Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-05-09

diligently choose between them, anu
having chosen take the side which
you believe to be right. Europe has
ever bid for peace under a false phil
osophy. They have sought to prevent
wars by getting ready for wars.
Theirs has been the doctrine of ter
rorism, every nation has sought t.
terrorize other nations and thus keep
the peace.
The trouble with great questions
is that they sometimes overawe US
and instead of analyzing them and
forming opinions upon them we
shrink from the consideration of them
and leave others to do our thinking
for US, and just now, We are told that
the military and naval experts must
be allowed to do the thinking for the
nation. That we must trust them to
decide for us the national policy that
determines our destiny, and the
amount that we will spend getting
ready for the war which fill their
imagination. want, if l can. to strip
this false philosophy of all of its
rhetorical drapery and present it to
you in its naked truth for what it is
and the hideousness OF it.
Preparedness False Doctrine
Talk about preparedness prevent
ing war Why, my friends, if prepar-
edness could prevent war there would
be no war now, for they have never
before been in such a state of prepar-
edness in the old world as during the
time leading up to this war. They
have tested this false philosophy, one
side trusted to militarism and the
other side to navalism, and both rest
upon the same foundation, upon ter
orism, and my friends, when the time
came, as it must have come, under
these conditions, the nations which
had best prepared on land and sea
went into the war and the others also
prepared and followed them, and | do
not see how this kind of philosophy
can fail to bring war wherever 1t is,
because it has with it certain transac-
lions and certain things that neCeS-
sarily accompany it. One is that We
must give the benefit of the doubt to
the danger, that you must prepare, not
for probabilities but for possibilities,
and that you must take no chances. II
is the old policy that we used to have
in the states before they prevented
! the carrying of concealed weapons.
Hits Gun TOting.
Suppose two farmers in your vlcln"
ity should decide that the best way tC
| preserve their personal rights and
| honor would be to purchase guns and
they then put an advertisement in the
| newspapers that although they love
their neighbors that if anyone tres
passed they would blow off their heads
IN a Christian spirit What state OF
! affairs would you have? The under
| takers would be rushing out to the
1 farms in question to look for dead
| bodies. for there would sure be some
/ funerals.
| This is what nations of the old
world have been doing for years with
| the natural consequences. Ii is again
| the same old terrorism which used &c
exist in some of the frontier com
munities. No nations are trying tC
/ draw us into war, and if they did our
volunteers, who were our strength
! during the Civil war, will again be our
| bulwark.
| Those Boosting for War.
There are two classes of jingoes
who are behind the preparedness cam
paign, the men who are making $780,
100000 a year out of munitions con-
! tracts and the professional militar-
/ lists who are advancing the same argu-
ments in behalf of war as was given
! at the time of the Roman empire. They
| do not admit there is any other way
! to settle disputes among nations than
! by conquest. They do not recognize in
| their program that 1900 years ago the
/ Prince of Peace was born TO bring an
| end to war.
Those advocating preparedness
would have you believe that this coun-
try has spent practically nothing on
the army and the navy. During the
/ last Is years, the United States has
spent more on its navy than any ma
ton in the world with the single ex-
ception of Great Britain. The sum of
S140, 100000 is annually spent on our
navy and s100,000,00 on our army. This
total of nearly $250000,000 is larger
than is spent in developing the farms
of the United States and this is the
greatest agricultural country in the
world.
What Program Means.
They now demand that we multiply
this sum by four. Experts say $780,
100000 will be needed for our army
the first year and $319,000,00 perma-
nently each year, and about a billion
and half for our navy. Al increase
of about $500, ZOO, 900 a year over what
we are now spending is demanded
"All of the crops in this country
sold last year, total but $500 900, 900 In
five years for the sum which is being
asked to prepare this country, 100000
miles Of macadam road could be built,
covering this country east and west
and north and south, but II miles
apart. With this sum asked, the cap
ital and surplus of all the banks in
the country could be doubled. The
entire 25,0o0000 school children, the