Bisbee daily review., 1915-07-22
FOR
 WAR Is SUBJECT
tContinued from Page 1)


 iaccnt states, and Co render the ut most service from the standpoint alike of honor and of material interest. to the United States ] am Glud that this is the case. for if there were the slightest taint upon our title or our conduct, it would have been an im- [ ope1 and shameful thing Co hold ,uis exposition.
 The building of the canal near,y Corbles the potential efficiency Of thc IliteJ States navy, as long as it is fortified and is in -ullr hands, but 'f left unfortihed, it would at once te. c,me a menace to us
 What is true as Co our proper atti- tude in regard to the canal is no less true as regards our proper attitude concerning the interests of the United States taken as a whole The canal is to be a great agency for peace; 1t can be such only and exactly in prop ortion as it increased our potential efficiency in war
 Those men who. like myself be- neve that the highest duty of this na- ton is to prepare itself against war, So that it may safely trust it's honor and interest Co it's own strength, are advocating merely that we do as a nation regarding our general interests what we have already done in Panama. If, instead of acting as this nation did in the fall of 1908, we had confined our selves to debates in Congress and dip- lomatic notes if. in other words, we had treated elocution as @ substitute for action We would have done mo- body and good and for ourselves we would have earned the hearty derision of all other uations-the canal would not even have been begun at the pres eut day. and there would have been a general concensus of international opinion to the effect that we were to- tally unfit Go perform any of the duties of international life. especially in con- nection with the Western Hemisphere.
 Unfortunately in the last few years we have, as regards pretty much ev- erything not connected with the 18th mus oi Panama. SO failed in our duty of national preparedness that fear there actually is a general concensus of opinion to precisely this effect among the nations of the world as re- gards the United States at the present. day. This is primarily due to our un- preparedness.
 We have been culpably, welLnigh criminally remiss as a nation in not. preparing ourselves and if, with the. lessons taught the world by the dread ful tragedies of the last twelve months we continue with soft complscency to stand helpless and naked before the world, we shall excite only contempt and derisIon if and when disaster ul- timately Overwhelms us.
 Preparedness against war does not invariably avert war, any more than fire department in a city will invariab- iy avert fire; and there are we'll meaning foolish people who point out this fact as offering an excuse for un- preparedness It would be just as sen sible if, after the Chicago fire, Chica- go had announced that it would abol- lsh its fire department, as for our people Go take the same view as re- gards military preparedness. Some years ago ] was looking over some very old newspapers contemporaneOus with the early establishment of paid fire departments in this country, and to my amusement, l came across let ter which argued against a paid fire department upon the ground that the knowledge of it's existence would tend to make householders careless and therefore would encourage fires.
 Greece was not prepared for war when she went Co war with Turkey a score Of years ago. But this fact did not stop the war It merely made the war unsuccessful for Greece. China was not prepared for war with Japan twenty odd years ago, nor for war with the Allies who marched to Pe- king fifteen years ago.
 But the clearest teaching is con- yeyed in the experience of China and of Belgium during the last year As regards Belgium the comparison should be made between it and Swift zerland The territory of Switzerland like the territory of Belgium. lay be- tween the great combatants. One of- iered as advantageous d path of entry to those cOmbatants as the other. A century ago, for instance when Swift zerland was utterly unprepared for war, the Napoleonic armies used it as a highway in marching against the Austrlans and South Germans. Abso lutely the same fate would have been theirs now save for the vital fact that in Che century intervening, the Swiss people having learned the lesson, had prepared in advance and were thor oughly competent to defend them selves. They had hrst-class citizens army of about One-tenth the size oI their whole population. This army
 was instantly mobilized and throwr on the frontiers and in consequence
 switzerland's territorial integrity wal
 respected
 But Belgium, alas, had not learned | the dlesson which Switzerland h,
 learned. For eighty years Belgiun
 had been at peace and had achieve, ! an extraordinary measure of industri
 al prosperity Her people had dom ] fundamentally what ours have done