The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-04
THE RIG NAVY AGAIN.

When the President heard of Togo's great victory if he didn't actually jump up and crack his heels together he did it figuratively. and we can cas- fly imagine him exclaiming: That set- ties 1t! We must have a big navy at once" In fact. those who are navy mad can find arguments for their fad in everything that occurs In the somewhat sarcastic language of The New York Times, Nothing happens in this country or abroad that is not an indisputable argument for larger navy. The earlier Japanese successes were proof positive that we must have more battleships. Had the Russians won on Saturday last. the inference as to our own needs would have been ex- actly the same. Every disturbance in the Philippines, every furry of politics. in Europe, Asia, or South America, serves but to emphasize our defenceless condition. The peril of Pericardis and the rascality of Ratsuli were as clear a warning as the handwriting on the wall. An earthquake in Alaska would.
 
 President as sort of miraculous token of divine wrath at the smallness of our navy" Cardinal Newman once wrote with some contempt of those people whose minds never went back- ward or forward, who saw in the events nor a promise, who could draw no infer ence from anything. He left no opin- ion about those people who draw the same inference from everything"
 To these one-sided people there are sermons in stones" laundering for a big navy. By some method of reason- ing they apparently arrive at the con- clusion that the very existence of the American Union is threatened unless we can provide more and better ships of war than any other nation has. The victory of Togo has added new wings to their terrors and to read what some of our contemporaries are saving no one need be surprised if he at once heads his fleet for our shores. President Roosevelt seems to be as badly afflicted with navy mania as any one else. He apparently believes that the United States should be the domi- hating power of the world. and thatsthe only way to become such Is to have the largest and strongest navy in existence.
 For the life of us we can not see the force of such arguments. Tn the first place we do not wish our Govern ment to either assume or desire the title of bully of the seas. The name of swash buckler would be no credit to us as a nation, and the propriety of expending several hundred millions of dollars in building a navy to over awe all the other powers of earth is not apparent. And the absurdity of the argument lies in the fact that those who use 1t seem to take 1t for granted that all other countries will stop build ing warships out of deference to our desire to become naval cock of the walk. We must confess that we have no such belief In the indifference or paralysis of the great nations of Flu rope and Asia. It seems to us that ac- tivity on the part of our Government would merely act as a stimulus to all other powers, and they would set to work to keep pace with us. In short. we would bankrupt our own Govern ment in an effort to accomplish the im- possible. As a matter of fact. we re. fuse to believe that this country has anything to fear from the rest of the world, eve en though we are not ruler of the ocean.
 In Brooklyn, a day or two ago, the President said: "The surest way for a nation to invite disaster is to be opulsnt. aggressive and unarned." ThYre again does the Roosevelt idea stick out It is the same old big stick" Why should a just Govern ment, which has proper regard for the rights of others. ever become aggres- sive? If man, opulent and unarmed, we will say. goes out and makes him self offensive to others. If he apes the bully, becomes aggressive. in fact. has he any right to complain or expect sym pathy if he gets his face smashed ? That is what he will deserve, and 1t Is what any bully deserves, whether 1t be an individual or a nation. In truth, the big stick and the big navy are both un-American and wrong in theory, and would be more so in practice if sohe of their advocates could have full sway
 
 The best answer to the idea prevail ent in the North and West that the cotton crop of the South is produced