The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1910-06-11
WASHINGTON LETTER.

The President ia aga,n absent from
tie capita, on thre or four days
jaupt, addressing seW' n, e. and uni
v.rsities at their comm .rt, ment exc,
cises II ~ no small th,up Tor one oi
these institutions TO have the Pref
dent Of the United States IN The pla "a
FORM He viii make Monroe, Michi
gan, the limit of his tour, where he
will deliver an address mt an Inaugural
ton of nm equestrian statue of General
Custer No President has travelled M
much and made az man, speeches on
81 many different subjects az has
President Taft. tie ~ not what IL
called great orator ard is not always
a happy speaker lie frequently tells
anecdotes that lack elegance, although
they cannot he class, Il ~ low OF
coarse, but he IL always good hum0r, Il,
never bitter Or vindicti,e. and the ~
dience il invariably impressed With
his gool faith. and that he il the yer,
antithesis Of Csssius in that he hath
no lean and hungry zoos and II not
dangerous.
II 10 reported that il il the intention
Of the President 10 appoint ex Presi-
dent Roosevelt aa the head or a Pea,
COmmis,ion which some members of
Congress In the Senate are disposed to
authorize by mn appropriation bill for
that purpose. The idea IL that the
Peace Commission shall tour the
world In an endeavor to have the sov-
eseigns and chancelleries of the great
powers agree to limitation Of armies
and armaments with view Of lin (
ing the staggering expense Of military
and naval establishm eOts and In the
Interests Of peace II is sad that Rus
STA IL on the eve Of expanding 81 600
tNO. 900 for the army and navy. This
will necessarily arouse Japan tu a like
effort. Germany. not withstanding her
colossal military and naval establish
ments will certainly not quietly ait by
while Russia Ia organizing such a pre-
pOnderant force, and Austria, France
and England will also best,r them
selves until, A. someone has said.
Every laborer Of Europe will have a
soldier or sNilor on hts back. An
army Il productive Of nothing but dc
structlOn. Every soldier and sailor il
% much taten from the fed Vt pro.
ductive work and made to swell the
ranks, not only Of consump tion, but of
destruction. 1.-THE millions 81 soldiers
now In armies throughout the world
could only be converted to workers in
tho field. In the factories, and the
mines, the cost Of living would be
greatly decreased ard that question
would cease to agitate Congresses and
bread. winners. Think of what Rus
eta might do with that one billion in |
the wav Of railroad building. That
country has m,ll,ops of square miles
Of - fine agi icultural land ~ can be |
found any where, and cheap trnnspor-
iati ~ would quickly quadruple their
valus and bring prosperity 10 "A hun
dred million Of very poor people. But
Russia 10 under the immediate neces.
atty Of expendinR her millions In pre-
paratiOn to destruy instead Of 70 pro
ducc. IT the great powers Of III,
worlL-the United States, Great Brit
attn. Japan, 0.rmany, Italy. Russia aud
France would agree u settle the exac,
ratio ~ tO military establishment.
they could reduce ex .,end,tures prol,a-
bly, seventy five percent aud stili he
ON the same relative basis that the,
are nov, and these millions G, uld be
iurned a. the material Development of
the unimprovpd parts Of the world, No
that thrift aud prosperity might, glad
den the continents and the islands.