The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1905-03-08
a Hundred millions For The Navy.

= A4o AA1 kll04t9d46 Al elS1t 20
seem determined ON excessive ant
unnecessary appropriations TO
the navy. and the hundradsmiIlion
Idollar bill for the next year vii
60 through. backed in the tirs
place by the Presidents infiuencl
Eand favor. and backed also by th,
great power of contractors for thu
new vessels and their armament
Naval appropriations, for some nn
discovered reason. are very popular
with the American people. bul
this hundred millions Gaps the oil
max as the largest in the history
of the Governments It is nm
necessary, uncalled for. and only
stimulates and encourages the wal
spirit. There is no conceivable
contingency in the future thai
warrants snoh extravagance and
excess. No one fears a naval war,
and least Of all do the: nations oi
laezs y sight pes
sibIy come in conflict.
Reports from Washington state
that upward of thirty Republicans
of the House of Representatives,
and among them some of the most
distinguished and trusted mem.
bers, voted for reduction of the
500. 100000 naval appropriation.
But the opposition of these in.
dependent and patriotic RepnbIi.
cans was completely neutralizsd
by weak Democrats blinded by the
glmour of imperialism.
The most eloquent speech in
Congress in opposition to the bill
was by Bourke Cochran, who
throughout opposed it's policy of
devoting vast sums of money to
prepare for an imaginary war by
building mammoth ships for which
there is no need or prospect of
need at this time. After paying
great largess to the contractors,
they will find their resting place
in the Junk yards until the Gov
has a great sale at pub.
lilo vendue" of useless and unneed
sd vessels. Some of the reasons
and arguments declared by Rep
Cochran should sink
ieep in the hearts and minds OF
;he people. Speaking in opposl
ion to the hundred million bill as
aunobing the country in long
'areer of war-breeding extraya
yanoe. he said:
Do gentlemen realize what is
meant to all the industries in which
his Nation is engaged? What
ioes it mean to all the laborers
Who must i've by the sweat OF /
heir broWsf What does it mean
% all the farmers who are tn. |
backbone of our citizenship? Tive
millions of dollars year.
,ir. would almost duplicate our
sntire system of transportation
Think of what that would add toll
the comforts of life and to the
wages of labor; what it would save
to the agricultural and other pro.
ducers in getting their products to
market. and how largely it woulo
therefore swell profits of those in
dustries.
Why, all the concessions that
the interstate commerce commits
sion could wrest from our railroad
systems in hundred years would
not amount to the waste of one
year that you are deliberately plan
ming here If the resources of the
country are used for armaments
they certainly will not be available
to improve our rivers and harbors
or for the constructions of public
buildings. While I do not believe
expenditures for these purposes
have always been prudent in the
past, l would rather see $4,000 in
vested in any form of useful en-
terprise than $40 diverted to enter
prises which are necessarily waste,
full. and which. if they becoms &C.
tive at all must become destrnc.
tive.
Mr.. Cochran emphasized the
fact that. while We are appropria.
ting millions to build engines ol
destruction, which can. be usefu
only as they destroy, the best hop,
for them is that they will be use
less. Yet no one has come for
ward to tell Congress of the ne
cessity for it. 1t is only the iing,
or imperialistic spirit. with th,
voice of contractors and iobbere
that makes the plea for the hpn
dred millions this year, and pro
badly twice as much next year
Pittsburg Post.
Western and Southern Low Rat