The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-03
LET 1T COME,

No nation can go to war with the
impunity with which the United States
could. No nation on the globe, save
the United States and Russia, could go
to war depending entirely upon its own
resources. Every other nation would
be compelled TO buy meats and bread
stuffs from others, principally from
North America The United States can
go to war and keep it up for ten years
without borrowing a dollar, buying a
gun or even so much as an army bis
cult, from anybody, save from her own
citizens. Speaking of the matter of
necessary money, the Financial Review
puts it this way: The United States
has resources and credit almost with
out limit" She has seventy-ffve mill
ions of people, possessed of energy, re-
maTkable brain power. methodical, lev
el-headed, courageous, determined, and
with powers Of great endurance peO-
pie that have shown themselves to be
great in peace and great in war Our
own civil war demonstrated that fact,
and also that the people Of the whole
nation were uniformly brave. While
our navy is only fifth amongst nations
at this time, in the event Of war and
before its termination, we would be-
come a naval power if necessary, equal
10 that of England: as with the credit
of the nation, backed by individual
help, it would be enabled to buy all the
war vessels now being built for other
nations, as well as construct very
largely at home. Many vessels now in
use for mercantile purposes would be
converted into vessels of war also. If
the president of the United States
should call to arms tomorrow the num-
Der Of people that would volunteer
would be so immense as to dazzle the
world. a war. therefore. would not
prove an unmixed calamity for this
country, If, indeed. it did not prove an
all around blessing It would cement
the nation more closely. wipe out the
last vestige Of sectionaIism. consume
SURPRISES and make good times for ten
years afterwards. If the affair should
be so serious as to involve France as
an ally Of SrGin, with England and
Germany and Russia remaining neutral
It would leave the United States the
leading nation on the globe. with Eng
land no longer mistress Of the seas.
As for Spain, whose papers on Mon
DAY were so confidently Dragging how
Easily they could whip the United
States of America, that nations method
of raising funds to prepare for a crisis
with the United States is unique. Her
credit is gone and she can not go into
the market and borrow money at any
pther than a prohibitive rate. She
therefore. in her emergency, refuses to
cash the coupons on the bonds already
outstanding against her. She had the
money IN her treasury to meet this in
terest charge, but to have paid it out
would have left that treasury hare.
With an empty treasury and face IN
face with a crisis with the United
States. her end would be inevitable.
Unable to borrow more. SPAN now
takes the money due her creditors to
provide for her urgent needs. Another
object is gained. too. besides keepi0r
this money in her treasury. The span
ish bonds are mainly held in France
and England, the Cuban bonds in
Germany and by her own citizens.
Spain's hope is in Intervention in the
event Of war with the United States.
Her people may believe the United
States is absolutely unprepared for
war; that a handful Of troops could
land at Key West and march to Wash
ington. and that the Vizcaya and Al
mirante Oquonto, the only two Span-
ish cruisers now ready for the sea
co'Ild demolish any Of the sea coast
cities, but her naval officers and states
men are not So blinded. The United
States may be unprepared for war
but she has unquesuoned resources. in !
both men and money.
Spain has no credit, no undevelona5 |
resources, no SURPRISES Of any charac-
ter, and. what is more unfortunate. is
short on fighting men. She has Not
enough money to repair her presen:
navy. and the war would have To be a /
~ursly naval one from start TO finish. /