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Show AS THE FOITOH SEES IT " Has the United States government jeeu duped and tricked into com-uitting com-uitting an act of folly? Our government was prompt la the .llsbauding of its great army and :he scrapping of ita navy. This ! was In accordance with the provis- i ions of the Washington conference agreement. The army has vanished, and but a shell remainB. Tho navy is sadly depleted and most of ita teeth have been drawn. Munitions have disappeared, ant the spirit of patriotism has waned. Our means of adequate defense against sudden attack no longer exists. ex-ists. Now comes the startling Information Informa-tion that Washington has abruptly called a halt in the wrecking of our fighting ships. We are also tolo that other nations have ignored their agreements and have done no real scrapping of ships at all. At the time of the Washington conference many writers and others warned the government against placing implicit faith in the pacific intentions of governments across the water. Present facts would indicate that their warning -was well timed, but quite in vain. What next? It is to be hoped that peace of the lasting kind will eventually be restored in the far east. Bait should we' be disappointed in this, in the event of a resort to arms the government govern-ment should clearly understand that it is no affair of ours and that we want no hand in it. . It is mandatory that American (citizens in the troubled area bo iprotected, and removed if advisable, and the entire navy should be employed em-ployed for this purpose if necessary. But right there our activity should cease. America for native born or naturalized natu-ralized Americans, and no foreign entanglements. That is good enough for us. Are you always right in your judgement? Many people think they are no person ever is. Nineteen hundred years ago we had one perfect man, whose judg-j ment was never at fault. Because 3f his perfection he died upon a cross, his agony shared by thieves. Since then the world has neve.' known another. Why, then, should we, humible mortals that we be, imagine that our judgment is never at fault, or that, we are incapable of falling into i error? The next time you get into argument, argu-ment, and lose your temper, and are . on the point of resorting to force, i -3top and think of the years that have .'lown since the manger ennobled tho beginning and the blood stained cross witness the end of perfection in mankind. It is barely possible that you may sometimes be in error. If a merchant, or a banker, or a farmer, or an editor becomes involved in-volved in .a row with his employees and has to close down his business for weeks or months, he accepts his loss as a man should. The coal operators, however, are not of this class. They are saddling their loss onto the public in the shapg of enormously increased prices of coal, and are profiteering in a conscienceless con-scienceless and shameless manner. . And since Washington appears un-Uvilling un-Uvilling to perform " Its duty, the public becomes the goat and pays its pound of flesh. This is the best country under the sun. It will be an even better one when you do your full duty as a citizen. America needs the best that is in each of her sons. |