The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-08-09

women and children--all this has un-
doubtedly cowed and terrorized the
average American pacifist, the av-
erage peace at-any- price man In tne
United States. II has cowed the type
of man who cheers such a song as
"I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be Sol
der" 1t has terrorized the type OF
man who makes speeches and writes
editorials for newspaper or magazine
articles on behalf of disarmament, on
behalf of universal arbitration, ana
against the Monroe Doctrine. There
is a DR.. Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde in ma
tons as in individuals; and sheer ter
rorism Ia often found working hand
in-hand with flabby and timid inter
national pacificism for the undoing
of righteousness and for the deif1ca-
ton of the most brutal form OF sue
cessful militarism.
MIR. Bryan resigns the foremost po-
sition In the American Cabinet ana
Immediately addresses a large meet
ing of Germans. where ne was very
properly received VITA uproarous ap-
plause as a faithful servant of the
present German Government. as a man
who, however amiable his intentions,
had In actual fact stood against the
honor, and interest of America. now
If Mr.. Bryan were German. the Ger
man Government would not for one
moment permit him to make the kino
of address against Germany that the
Germans applauded him for making
against his own country and ours. Inc
success of the German policy OF blood
and-iron largely depends upon their
possible rivals and opponents adopt
ing a policy of mtlk-and-water. The
blood and-iron statesman of one ma
ton finds in the milk-and-
statesman of another nation the man
predestined through the ages to DC
his ally and his tool.
In 1914, a little over century ago,
in the course of the War of 1912, a
small British army landed in Chesa-
peake Bay. 1t defeated twice its num-
Der of 'free-born American citizens"
without training and discipline, who
had leaped to arms" as Mr. Bryan
says, or become IAN armed citizenry,
as Mr. Wilson puts It, 1t men burned
the public buildings at Washington.
The armed citizenry"-upon whose
potentiality President Wilson relies as
an excuse for signal failure to make
any preparation to do our duty by
adequate preparation in view OF the
terrible world-war now going on ana
of the situation in Mexico-fled With
such unanimity and rapidity that only
score or so lost their lives. There
upon the remainder, together with all
the American editors and public men
who for years had been screaming
for peace and announcing t1at there
was no need of preparing against war.
instead of expressing their hearty
shame and repentance for the national
e. hn> hxfG
in attacking-with words only-the
hostile army for having burned Wash
ington. The British army century
ago was as profoundly Indifferent to
this attack as the war lords of Ger
many today are to our prattle about
the Lusitania, or the resolutions or
our peace societies, and the boasts or
our political orators on the Fourth OF
July. Such indifference was, and Ia.
entirely justifiable. 1t was not a nice
thing TO burn the public buildings OF
Washington: but 1t was an infinitely
worse thing for this country, after
two years of war, to be utterly UNI
able to protect it's capital. 1t was not
nice thing to kill our women and
children on the Iusitania; but 1t was
an even meaner and more contemptt-
BILE thing for us to fail to act with in
slant decision thereon--and had we
so acted in the case of the Gulflight,
a few days previously, the Lusitania
would never have been sunk.
This Administration was elected on
the specific promise to give freedom
to the Philippines. The United States
must keep its promises. No greater
service has been rendered by ANY
people to another during the past
u Irrl
to the Philippines-and than we have
rendered to Cuba also. In February,
1909. when the battlefield returned
from It's voyage around the world, the
| United States was in point of mill
tary, that Is. primarily naval. effici-
ency in such shape that there was no
people that would have ventured to at
tempt to wrong II; and under the cir
cumstanCes we could afford to keep
the Philippines and to continue the
work that we were doing. But since
then we have relatively to other pow
ers sunk intellectually from a military
standpoint; we are infinitely less fitted
than we were to defend ourselves
Above all. we have promised the
Filipinos independence in terms which
were inevitably understood to be In
dependence in their immediate future:
and we have begun to govern them
weakly. Such indecision in interna-
tional conduct shows that this people
ought not to undertake the govern
ment of a distant dependency, and this,
both from military reasons and be-
cause of the need Of keeping promises
that have been made. Let us. then. as
speedily as possible, leave the Phil
! ippines; and as the Philippines desire
| us to leave we would be quit of all
moral obligations to them. and would
under no circumstances be obliged to
defend them from other nations.
There remains Alaska, Hawaii, our
| own coasts. and the Panama Canal
and its approaches. as the military
| problem with which we should grap-
pie. To protect these places we need,
in the first place. first-class navy;
| a navy first class in material, and
above all. first class in the trained eff
| ficiency that comes from incessant
practice at sea and from having the
right spirit in the whole service, and,
therefore, necessarily In the depart
ment itself We need adequate forth
fications which shall absolutely pre-
vent a successful sudden attack on
Hataii. or the Panama Canal. or on
our big coast cities--not merely O ma
val attack, but sudden attack by n
landing force. OF course all that for
LITIGATION can do is to stop sudden