The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-09-28
RODERNk Q. MATHKsON. Editor
ENSifnfy Fp,ftD,e fe,,se.

Il
Richard Washbufn Child, in a recent magazine
article dealing with Efficiency for Defense" And,
he says in the conclusion of his article, while It
y = lie that it takes two TO MAKE war it is a
self-evident truth that it does take two to make
peace. Ea,Yga.. ~ st,srIu r,,rof,% #,4ge
The writer accepts as seiiley,iEht the fact that
this c6uAtty Is hot pfeParsd for war, and the rea
sons lor TINS he gives under FIVE heads: l. His
tory 2 Ignorance and Buster 5. Politics. 4.
Ineficiency 5 Peace and Disarmament Policies.
Celebrating on these reasons Mr.. Child says in
part {as z. aa.l. s3. ff H.. ~.
ID Il. The history Of the United States, though il
contains the story Of the Revolution which we
won because England could not or would not
bother sufficiently to prevent us-the story Of the
War of 1872, in which we lost our capital and won
only; one important land battle land that after
peace was declared--the story of skrmishes with
savage tribes--the narrative of the Civil War, in
which years, lives and property were wasted by
an unpreparedness which had no effect upon the
final result-and an absurdly small war with
SPAIN in which our gross unreadiness made -pilr
victories seem heroio--is the history OF country
which for the first half Of its existence offered no
temptation for invasion. @ .>. ~
after the Civil War, for several years it was a
country which by an internal conflict and as an
incident to a rebellion had been provided with
that defense already was provided without more
effort or thought. Later years brought the extinc4
ton Of our shipping and an retrospective, hungry,
attention upon our internal commercial develop
ment In a sentence, the history of the United
States has been one to lull 0atchfulness to sleep
and to pamper iuattention to Our defenses, b
p Ignorance and Buster. These two betrav-
ing Characteristics have been found country wide
by your investigator. The man on the street in
Dallas. Texas, in the small city of Iowa, in the
towns Of the Rockies and the municipalities of the
Southeast but still more the man on the road in
the country districts (and much more than half
our population lives in communities Of less than
5000 population, still believes, against the bare
facts that his navy is competent to meet any Toe,
that its Workmanship is better than any in the
world that warfare is still carried on by hordes
of unframed men rather than by the newest ma
chimes, that willingness to fight and the patriotic
spirit Of Americans Is, in ITSELF means of victory
instead Of being means Of going to a more extern
sive slaughter and more cruel defeatjt
"a Politics has played fast and loose with our
def{nfes and our preparedness. The two unfortu-
nat6causes for this negligent attitude of congress
are, 6rrt-the unpleasant truth that those who
elect congressman are not nsistent upon expendi-
lures for the good of the nation as whole, sand,
second--the insstence by these same constituents
own locality at the expense Of the national welfare
Therefore, to the eternally repeated facts, require
.ments, and warnings presented to congress by the
boards and experts of the army and navy and by
the secretary of war and the secretary Of the navy
the congressman seeking reelection turns a deaf
ear. but to the demands of localities for war de
partment or navy department improvements and
for the maintenance of junk army posts and navy
yards, into which two of every three dollars we
spend on preparation go, the congressman must
give heed. The evidence that this is true is so
overwhelming and the practise has continued SO
long that there is no expectancy of any change ex
cept from some upheaval of public opinion or a
new system of appropriation for national defense
- lnefticency exists not because of, but in
spite of, the army and navy recommendations. No
manufacturer, no merchant, no business man, with
only the most slender data at his command and
even without any technical military knowledge
whatever, If intrusted with the management'of our
national defense, would tolerate for forty eight
hours the distribution Of depotst-the army posts
and the navy.yards as now established by the con
gressonal log-rolling. In 1911 the report of the
secretary OF warA-which annual publication, with
that Of the secretary of the max, would open the
eyes Of those of our citizens who never read Cow
ernnent reports7-contained the following: The
mobile arnIysis distributed among forty posts
an twehty-four States Nearly all have been 10
Gated for which are now totally Iob96lete3
OF from the beginning were purely local t+*
IS. Peace and disarmament propaganda has not
only served its beneficial purpose, but it has gone
beyond that purpose and has contributed to igno-
rance and blustef 9..' r". " :@".
Your investigator believes that no proof is
needed for these statements following:
1T takes two parties to make war, but only
one to make a conquest.
NrIn case of conquest the fact that the conquer