The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-04-13
WAR PROPAGANDA HARD TO
LOCATE.

Inquiries are received from time
to time as to why there is so much
publicity given to war scares. In
answer to that inquiry it may be
stated that one reason is that army
and navy officers stationed in Wash
ington are always urging increases
in both the army and navy. 1t is
their business to find weak spots
and to protect them. They see the
situation from the standpoint of what
might happen if one of the great
powers of the world should suddenly
take it into its head to smash the
great American republic. 1t is per-
fectly easy to point out how weak
the United States is in the matter
of a standing army, and also to
show that we are weak on the sea,
as matched against foreign powers.
Recently it was pointed out that
we need immense fleets, one on the
Atlantic to protect us against Ger
many and the other on the Pacific
to protect us against Japan. All
this in spite of the fact that no sane
man can see the necessity of war
with either country. Before the
war with Spain the United States
had a standing army of $4,000 men,
which was ample to take care of
every interest in the contiguous
territory of the United States and
also to police Alaska in a satisfac-
tory manner.
The Spanish war forced an in
crease of the army to $4,000, and a
much larger increase in the officers,
so that an army of 100000 men
could be officered at any time.
The navy kept pace with the army,
and even went ahead of it, The an
nual naval appropriations have been
increased about 500, 200 year
since the Spanish war in order that
we may keep up a navy that can
hold the Philippines, Hawaii, Porto
Rico and the canal against all hos
tile governments.
Another expense entailed by the
Spanish war is an increase of the
pensions by S26,000,000. The U.
S. is to-day paying more than $780,
O,000 every day to pensioners of
ed in the Philippines.
1t has been intimated that there
is a propaganda of some kind for the
purpose of molding public sentiment
in favor of a larger army and an in
creased navy. 1t is hard to deny that
there is such an organization, but
it is not apparent anywhere in
Washington All such organizations
usually flood the newspaper offices
with literature pointing out the ad-
vantages of This or that particular
interest that is being supported.
There is no press bureau connected
with this particular propaganda, but
it is very easy for an army or navy
officer to give correspondent a
good story" about the defenseless
condition of this or that portion of
the United States, and get in some
work in favor OF an increased mill
tary establishment.
OF course, no one wants the army
or navy reduced to a point where
there might be danger of the nation
being humiliated. That is why we
are keeping up our army and navy
at the present time. But there Is
reason to believe that the war spirit
is on the decrease throughout the
country, and that it would be al
most impossible to increase the army
without adequate cause, and that
soon the policy of building two i'm
mense battleships each year will give
way to the building of one. Even
now it is difiicult for the advocates
OF very large navy to secure ma
jority in the house. Such major
ity can not be obtained among the
Republicans at the present time, as
there are quite a number who in
tend to vote for one battleship. But
there are enough Democrats along
the Atlantic coast to come to the res
cue of the two-battleship program,
and a sufficient number of votes will
be obtained from the minority par
ty to save that proposition for this
congress.