The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-26

Mr. Bryan has no fear for the peonl1 or their property Our people should by| no means go to war It is "challense| 10 the spirit of Christianity" So thoughd MT Bryan's predecessors, the Quakerd of long ago. They refused to help our an- cestors win their independence, and had the Americans of that day and since all been Quakers we should be now undet| the British flag.
 But history has taught MT. Bryan tha( our people are not all Quakers, and it iJ precisely for this reason he fears to trus them with the army and navy President Wilson thinks they need for defensvd| purposes. Preparedness will tempt ou1| people as it has recently tempted EuropJ ' to go to war.
 Years ago the Czar of Russia suggested disarmament. The trend of thought among nations was all in that directionl Most of the powers sgnified their assent but they did not dare themselves to dis | arm while their rlsals were arming. Cert many by her refusal halted the move nlent, and Germany, better prepared, a she well knew, than the allies, opened the present war while negotiations fol ! peace were pending. Had Great Britain| France and Russia. with their sperior re sources, been as well prepared as wal Germany, the probabilities are that, in . stead of world war, we should now sec already negotiated treaties looking to thd peace of the world. It was lack of pre- paredness that brought on the presen war in Europe.
 MT. Bryan's exact words are that na lions should influence others by exampl rather than by exciting fear" That they should twin respect as an individual does not by carrying arms but by an upright honorable course that invites confidenc and insures good will"
 We tried that on Great Britain 10 years prior to 1872. We turned one cheel when the other was smitten; we actuall, laid embargoes on our own commerce But our submissive, upright" course. in stead of winning the respect. brought u the contempt of Great Britain. Th& wrongs she heaped upon us became in tolerable and, knowing well that we wer unprepared. we declared war. Except fl the duels on the ocean fought by tn ships we had prepared many years before and the battle of New Orleans. we Q course won little credit in the war of 1S11 Our capitol was burned and the righ of search, the chief question involved, re mained unsettled when the war closed But by fighting we did win back the gel respect we had forfeited by submission.
 Wars come that none can foresee There were four years beforehand mutterX ings of a coming storm. but only fewU until 1t was close upon us. believed pos sible our dreadful war between tre stated No one foresaw the blowing up of tn Maine in Havana harbor. and the storrI of indignation that swept the peace low ing President Mckinley into the war wit Spain. And 1t was the Congress imme diately preceding that war which refuse& the demand of our Secretary of the Nav for an increased supply of ammunition The consequence was that when the wa came our agents were securing the mar kets of the world. not only for more ships but for munitions of war; some of which at least, would have been on hand but fo those congressmen who "did not sec tn necessity. ' - F 2. 4 -s \ - E $ < =ss