The Monte Vista journal., 1915-02-27


enabled him to once more overthrow
the normal Republican majority in
his district and come back to Wash
ington to support Woodrow Wilson.
He lays down the simple theorum
that the way to destroy militarism
in this country-and throughout the
world, for that matter-is to take
the profits out of war.
A Worldwide Combine
He has undertaken to prove the
existence of a worldwide combina-
tion of manufacturers of the mu-
nitions of war. In order to create
a demand for their products, these
men, according to Tavenner, carry
on a systematic campaign in sup
port of militarism.
They SOW the seeds of discord
among the nations of the earth and
to this end they use the press, the
magazines and public men and even
the occupants of the pulpit.
BY the way of illustration he cites
the case of Mulliner, the director of
German corporation manufactur-
ing war materials, who hired Ger
man journalists to circulate incend-
iary stories concerning the warlike
intentions of the French people and
then suborned French newspaper
men to reply in the same spirit.
He holds that the Mulliners and
the Knipps are directly responsible
for the conflict which is now devas-
tating Europe.
He boldly declares that the Amer
ican people are being made the vic
tins of the same fiendish propagan-
da. In speech which he inserted
in the Congressional Record on Feb
ruary Is, he exposes the relations
existing between certain prominent
officers of our army and navy and
the Powder trust, the Armor Plate
trust and the other trusts and COM
bines which made tens of millions
of profits out of army and navy con-
tracts.
Only the Opening Guns
Tavenner submits a mass of docu-
mentary evidence to sustain his al
legations and he calmly announces
that his magazine is we'll stocked
with additional ammunition.
"This is only the opening shot"
I, IL
quired to capture this particular cit
adel of corruption"
Here is very small segment of
his argument as he presented it to
Congress:
Increase in Cost of Navy is Abnormal
The increase in the cost of our
Army and Navy in the last 20 years
is enough to stagger the imagina-
tion and bewilder the senses. The
cost of our Army and Navy is
greater in proportion to it's size than
that Of any other nation on earth.
The increase in cost is absolutely
abnormal when considered in pro-
portion to the increase in our pop
ulation, or the increase in wealth,
or when considered with the in
creased cost of preparation for war
in other countries in time of peace.
Some Startling Figures
In the last 80 years our popula-
tion has increased S5 per cent, our
wealth 185 Der cent and our ay
penditures 400 per cent.
During the Is years prior to the
Spanish-American War our annual
appropriations for the Navy ranged
from $14,OOO,00O to s30,OOO,OOO,
and for the Army less than $25,OOO,-
900, averaging for both less than
$50,000,000.
in 1883 our appropriation for the
Navy was $14,903,559; in 1890, ap-
proximately $2O,OOO,OOO; in 1914,
$40, 100000. Our appropriations
for the Army and Navy combined for
the ensuing year will be in the
neighborhood of $24O,OOO,O0O.
During the year 1912 our entire
revenue, not including postal re-
ceipts amounted to $7O2,OOO,OOO.
OF this we expended 100000 to
defray the entire expenses OF the
Government; $444,0OO,OOO, or 67.8S|
per cent, was paid out for war and
on account of war. Just before the