Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-09-03
AMERICAN CITIZEN PRAISED.
Annapolis Writer to New York Tribune
Commended by New Jersey
ClerQyman.
Communicated

September 2, 1915.
Editor of The Capital. Annapolis. sid.
Dear Sir:
It has been a great pleasure to read
in the New York Tribune" the LET.
tiers signed, American Citizen. An
nspolis, Nd" There have been pub
| lished in the Tribune number of
expressions of appreciation, and to
those wish to add this, through the
medium Of the home paper of Amer
lean Citizen"
The historical fact cited by your
worthy citizen cannot be questioned,
nor can the position that those facts
| are cited to support be gainsaid. This
country needs TO have pressed, good
and hard, into its individual and collec-
tive consciousness, so to speak, the
| absolute necessity of military pre-
/ paredness; not FOR but AGAINST
/ war, as has been frequently said
The deplorable and disgraceful po-
sition>of this country in 1912 ESQ well
described by American Citizen in
tO-Gay's "Tribune'), and the position
Of China in 1915, should not give
Us pause. but give US a good, strong,
| immediate start toward a condition
Of preparedness that would enable this
great and splendid nation TO assume
and to maintain any position that
! might be required not ever for often
| sive warfare, but for the upholding
of those basic principles of chivalry.
honor, truth, and justice. on which
| Americans, since the Fourth Of July,
Il Ill Al
was founded
We do not wish to go armed to the
teeth" but if that is required for our
complete defense, for peace of mind
| and clear conscience, and for a per-
fectly assured consciousness of our
power to maintain those principles for
! which these United States have al
ways stood, then. by all means, let
us have all the arms and all the
teeth that may be needed There is
only one kind of army, one kind of
navy, one kind of defenses Of all
kinds, that are worth powder enough
to blow them up. and that is the kind
that will keep us perfectly easy in
our minds in the face of the worst
possible danger that could threaten.
There can be no compromise. 1t is
simply that which has been mention
ed, or else we must commit ourselves
as a nation to a policy of non-resist-
ance.
In either of these cases we know
| where we are; but In a condition of
| semi-preparedness we can never be
sure of being anywhere, except up
Sin the air." and liable to have a
suggestive chill" whenever any SER
ious political disturbance takes place
in the world. That we are as we'll off
as we are at this present moment is
not by any means entirely due to the
patience or the diplomacy of the
President, nor to any change of mood,
or mind, or heart in Germany; but to
the fact that Germany already had
enough on her hands to make it too
risky to add ths United States to the
list of her foes. If Germany had been
in position to use her full power. her
reply to our demand would have been
of the same character as her reply to
/ Belgium and something of what h as
happened there might well have hap
pened here as 4sr as our power to pre-
vent il is concerned.
To talk about diplomatic victory"
and of "Germany's concessions" is
l twaddle; we have won no diplomatic
victory, nor has Germany made any
concessions: Germany's helplessness
at thi time not our ability or power
(otherwise) to enforce our demands,
has compelled Germany to promise
that she will kindly refrain from muir
dering any more of our women and
children. If this country had taken
the finn stand that it ought to have
taken from the start (evenss in our ILL
prepared military condition) it is
Highly probable that none of the out
RACES that Germany has committed
gainst us on the high seas would have
been perpetrated, and that there would
never have been the snarl and the tan
gle that we have been in for the past
four months, ending in our alleged
diplomatic victory"
According to expert testimony, it
would require not less than FIVE years
to put us in position to cope with one
of the more powerful European ma
tions; how long would it take US to
get ourselves clicked literally into
shape" !" while trying to keep Ger
many, for instance. unhampered other
wise, from licking US.
So far we have learned our lesson
very cheaply-t is PROVIDED WE
HAVE LEARNED IT 1t was not
preparedness that caused this war, but
unpreparedness If England, and
France, and Russia had been as well
prepared as Germany, there would
have been no war. Better far a tax
to pay for armament, than a tax to
pay for war while going on and for
several years after, to say nothing of
the saving of thousands of lives.
In closing this lengthy epistle, May
be permitted to add that ! have a
special interest in Annapolis, because
it was the home and birthplace Of my
father and grandfather. and the home
of many members of my family, for,
believe, more than a hundred years.
The editor of the defunct' Record, 'Mr.
Elihu Riley, was, as far as | know, the
closest and dearest personal friend
that my father ever had; and / have
the honor of being connected with one
of Maryland's soldiers of 1912, Harry
. ~ n Is