St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-13
OUR SUFFICIENT DEFENSE.

The attitude and expression Of Eng
lands government on the matters con-
corning which it was possible that
dispute should arise between us, gives
the finishing blow to the pretense that
the United States ought, if it has due
regard for it's own safety, to spend I'M
told millions Of money in the building
of new warships, and the construction
Of system of sea-coast defenses. The
first use to which any war scare is
put is always to give a color of sane
ton to some raid upon the treasury
No sooner was the presidents Vene-
zuelan message made public than there
arose, in answer to the great shout of
popular approval, an equally vociferous
clamor, by the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
for the reckless expenditure of money.
Now, they said, we must have a navy
equal or superior to that of Great
britain. Now we must have a system
of land defenses along both of our
coasts, and up and down the length
of the great lakes, that will repel any
attack. Not to provide these arma-
ments and munitions is to invite at
tack, and to insure the contemptuous
rejection Of our well-meant offices in
the Venezuelan affair. Lurid pictures
were drawn Of New York and Balti-
more and Boston and Chicago and San
to pay billions Of dollars in ransom to
the naughty foe. We have even been
treated, by that section of the press
which upheld these assailants Of the
treasury, to a rehash of the battle of
Bladensburg, and the story Of an
American Battle of Dorking," by which
the city of Washington would be RACED
to the ground and the nation humili-
ated as it never was before.
See how the event has falsifed and
put to ridicule all these preposterous
predictions We have not man Of
war or a fort more than we had three
months ago. We have voted no extra
ordinary sums for attack or Defense
We have stood courageously upon the
letter of our rights, and placed our
dependence upon that which has been
our sure reliance for century; namely,
the mighty resources Of the republic,
and the tried valor and determination
of it's people. All that has been pre-
dicted as possible might have happened
ere now. England's flying squadron,
(which has sent cold shivers down the
back Of the lingo press, might before
this have been battering down with
cannon balls the structures of our At
1antic cities. Ready for war; as she al
ways has been, owing to her position
among the great war nations of
Europe, she could have done all that
these prophets of evil say she was
ready to do, before we could have made
effective resistance with the navy now
at our command.
Did this constitute an invitation to
attack? Has the disposition of Eng
land to subdue US and exact a huge
indemnity been encouraged by our ap-
parent "Reminiscences? Not in the
least. The answer of Great Britain to
our demand is pacific in the extreme
She admits, from end to end of her
domain, the right Of the United States
to interfere in matters of this continent
where her own interests are even in
directly involved. She declares that
she will unite with us in an attempt to
settle Practically the difference that has
arisen All of her leading statesmen
express the hope and belief that these
two nations viii hereafter settle upon
arbitration as the uniform and only
method of adjusting questions that may
sive and absolute proof could be given
of the needlessness of great fleets and
Notifications to the security Of this
government and its people. Not only is
their existence hostile to our whole
traditional policy and experience, but
they are not necessary to secure the
utmost respect and consideration that
one nation can demand from others.
We believe. indeed, that if the United
States had been a great war power,
with navy matching that of England
and coasts bristling with impregnable
preached with concession to a superior
force would have made Great Britain
less willing than che shows herself to