The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-12-25
the feet.

I'VE have a large number Of sub
marines not enough in proportion to
our fieet-but it is stated that many
of those of early types are not at all
up to recent standards and would be
useless. 1t is said that we
have only one torpedo to each tor
pedo tube.
I'VE ought to have the truth about
these things, and then 1t is for the
American people and nobody else to
decide what they intend shall be
done. 1t is not a party question in
any sense and the national defense
ought never to be party question. I
No, iE is not "a party question if the
republicans are to be held response
BILE. but it is "a party question where
the democrats may be held, for, as
Senator Lodge concludes, I'VE are
spending some 100000 year on
our army and navy and we ocght to
know what we are getting for ouT
money and whether for that money
we are securing the highest possible
efficiency" his preceding remarks
tending if not intended, to arraign the
Wilson administration.
In the senator's despite, and in
defense of the administration, the
Courier-Journal might with Difference
submit that r. Wilson may have his
doubts about the expediency of spend
ing great sums of money upon arma-
ment for which there will be no i'm
mediate use and which by the time it
is called for may be obsolete and
valueless.
Where is the urgency that excites
representative Gardner-the exigen-
cy that impels Senator Lodge-the
danger that arouses the National Sc
curity League?
To meet the dilemmas suggested by
these questions, the organizers of the
new war party cite the accomplished
ex-Mayor George Brinton Mcclellan,
of New York, now a professor at
Princeton, who does not believe that
the European war will bring about
universal disarmament and peace.
On the contrary, he thinks that when
it is over it will be only a question
of soon or late when we shall have
to stand by our guns. They quote
him as follows:
"No matter who wins it is almost
certain that at some not far distant
time we shall be confronted with the
alternative of either abandoning the
Monroe Doctrine or fighting to main
tain it. We have made of it a great
national principle, question of
national honor, so that if we abandon
it we must concede that we are not
strong enough to maintain it; that
we are only a second-class power, at
the mercy of all the staggering bull
lies of the earth. If we fight for it
in our present unprepared condition
there can be but one outcome. A
triumphant and victorious Germany
would have little to fear from US, and
while we might possibly in the end
be able to check Japan by herself, we
could scarcely hope to do so If she
received help"
The Coufier-Journal has said some
thing like this. If the kaiser could
win, it would become a certainty. In
that event Germany would rise on it's
hind legs to say "to hell with your
Monroe Doctrine" But the kaiser
cannot win. When the allies have
finished him they will be too much
played out to think about any more
fighting.
Naturally, England, being our next
door neighbor and foremost Compel
itor, for markets, would be Iikeliest
to tackle US. But the impediments
are almost insuperable. Outside of
trade neither wants what the other
has. England was, and is, and will
continue to be, in favor of disarma-
ment. 1t was Germany that, requir-
ing foreign exits and entrances, and
resolved and prepared to fight her
way out, forbade. With Germany
PROSTATE and the others exhausted
the isolation of the United States
still our best defensive-it will be
our own fault if we have. to go to
war with any nation. Hence, Prof.
McClellan's appeal that Americans
awake to their present condition of
and that immediate
steps be taken to build up a nation
al defense" coming from the son of
a soldier, if not soldier, loses much
OF its force and should not be re-
garded especially relevant to the dis
cussion.
Backed by a self-constituted and
self-styled body of exclusive patriots
The National Security League
obviously organized and financed by
the plate-armor people-it is at once
an effrontery and an affront, not to