Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-02-23

shut.
The main point Of view Of any propo-
sition for the average American citizen
is that Of dollars and cents, for we are
an intenselr practical people that is,
we claim to be and if in This com
mereial age of politics we have any
fetch to worship it is the almighty
dollar
Judged even by this low standard Of
money getting, the Philippine acquisi-
tion bids fair TO lead us into bankrupt
cy. TO begin with, according to the es-
Inmates Of the most conservative au-
thorities, the increased cost of the
standing army to hold our savage fellow
citizens in subjection viii be $50, 600,
600 In addition thereto, in order to
hold our own in Asiafic waters, we are
told that we must establish the greatest
navy in the world This proposition
sounds grandiloquent and makes an al
most Irresistible appeal to the towering
pride of the American people.
Some Startling Figures.
Stated in plain figures, however, il
may somewhat dampen the ardor Of our
taxpayers when they are invited to 90
upon this wild goose chase Great Brit
ain has so first class ships Of war, 5Sl
warships in all. France has 80 first
class warships and 403 all together.
Nicholas of Russia has 40 first class
battleships at his command and 286 in
the aggregate. BY word William of
Hohenzollern can set the machinery
and guns of 2l6 warships going, 28 of
them battleships Of the first class Ja-
pan now almost equals Germany and
will soon eclipse her in strength Of her
naval armament. At the present time
we have only 81 warships all told, only
18 of them being of the first class.
Counting the difference of distance from
the base of operations in Asiatic wa
ters. the real effective fighting strength
of the United States must be reduced
at least one-half
In any fair estimate concerning any
struggle involving our possession of the
Philippine Islands in the future it
would be prudent to count all the above
named nations, except England and
several which have not been named, as
against us. Temporarily. we might
count Great Britain as our ally; per-
manently, we must tread the wine
press alone and count all the rest of
creation as against us, for Johnny Bull,
in all human probability. will prove to
be only sunshine friend to Brother
Jonathan. Therefore in order to main
tain our supremacy in the orient with
anything like certainty we ought to
have navy equal in number Of ships
and weight of guns to the combined ma
vies Of the world, which would involve
the building of something like 1900
warships, over 800 Of them battleships
of the first class. But, taking it for
granted that in order to maintain our
supremacy we will be compelled to
build navy equal to that of Great
Britain alone. we would then be compel
led to build 500 new warships, SO of
them battleships of the first class. AS a
modern battleship of the first class costs,
when fully completed and furnished,
somewhere in the neighborhood Of
So, 00O 600, We would have an initial
outlay On our navy Of 1910, 900, 600 for
first class battleships alone, to say moth
ing Of the cost of inferior craft.
The project to expend this much
money upon our navy to begin with
shows how far we have departed from
Jefferson's theory that we should have
no possessions that would require ma
w for their defense. Evidently Galilei
was correct when he asserted that the
world does move. The above estimate
for the increased cost of the standing
army is made upon the untenable the
ory that we will have no use for
standing army except to hold our new
fellow citizens in subjection, conferring
upon them the blessings of liberty at
the point of the bayonet, for just as
certain as water runs down hill if we
enter upon world politics we will also
enter upon world quarrels and world
wars.
An ImperiaIist Army.
1 am patriot enough to believe that
man for man ours is the best army in
the world, but if we are going into
world politics and propose TO take a
hand in world squabbles we will be
compelled, in the very nature of things,
to not only maintain navy equal to
the greatest navy of any other nation
Of the world. but also to maintain an
army equal OF superior to the greatest
army Of any other nation on earth.
Here are the cold facts regarding the
land armaments of some of the great
powers: Germany's $ army on peace
footing numbers 562, 352 men on war
footing. 5000, 600, while the govern
ment is clamoring for a lerge increase.
Russia 5 peace establishment is $50, 944
soldiers, while on war footing 2,510.
143 subjects of the czar are Supposed to
shoulder their muskets and buckle on
their swords Let the hard worked tax
payers of the land, who can now hardly
make buckle and tongue meet, seriously
ponder their condition when they are
called upon to meet this enormous ex-
peDditure of money by land and sea.
The bait held out to them is the In
creased commerce which we are to ex-
perience and of which we are to reap
the benefits The hollow fallacy of this
theory is clearly demonstrated when it
is stated upon government statistics
that the entire foreign trade of the
Philippine Islands in the last year only
amounted to so, 900, 600, so that if we
secured the entire trade of those islands
and every dollar of that trade were
clear profit which, of course, is pre-
posterous-we would still fall $40, 000.
600 short annually of gaining enough
to pay the very modest estimates for
the increase of the standing army, to
say nothing of the enormous increase of
taxes necessary to build the finest navy
in the world. The proceeds of the en-
tire foreign trade of the Philippine Is
lands in the last year, if it We're all
clear profit would only amount to
enough to build two first class battle
ships. Upon the whole it is safe to say
that. from a purely commercial and
financial standpoint if cur Uncle Sam
uel undertakes to hold the Philippines
permanently in lesa than ten years he
will be under the necessity of making
an assignment, for since Julius Caesar
rode at the head of his victorious legicns
there has not been enough money
coined in all the mints of the world to
maintain our supremacy in the orient
4 r.