The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-01-02
THE STRONG ARM OF PEACE.

After all, may not the sending of the
battleship fleet to the Pacific be a
move on the part of Great Britain and
the United States to promote perma-
nent peace and avert a war which
might become world wide, should Japan
cease to regard a conflict as ''unthink-
able?
Such a conclusion is not difficult to
draw
In the first place il seems preposter-
Gus that Japan would for a moment
contemplate war-but it's people are
so cocksure, so disconnected with
present conditions, and beset with the
idea that their amalgamation with the
balance of the world must be accepted
it should attempt to strike. Whatever
its intentions. it is better prepared
now than ever before. 1t has every
thing to gain, nothing to lose, by war.
-
thing to gain by continued peace. The
two nations control the trade and the
finances of the world.
England is bound by treaty to go to
the assistance OF Japan should it be
attacked by two powers If the brown
men attack us, Russia, blunderingly
perhaps. partly in gratitude, mostly in
a spirit of revenge, would invade Co.
rea. and England would be drawn in
to the vortex of blood, just at a time
and with precisely the powers it least
desires trouble with. To strike at
America means the employment of it's
navy in all parts of the world-leaving
her coast at the mercy of Germany
and France-an alliance not so impos
sible should war in the far east de-
velop. In addition. there is the ever
present fringe of Russian soldiery on
the northern border of India. There is
the bottled-up Black Sea fleet ready to
strike at Constantinople and the Turk
ish towns on the inland sea-all places
that are guarded jealousy by the
British to maintain the present balance
OF power.
ca, and the fires that have been
smouldering in Germany and in France
for years will be famed into blaze
Germany has cause enough, and France
can find many excuses in Africa.
Being commercial nations, the inter-
ests of Uncle Sam and John Bull are
identical Each is in a class distinct
from the other Each speaks the same
language, trades in the same ports,
buys in the same quarters. have inter-
ests alike-the protection of the one
is the safeguard Of the other And out
of this condition. may not the present
cruise have developed?
England has practically withdrawn
its fleet from the Pacific; America is
to send to these waters the greatest
unit of fighting ships the world has
ever known. Uncle Sam, by the
statement, announces to the world mis-
preparedness; John Bull, by withdraw.
ing his fleet. signifies. particularly 70
Japan. that he approves the plan-the
secret agreement of the English-speak-
ing people.
The announcement that the fleet will
come. and then the trip of Taft to To-
kio. where he talked with the Mikado:
TO the Philippines. and then, coincident
through Russia, where he saw ard con-
ferred with the czar
All. but what a chain of circun-
stances, Then the conference of the
president with Admiral Evans. and the
finest fighting force the world has ever
known sets sail to prevent a war that
would drench the world with blood to
smother fire that would retard civil
iization for two score years or more.
The feet will develop the cruising
ability of the American ships: it will
repeat, as fleet. the performance of
the Oregon as an individual ship. And
somewhere on the route be prepared