Arizona republican., 1915-07-26
A FUNDAMENTAL
 PREPAREDNESS

DIStIDIlntu dTfIJleS anu DOWtGIul navies are not the only equipment that nation needs when compelled to wage war. By far the most i'm portant part of preparedness for war lis preparedness Tor peace as well. The amazing strength that Germany has shown since the present war began is a revelation first of all of her fundamental preparedness for any achievement demanding organized and disciplined effort. The United States has been Scandalously negligent in this matter of Fundamental prepared ness, and is negligent still. Our most important duty is to bcome ac- ,q4aInted with our remiSSneSs, and set about the big job which we must undertake and carry thru under pen atty of grave peril. perhaps of destiny. Germany has conserved her natural resources to the uttermost. We have wasted our, and still wasting them. Not only German forests and German mines are regarded and handled important national as- sets, but so also is the soil, the most important asset of all The German farmer Is an agriculturist. Eighty per cent of American farm CTS until a few years ago they were nearer one hundred per cent have been caustically but accurately described miners" taking from the land a fertility that they never replace. Germany has developed her | waterways. The Rhine is as impor- tant an artery of commerce as any trunk line railway system. We have developed a river and harbor politics. It. and harbor- dredging contractors Whether for peace or for war. we need a great number of canals of the Cape Cod Canal type. It should be possible to send either merchant men or battleships from Boston to New Orleans by ar-inside route. It should be possible to send either grain carrying barges or submarines or destroyers from New York to any port on the Great Lakes and thence down the Mississippi
 Germany has cleaned up her popu- llation. It is a population efficient in war, no less efficient in peace. It is educated. and its education is prac- tical in a very wide meaning of the word. The American traveller who can speak no word of any language but English. has never been seriously embarrassed on that account when making his way about Germany. Ev- anywhere he has discovered that not only railroad officials and hote. clerks, but also tradesmen and me chanics in astonishing numbers can speak English. They have studied it in the schools and. unlike American public school pupils. they have learn ed so as to use that which they have gone thru the drudgery of studying.
 And Germany has not only edu- cated her population. She has made it self-supporting. self-respecting. thrifty She has dealt vigorously. scientifically. and in a business-like way with the problems of mendt- cancy and crime. From poverty she has on large scale prevented. With all these matters we dawdle ana fuss We see crime increasing and do nothing about it. We talk senti- mental nonsense about the poor, and resign ourselves to having them al ways with us. We get excited over the problem of unemployment, and think we have behaved wonderfully !, well when We have organized a few relief committees. collected a fund v
 
 reports, carefully censored by trust worthy politicians to make them in- ocuous In education we lavishly and expensively experiment, and con- gratulate ourselves that we are be- coming an enlightened people.
 Every decently informed citizen in the United States knows that this picture of contrasts is not exagger- ated. He knows that we are drift ling and foundering. He knows, that , in peace we waste our energies as we waste our resources. and fall short of decent standard Of achievement. He knows that if we were swept into war we should make ; a scandalous exhibition of made quacy and worse. But he does ndth- ing Is this wretched inactivity to continue? Or shall we come to our |, senses and begin. like grown-up and responsible men. to achieve fun ldamental ness?-New York Independent.