Denver labor bulletin., 1915-12-11
PREPAREDNESS ALL RIGHT
IF PROPERLY SECURED
Well-Known Denver Labor Man Advane-
es Sound Views on Qucstios Now
Beng Strongly Agitated
CBy Richard E. crosEey1

why all this hysteril about prepared
ness, when every thinking person must
realize that there ia not n first class ns-
tion in the world that will be in a posi.
tion to attack the United state. aft4
the present worlds war" is over, for
decades to eomel Every nation that
could in any way cause this nation SER
ious trouble in a conflict Of arms. |. now
engaged in life or death strurgie. aAi
the financial exhaustion Of thrse na-
tions, If nothing else, will be sufficient
ly strong to preclude any of them from
engaging in war for years to come.
of course, the labor people might not
object TO our government spending mil
lions OF dollars in armamcnts. providing
this was spent for wages for worksrs,
and these wages were fair and adr51loe,e
pay for fair days work, but sueh@nn.
fortunately, is not the case. The bulk
of the money expended will 90 TO the
great stecl--or steal-eorporations, and
the methods Of these people with re.
CARDS TO labor is too well known. Pear
sons magazine, about a year ago. had
very exhaustive article on this subject,
quoting statistics from their own reports
which show that these stecl CORPORATIONS
could double the wages now paid their
workers, placing every one Of them on
an eight-hour workday basis asd then
pay handsome dividends on all their
stock issued. watcrcd or otherwise.
There is still doubt in the minds OF
many people, but that this continual
howl in the kept newspapers for pre-.
paredness is inspired by the great steel
and other interested corporations, be-
cause there is millions in il" for them.
The officers of the army and navy are
also very much interested because the
more soldiers and sailors and ships tbe,.
more jobs for them and the more quick
ly their promotions.
Supposing the national govcrpmcnt
spends millions of dollars for nrns ment,
but by the time II will-if ever-have
occasion to use them they will have be-
come obsolete. At the present rate Of
progression in military and naval science
our big guns of today may be only pis-
tolls in few years from now, anip in
fact, there may be electrical or other
devices constructed that will render
them useless for warefare or purposes
OF defense when needed.
The recent convention OF the Amcri-
can Federation of Labor went on record
ms not being opposed to preparedness,
but insisting that the work be- done by
day labor and not by contracts TO cor
porations. This is the right stand. With
the millions OF men out Of work there
should be no objection to the govern
ment tnxing those who have most Of
the wealth and can afford Il. TO make
work fr the unemployed, but we labor
people shuld not be blinded by a false
spirit Of patriotism into playing into the
hands Of corporation greed, especially
when Il has so often been demonstrated
that this monicd interest hns no SEM
blnnce Of patriotism to Il. Madame de
stncl remarked in the great Nnpolcon.s
time that patriotism Is the last refuge
Of scoundrel." The saying holds good
today as when uttered, especially so
when II is used as the mems Of further
enriching those who have already more
than their share Of the worlds wca,,h.