The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-12-11
Another Talking General.
G General Macarthur and His Predictions
of War With Germany.

OF war With Germany.
Nothing is quite so ridiculous as a
talking general, except it be a talking
admiral. Unfortunately, we have had,
and still have, it seems, a fill of both
OF them. They will gable about
things they know nothing about; they
insist upon attending to other peoples
business, and when the mischief is
done they always assert that they were
misrepresented, that what they said
was intended for private ears only,
and that-well, we all know what the
average man will do after he has
made a d fool of himself.
The latest accession to the ranks of
talking warriors is Major General
Macarthur, U. S. A. He seized, as he
would say, the psychological mo-
ment," the other day, and the ca
pacious ear of one Colonel Jones, of
the Hawaiian militia, at one fell
swoop, TO declare his belief that the
next war this country would have to
fight would be with Germany. We
confess to a feeling of utter WEAKNESS
when we read the arguments by which
men of the Macarthur stripe pretend
to reach their bloody conclusions, and
we shall not, therefore, be tempted
into repeating the threadbaie and
shopworn data communicated by the
general to the confiding militia man.
We may say this, however, that the
imagination of General Macarthur.
like that of many other foolish peo-
pie, is turned on full head whenever
the Monroe Doctrine happens to be
mentioned 1t was in this case.
Nothing, we presume, that the gov
eminent of that wicked and designing
man, the German Emperor, may say
or do will ever quite satisfy General
Macarthur and his friends. The Ber-
lin foreign Office may declare, a year
in advance, the policy it means to pur-
sue to secure the payment of debts by
Venezuela, and obtain from our own
Government an approval of its course.
II may be ever so prompt in reeogniz-
ing what has not appropriately been
called "predigested" republic on the
Isthmus of Panama. 1t may even
demonstrate by facts and figures that
the so-called German "colony" in
Southern Brazil does not amount in
Plumbers to one-twentieth of what it Is
lsaid to amount to. 1t may show con-
clusively that the home government
does absolutely nothing to encourage
emigration to that part of the world,
but, on the contrary, does everything
TO prevent it. It may, we say, do
these and a thousand other things
nothing will ever quite satisfy the
thinking men" of our army and
navy.
The thinking men" OF our army
and navyl God save the mark Their
idiotie twaddle sets their fellow-idiots
in both nations by the ears, and is
more wicked, we might almost say,
than the strife they would bring
about. We pray for the day that will
effectualIy bottle them up. The Pres
ident, if we mistake not, "sat down"
and "sat down hard" on General
Miles once, when that doughty soldier
ventured TO express an opinion re-
garding a controversy then raging in
the navy. 1t was a small matter, we
thought at the time. and one, we still
think, he might have overlooked.
General Miles indiscretion, at any
rate, did no serious harm. General
MaeArthur's, on the other hand, does
In the interest Of military discipline
Of the country, and of humanity at
large he ought to be called down
VIII tba Droc;darf do 10