New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-27

SLOUGH as he may. and blunder as he may,
cannot help defeating an infant.
/ Throughout our military history, We have
had any amount of bull luck. The fact that
Beaumarchais was able with his genius to
collect French munitions and send them to
/ the Americans during the Revolution was not
"our fault" But it is a stain on our honor
that the Americans, having gained their free
! dom, never paid Beaumarchais for the ruin Of
= his private fortune The fact that our Revo-
luton was only "side show" of the great
struggle between Great Britain and France,
and that this circumstance handicapped Great
Britain beyond measure and gave us vital
help, was again mot our fault" In lSl2-14
the fact that England was engaged in death
grips with Napoleon was all that could pos
sbly have saved US from grave disaster. And
when, in September 1914, Wellngton's Pen
insula veterans descended upon US at Platts-
! burg We failed to learn the lesson that
militia cannot be depended upon in an emer-
gency. Under General Macomb we had just
| 800 effective regulars to stem the tide Of
invasion and keep the Great Lakes from be-
coming Canadian territory-to save Buffalo,
Utica and Albany from becoming Canadian
cities. Macomb's 1900 was to halt between
III 900 and $4,000 veterans of the Douro and
the Tagus, the Ebro and the Garonne the
men OF Torres Vedras and Vittoria. And
how many militia had Joined Macomb by Sep
TENDER IL, the day of the battle? Only
enough to make his total ill-assorted force
2,5OOl What saved us? The skill of Nc
Donough on Lake Champlain, which poten-
TALLY cut the British line of communications
and made further British advance along
Champlain impossible Suppose McDonough
had been defeated? Our history turned on
. a split hair!
Time and time again Congress has all but
ruined our chances of success in war. If any
citizen there be who does not believe this,
let him read General Upton's military Pol
icy of the United States" and learn the cold
facts. This book may be had for SO cents
from the Government Printing Office,
Washington.
Now, in August, 1915, the hour of destiny
is striking. Shall we wake up and learn our
lessons of the past, or shall We characteristic
cally blunder on and on, into disaster the
like of which we have never dreamed of?
! Even now, at this momentous crisis, we are
again unprepared, and, worse, we are hin
dered by fools. What are 100 Americans
drowned on the Lusitania," mouths the arch
fool Of them all, "to the hundreds of thou
sands we should sacrifice in war;" Is that
as far as he can see beyond his nose? That,
and no further? | wish he could be sent to
Alaska, anywhere, to get him out of the way.
Why protect American citizens in Mexico
Why protect American citizens on the high
seas? Why, indeed, except to maintain the
honor and interests, and the prestige, of the
nation, that others, and yet others, and yet
more hundreds Of American citizens, may not
/ be treated the same way, with insolent con-
tempt, with cynical, brazen indifference TO
great, hulking, peace-at-any-price nation
that talks, ard objects, and threatens, but
never intends as Germany thinks, to act?
To act! God have mercy on us, are we
to consider anything better than war? Are we
to say as in 1907, Great Britain will never
allow Japan to attack us-blood is thicker
than water? Are we TO say that, when we
lift not a little finger to help Great Britain
in her life and death struggle? Bah! Such
talk smells TO heaven. The offence is rank
let our souls, our manhood, be purged of
this leaning on other nations, and then re-
naming neutral" when they are in dire
need The words strictly neutral" are be-
ginning TO be an abomination.
Let Americans understand, once and for
all, that Germany's sinking of the Arabic
is the final, deliberate, browning insult. at
o'ertops Pelion"; it is intolerable. II now We
do not act-if we "lose the name of action,
we shall be the laughing stock OF the world!
Shades of Washington and Lincoln, of
Grant and Lee, defend u.s. Turn over in
your graves and give US singing blows of
the memories Of old, of our fathers who
fought and died at Saratoga and Gettysburg
that we might live! Welcome the acts of
violence perpetrated by Germans when
trouble comes-the blowing up Of arms fac
tories and whatever else. For every traitors
act of treason will be a godsend to our
soft-minded generation. 1t will give US the