Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-07-24
Navy Captain stirs His Audi.
ence With War Scare
Cadman Ridicules
NO DECISION OF THE DEBATE
Debaters Get Into an Argument Heated
Enough to Become the Real Thing
Hobson Would Have Two Great Ma
vies-cadman Would Reduce All
Armaments.

the circle OF Marshalltown and It's VI
entity, was accorded this city yester-
day when 1t was made the scene OF
debate between Captain Richmond r.
Hobson. the hero Of the Merrimac. now
congressman from Alabama, and DR..
S. Parkes Cadman, OF Brooklyn, N. T.,
who lectured here Tuesday afternoon.
The debaters were introduced BY
Congressman G. N. Haugen, of the
Fourth Iowa district, chairman OF the
naval committee, who after brief In
troductory remarks, stated the case as
follows: Resolved, That the Naval
Strength of the United States Should
Be Substantially Increased at Once"
Hobson was the first speaker, being on
the affirmative, and at once made hit
by asking and receiving permission
from the audience FOR DR.. Cadman and
himself to remove their coats, as
speaking promised to be warm mat
|ter.
DIR. Cadman has more Of a reputa-
ton as a pulpit orator but Hobson's
style Is much more satisfactory from
press agents standpoint, and Cadman
was at disadvantage in that he was
playing Hobson at Hobson's game.
Hobson reeled off military and strate-
gical information which was enough
to stagger his audience and made his
argument convincing to many and
plausible to most while Cadman had
failed to fortify himself with any in
formation with which to puncture
Hobson's argument depending upon
ridiculing the general proposition and
appealing for a peace convention.
Hobson easily made the strongest de-
Tense Of what most people consider to
be the weakest case.
Summed up briefly, Hobson's idea Is
that great navy is the surest guar
anty Of peace, while Cadman believes
it to be an incentive to war. which
both wish to avoid Further. while
this was not the issue, 1t is Hobson's
firm belief, after close investigation.
that war with Japan 10 imminent while
Cadman thinks this IL the cheapest
kind Of Jingoism.
Hobson's First Inning.
Hobson spoke of the Peace League,
with which Roosevelt and other prom
inent men are identified, and of which
he himself Is first vice president,
whose purpose Is to crystalline the SEN
timent of the world for peace. He said
that Its navy is the vehicle OF a ma
TONS power, and In the first place. the
constitution of the United States de-
<I,a
question then devolves upon the size
Of our navy.
Some factors that bear upon deter
mining this are self preservation, the
first law in nature; the protection Of
our coast line, outlying possessions
and foreign markets. whether the
country has commerce on the high
seas or not.
AS regards the policy Of depending
on world arbitration, no nation has yet
agreed to arbitrate any interest really
vital.
Nations have duties in addition to
their interests. We have special obli-
cations, such as maintaining the Mon
roe doctrine.
America Is essentially the one great
peacemaker Of the world, and In order
that her voice may have weight in Gre
ating this system Of order, she must
have power, and she must have navy
as basis for that power.
America stands for just policies. She
Is demanding an open door policy In
China-but how IS she going to get it,
with no navy to back her?
America ought to have an adequate
navy In order to maintain the balance
Of power in Europe.
An American feet couldn't menace
anybody, no matter how large because
it has no army behind it.
Japan IS a great menace. European
nations cannot check it, and America
can't without q great navy.
Our own defenselessness is an 1nvi-
tation for attack, which Is not fair to
another nation, specifically Japan, nor
ourselves. Take the temptation Of ter
ritory away from Japan.
Competition for trade in the far east,
alone will bring war between the Uni
ted States and Japan unless we have
a great navy. We are in the very pres
ence of war. because the yellow man
objects to the only way of keeping
peace-his exclusion.
He cited the San Francisco school in
cident as of ominous Importance. He
deems this as Japan's effort to get an
excuse presentable to Europe, for pro-
voking trouble with America, and eu-
logized Roosevelt's wisdom and diplom-
acy in averting the danger, but de-
plored the humiliation it was necessary
to force upon our nation. The only
escape from these dangers, he said, Is
great power in the Pacific ocean, which
we do not have without navy.
Don't depend upon our coast defenses
in America, he warned for a landing
army could capture any defense we
have. He compared our five armored
cruisers with Great Britain's seventy
eight, Frances thirty-one, and Ger
many's twenty seven, and said we are
fast going towards fifth place among
the nations Our navy was built for
the Atlantic ocean and we can't have
it there. We need it in the Pacific.
Because we have no army, we must de-
pend absolutely upon our navy for de-
Tense. The war department estimates
it would take at least two years to
organize an army-think what we
could do toward a navy In that time.
Protect our coasts and we won't need