England had been the dominant power in India for a century, when the Sepoy mutiny took place, and she rules even now by fear rather than by love. Force and reason rest upon different foundations and employ different forms of logic. But even force, if accompanied by intelligence, calculates the cost. Militarism is only one item of the cost, but it alone will far outweigh all the advantages which are expected to flow from a colonial policy. John Morley, the English statesman, in a recent speech to his constituents, uttered a warning which may well be considered by our people.
Militarism means a gigantic expenditure, daily growing.
It means an increase in government of the power of aristocratic and privileged classes. Militarism means the profusion of the taxpayer's money everywhere except in the taxpayer's own home, and militarism must mean war. Militarism is so necessary a companion of imperialism that the President asks for a two hundred percent increase in the standing army, even before the people at large have passed upon the question of annexation. Surely they are potent enough already. He calls attention to the fact that the toiler finds his hope in peaceful progress rather than in war's uncertainties.