Defenseless America

ing, ever impending, and which never comes? We shall say th

Jordan, "War a

e peace-palavering persons who have been telling us all along, during the past twenty-five years, that human nature had improved so much

ons would dare to go to war any more, because war between any of the Great Powers would now mean bankruptcy and national suicide; they have as

ent. Since that time a thousand different persons have, in a thousand different ways, "proved" to us that war on a large scale was not only impossible, but also absolutely unthinkable. Droll, isn't it, that the nations keep right on fighting? We are consoled, however, by the insistence of the peace prophets that this war is truly the

the teeth of our dogs of war, making them lambs, and inviting the lions to lie down with them, unheedful o

s a nation to wage war, because being able to fight makes one want to fight;

Theodore Roosevelt's book,

thing which at the moment could practically be done for the cause of peace was to secure some proper solution of the question at issue between ourselves and Japan. But this represented real effort, real thought. The peace congress paid not the slightest serious attention to the mat

peace who said that Isaiah was wrong; that there was no cause for worry about the indignation of Jehovah; that even at the worst His wrath could be appeased at any time, as necessity might arise, by a few burnt o

feguard us against that trouble. These Isaiahs have told us that we cannot safeguard ourselves by any sacrifices made upon the altar of international brotherhood, or forefend ourselves against the great

ng, they are far from being doves of peace. They ought to be styled dubs of peace. Their intentions may be good, yet they are enemies of peace, and betrayers of their country. Those who prevent

sufficient coast fortifications, although they may mean well, are as truly enemies of their country as if they sh

te from Mr.

to the just and honorable peace which alone this country will in the long run support. We object to their actions because we b

ly men who go to battle. Their fault or their folly would be expiated by the blood of countless thousands of plain and decent American citizens of the stamp of tho

s further that our armaments are a menace to other nations; that they evidence suspicion of other nations, and thereby place us under suspicion. According to

ight thing to secure the safety of our country, of our ho

ts a bull, and thereby lead to war, then, surely, we do not need more armaments, but less. Instead of arming ourselves any more, we should disarm until we are defenseless enough to be perfectl

th the keys to our gates, and with presents and sacrificial offerings, then we should adopt that way of pr

t be made by private manufacturers, but that, on the contrary, these things should be made exclusively by the government, for he

terest nonsense. The manufacturers of war materials with whom I am acquainted are among the staunchest of peace men, and they would no more be guilty of promoting war to bring

r science of sanitation and our quarantine system as breeders and harbingers of pestilence, and no one would think that our laws against crime and our system of police protection tend to foster

We must fortify our shores, police our seas with armor-clads, and be prepared to patro

s? Was it ever so small as it is now, compared with the numbers and wealth of the people? Again, cannot we well afford to bear a considerable burde

a very large force of skilled labor, and that this labor has to be supplied employment when there are no government orders for war materials. For example, the manufacture of armor-plate by the United States Steel Corporation is only a small part of that company's business. The manuf

ness in high explosives and smokeless powders for com

employees busy. At any rate, the government would have to maintain a large labor force, making war materials alone, for the government could not devote itself to

he event of war, the government would find the large capital and plants of the wealthy Steel Trust, the Bethlehem Steel Company, an

energy, and generalship of the du Pont Powder Company overcame inconceivable difficulties, carted

his ignorance of the subject. It is a psychological truth that ignorance may be taught, just like anything els

as remarked that now, while the world is drunk with war, is a bad time to lay in more liquor. This is an ingenious metaphor, and well designed to trip the intellige

ere on the war-path, he would have advised the settlers to disarm and destroy their stockades and fo

ason that we then gave those Indians a grievance, and that other nation will go on the war-path, just as those Indians did, and that other nation

scientist is a true prophet; but he is not one of the inspired kind. The way he does his predicting is the way of the astronomer, who uses a base line the width of the eart

been the nation standing ready to attack and plunder any other nation when there was likely to be sufficient profit in the enterprise to pay for the trouble. Never have we seen any treaty

orch of fierce invaders from over the desert. They would learn that the Greeks tried the experiment and found it a failure. They would learn that India and China have bled through the ages because of their peaceableness. They would learn that the fall of Carthage was due not so much to the superior military power of Rome, or to the reiterations of Cato that Carthage must be destroyed, as it was to the peace talk of Hanno, which withheld the necessary support of Hann

which I prophesied that war, and predicted Japanese victory. I predicted also at the sa

ions from that artic

rop Port Arthur and withdraw from the continent of Asia, thus relinquishing the chief advantages gained by her victory over China. The whole sum paid Japa

if Japan will wait for the time when Russia shall be ready to strangle her. She may strike and drive Russia from Korea and secure, as well, a fair share of Chinese territory; or, what amounts to the same thing, a lease of a portion of the Celestial Empire. She will thereafter be better able to protect her intere

ese lines must be parallel with those of great commercial interests-be parallel with those of national self-interests. We then have but

at world powers of today. In early times, like the ebb and flow of the tides of the sea, conquest and re-c

unding flora, to overtop and blight and kill all upon which its shadow fall

's great dominating peoples. Vast land areas have been reclaimed, and boundless resources developed. Thus far the overflow has been upon the lands of the tameless American Indian-of th

e savages. It will then be Greek to Greek, over fortresses that frown along the whole frontier. Then there will be a clash. It is coming. Where the s

d since that time. President Taft was one of the speakers, and his subject was his pet peace and arbitration treaties. He said that there

li, the Balkan wars, a continuous revolutionary performance in Mexico, and final

Waste" is an excellent illustration of the prophetic wisdom tha

ning, ever impending, and which never comes? We shall say t

te shall half-knowing give the signal for Europe's conflagration. In fact, the agreed signal has been given more than once within the last few months. The tinder is well dried and laid in such

tente lined up against the Triple

whatever the bluster or apparent provocation, it comes to the same thing at the end. There will be no general war until the mas

limitation and abolishment of armaments, the most notable of the pacifists represented were invited b

liam T. Stead, however, was more rational, and he was annoyed by the silly impracticable nonsense of some of the dubs of peace. Stead's better sense was

that we must arm for peace, and not disarm for

ment that Herbert Spencer, the great philosopher, was very ill, and not expected to live. On the front page of

erbert Spencer was only a philosopher;

the hall and break up any peace meeting in the world, and block the s

; that our war colleges are not institutions of actual learning at all, but are institutions for teaching ignorance. He declared that militarism is squandering the taxpayers' money by the hundreds of millions, and all because the advocates of militarism and the friends of militarism are perverse and wilfully wot not what they do, thou

rimary essential of their profession, namely militant meekness; and instead of being guardians of peace and an assurance against war, they ar

e school of experience, do not know and understand better this country's needs in the respects and particulars for which they have been educated than does this good ecclesiastic, then it is proved that the church is a better military school than Annapolis or West Point. Theology, and not militar

campus, as the sentimentalists desire us to do, and we shall very soon, with Kub