New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1915-06-26
HOBSON AND HIS NAVY.
CONTINUED,
A Plagiarism.

Dama, graduate or Annapolis
Naval Academy, Naval Construc
tor, and Captain by rank, wishes
the United States to appropriate
four billion dollars for battle
ships. This would give us a navy
esual in strength to the combined
navies of England, France and
Germany. Captain Hobson is a
most amiable young gentleman,
affable, earnest and sincere. He
is clever in intellect, and ready in
speech.
The argument he makes is the
argument Of the Professors of An
napolis and West Point. It is
very old argument.
There was once man who ex-
pressed this idea better than the
hero Of the Merrimac, and that
man was Julius Caesar.
And here it seems necessary to
state two facts: Captain Hob
son is not Julius Caesar, and the
United States of America is not
the Roman Empire. The value of
statement by any man depends
largely upon who the man is.
When Captain Hobson explains
why this Country should have a
great force of fighting ships, please
bear in mind that the business of
Captain Hobson is to build and
manipulate fighting ships. Hob
son says that it takes three years
to build a battleship. This is
true, but you can sink one in five
minutes so effectively that it can
not be raised until the Last Great
Day.
By business | am a teacher and
a farmer. thing the noblest oc-
cupation man can follow is to
teach men and women how to be
happy through useful activity,
and make two ears of corn grow /
where one burdock and two jim Y
sOn-weeds grew before. S
OF course / may be wrong in
all this. but | have to write what S
think. l, like Hobson am proud +
CT. my business +
The only man to me who is not d
respectable is the man who con- a
'umes more than he produces. t.
! will admit there was a time b
shen soldiers were necessary to n
'rotect the producers. But that Il
ime has passed. Let the soldiers c.
o to work; they have sat on the il
ence and watched us hoe long II
nongh. If they want any of D:
oese potatoes. let them pick Off re
&c potato bugs-these ore the th
n.., th
The only foes that threaten in
lfnerica are the enemies at home, n
nd these are ignorance, supersti- tn
ion and incompetence:
This Hobson idea Of naval SUI m
'remacv is no new thing. The tn
'paniards had the bee in their A
onnet in the Sixteenth century. tn
hey built at tremendous cost b!
heir Armada that was to sweep pr
he sea. But as l remember HIS h
DRY, it was sent to the bottom of so
he sea-and suddenly. F.!
When Captain Hobson has had to
is way and built a navy that will ig
ut-top any three navies of the ia
Vorld, one of two things will hap OF
EN-: The navies of the world will m
ombine and wipe us off the face N
1 the sea-this, according to the N
eneral law that athletes die ar
Dung, gabby-jacks get the soda in
i've, DULLES get basted. and men
indulge in gun-play are sure A,
pok like pepper-boxes sooner ha
kter. -: o
The second contingency is that =; =,
his immense navy will divide az
nto two parts and turn on each Il,
Their. ! il ! .n ~.
This latter is the real menace. -
The man who carries a revolver 10,
lands in two grave dangers: -.
ONE one will shoot him; he may e.
root himself. ~,
Caesar argued that the pur- M
Ose of an invincible army was to -,
sure peace, but his blood had -
'arely died on the despatched
atute of Pompey before his
my was doing-what? oh, yes,
r0tecting the toilers.
Not on your life-that mag
ficent army had divided into
70 parts, and one-half under
e leadership Of Mark Antony,
Is giving chase to the other
1t under Cassius and Brutus.
Tho a c,,,.n- of po,,,o E.1l,J ,>,o,