal military service because even those who believe in it most heartly understand that it has not the slightest chance of being ad adopted op te d no national leader leade in any P po lineal party is asking for its adoption it is not an issue and nothing less law than the pressure of actual in could make it an issue in the united states the american people have a way of reaching common sense decisions after long and often hitter bitter discus sum aun there is 13 hope that this about to happen in the present caw case the reasonable advocates of national de bense and the reasonable pacifist seem to be be on the verge of a reasonable his agreement of via views for far example the papers of april 25 report t that hat henry ford said in an inter view given gian in new york 1 Ibel I believe leye in reasonable preparedness and I 1 object t to an army of f say my mana less leas than a week before this statement of ford forda I 1 as asked ked colonel roosevelt what he w would consider reao reasonable prepared ness he replied the second navy in the world and an army of men in this case pacifist and advocate 1 I preparedness are in agreement a t to t the he size of a reasonable arm arim A an army of me men means oni one I 1 11 1 T i t k I 1 I 1 1 IL 4 39 P 4 tor is one policeman for every peo pen pie in philadelphia and one to ever even people in now new york to in at ai least an army of that proportionate aize ze carries with it no threat that thai militarism is about to overwhelm democracy As to the navy from 1905 to 1909 our navy was the second in te ie world having it second did not endanger democracy then I 1 we see no reason why it should bendan er r democracy now so far as I 1 am aware no one fam ihs liar fihs with naval affairs believes that thai submarines and mines at sea and guns on land without a fleet can be depended on to defend a coast like ours the whole teach teaching ing of the present war shows that they can not german submarines it is 18 true have succeeded in preventing any increase in the british cant merchant cb nt marine by destromp destro mg wala vessels about aa fast as new could be added but that la is all they h have done they have not threatened much less endangered the supremacy of the british fleet it to la the british heet fleet which keeps england safe from invasion just as our fleet must mot keep us safe it will not do however to forget that genuine preparedness includes far more than arms A navy find and an army are not enough in modern war nations fight not alone with weapons but with all ai their natural resources with their industry and transportation and above all with denotation de 1 on of their citizens roun rounded ded national preparedness on modern lines works not only toward war securing pe peace a but also toward malting making this country a better place to live in for all of us when peace has been served the great natural resources like coal iron copper find and waterpower water power are the raw materials of prosperity as well a as the raw materials of national defense they must be made a for the use of oe the doeple both in peace and in war but above and beyond all else elm wo we must have a country defended against attack from within and without by equal opportunity and social justice a country whose people will stand by it because it has stood by them let no man imagine im airine that because he li lives lis s inland he is safe from injury by war the capture of new york or san francisco would break the routes u of trade tied the resulting sultina re dislocation of business would be felt in entry home in the land farmer miner merchant wage earner em ploy aloye every me man n who works would find his livelihood in danger if the normal demand for labor and the products of labor were overturned by war I 1 recognize that in the manufacture tu of haubit munitions s 1 and supplies for war excessive profits are often found I 1 am in favor of eliminating them with a strong hand but it seems to tome me as foolish to decide against national defense because there is graft as it would be to abolish the police force in any city because there is graft the thing to do is 15 to drive out the graft and yet maintain the protection which is 13 so necessary to all our people you and I 1 are protected by our laws because behind the law there is f force area international law has no force behind it some day we hope and intend it will be made unsafe to break the law of nations As yet however hi wever each nation must still go unprotected or protect it self until the nations unite together to encore international law our best hope for peace lies in making bit it dangerous for any nation to attack us you and I 1 belong to a great peace lowing loving people we hate war and desire peace we seek with eagerness for any means that will hasten the coming of permanent peace we are ready to do anything that is just and honorable to secure it doubtless we join with every lover over of pea peace in looking forward to the day when reason and understanding will settle or prevent dispute among the he nan nations but the road to peace loes foes not lie through flabby weakness is 13 the th history of china proves but through throng it self respecting strength is why I 1 believe in national clefense the mere desire for peace a and d the best intentions on our part can an not algava secure peace A inong nations aa among men it ifton takes but one to make a quarrel el last year I 1 was waa to in belgium what I 1 paw there I 1 shall never ever fur for get no fic can be too great to prevent our people or any part of them from being ruled by fo foreign bayonets talk la is abw always by c heap cheap but never cheaper than th when it sets g guesses besses and wishes against the tre adous a facts of the world war guessing and wishing are no de faase gu mg and wishing can not even keep the pea e between or nr citizens cit izena the force behind the law does that how then the can n w we e trust them to keep the peace peace between the nations 7 I 1 am for preparedness pa because I 1 believe it offers the best beat chance to escape war it is a cheap insurance at the price |