New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-07

An Argument Against Mixing in a
To tbe Editor of Tho Tribune.

To Tho Editor Of Tho Tribune.
Sir, should like very much 70 answer
IN detail some Of tho letters thst have TO
Gently appeared In your columns from the
pens Of Mr.. Dawson, r. p. ~, ldot'
Yankee, A. s. Pier, W. G. Symons, NJ I
Swift, Conrad Hobbs, American Citizen
+. B. and others.
! In reply TO my critic, T. b., will say that
! / stu continue TO disagree with him as tc
the cause OF our state Of unpreparedness
The majority Of the people know that We
must bo preparedj the majority Of the PEG
pie are not In a position 10 "love ease" AZ
/ +. b. says.
Let US be- more definite. limo and agar
Congress has refused to pass bills calling
/ for adequate armament. Tho people are
sick and tired Of hearing about proposed
increases which never seem 70 materialiZe
Either we must prepare ourselves or commit
national suicide. To Representative Gard
ner, OK Massachusetts, we much; had Il
not been for him our army would consist
OF about dozen men armed with peace
pipes Optimistic feminists like Bryan
should be ashamed to call themselvet
Americans, preaching about peace and un-
preparedness.
/ This important question Is not party az
| fair or a social chatter-box; IL Is a national
question In the fullest sense. A Congress
man who votes against preparedness should
be blackbalcd by the people. He Is hyphen'
ated in the fullest sense Of the word Like
| F. b., IL disgusts me to think how men IN
such responsible positions can express the
foolish, groundless arguments they do In at
lacking ample preparedness. Surely. they
say. II Q per cent of the population OF
Serbia is unable to defend Serbia, then one
twentieth Of | per cent will be more than
enough 20 protect us, especially when they
are thousands Of miles apart in great many
! Instances.
II we do not proceed to increase the ef-
fectiveness Of our army and navy now We
never shall. Europe is spending her energy
creating navies, armies, munitions and
all-while we are still tagging along. There
fore the American nation charges Congress
TO raise both army and navy from the
ranks and make the navy more than "cellu-
loid in the -bathtub affair" and the army more
than so many chocolate soldiers"
Right here I must pat The Tribune on the
back and say "Well done" The "Sham" was q
masterpieces good an editorial as I have
ever read In any newspaper An American
citizen ought to read the "Sham," not just
for the reading, but because there's some
thing in f.; it's got some "punch"-and it's
the truth.
A large majority of the letters recently
published in The Tribune concerning our
future European course speak for interven-
ton, on the ground that unless we help the
Allies in their fight for civilization we are
traitors to the world-this especially from
Morrison J. Swift. This assertion makes an
interesting subject for discussion. Let us
test it and observe. To begin with, let us
see what England has been doing. Slowly
but surely the world has come to recognize
the might and hugeness Of the British En-
pire. II is said Of the British Empire that
the sun never sets upon it. The British pos
sess ne-fourth of the land area Of the
globe; it is the hugest empire in existence.