The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1916-10-18

You asked me to state the reasons
why intended to support Mr. Hughes
In doing this | wish to say that al.
though voted for Mr.. Roosevelt fol
the Presidency four years ago fell
Extremely friendly toward the admin
SO than toward the Republican party
or its candidate and II the President
during these past four years had full
filled the bright expectations which
had of him when he came into power
II would have given me the greatest
satisfaction 70 support him now
against any candidate who might have
been nominated excepting Mr.. Roose.
WELT But he has bitterly disappoint'
ed the hopes of many who believed In
him.
My first serious dissatisfaction with
the President was when l returned
from Europe shortly after the outbreak
OF the war. l had seen there the ter
rible menace involved In the tremen.
dous ornaments whose mobilization
had observed, in the gigantic forces
raised within a week by Germany on
land and in the irresistible power OF
Englond on the sea. ! was there
when Belgium and northern France
we're overrun. their cities destroyed
and many of their inhabitants put to
the sword. and on the other hand
saw the commerce Of Germany swept
off the sea and I realized the dread
full possibilities which might overtake
our great republic unprepared as we
nfth ~ a ornot ha1li0or-
ents should come out as victor from
the struggle and should seek pretext
for a war upon us to indemnify itself
for its terrible losses. The duty OF
immediate preparation seemed to me
paramount to all other things and
when came back to America found
that President Wilson, who above all
other men ought to have been aware
Of the danger to our national life, was
absolutely doing nothing to prepare
our country for the emergency, but on
the contrary, when our military and
naval officers had warned him OF the
danger, when Gardner and Roosevelt
and other patriotic men had upbraid-
ed Congress for the demented policy it
was pursuing in failing to prepare, the
President not only failed to lay before
that body the need of greater arma-
ment but actually accused those who
advocated It with being nervous" and
excited" In his message delivered
before Congress on Dec. 8, 1914, he
said:
THE other topic l shall take leave
to mention goes deeper into principles
of our national life and policy. 1t is
the subject of national defense.
1T can not be discussed without first
answering some very searching Ques-
lions. It Is said IN some quarters that
we are not prepared for war. What
is meant by being prepared? Is 1t
meant that we are not ready upon
brief notice to put nation in the
field: a nation Of men trained to arms?
or course we are not ready to do that;
and we shall never be in time Of peace
so long as we retain our present politi-
cal principles and institutions. And
what Is 1t that 1t Is suggested We
should be prepared to do? To defend
ourselvse against attack? We have
always found means to do that, and
shall ind them whenever 1t is neces-
sary without calling our people away
from their necessary tasks to render
compulsory military service in times
Of peace"
This is almost as wild as the declara-
ton Of Mr.. Bryan, his own secretary
of state who told us:
III this country needed a million of
men, and needed them In a day. the
call would go out at sunrise and the
sun would go down on a million of men
| in arms"
How different from the words Of
Washington who told us In his speech
to congress, January s, 1890; "a free
people ought not only to be armed but
disciplined, to which end uniform and
well digested plan Is requisite" Which
shall we follow Washington or Bryan?
After about a year and a half had
elapsed and popular opinion all over
the country, more alert than the Presi-
dent, had come to demand adequate
preparation for the emergency, Mr..
Wilson wheeled to the right about. He
took the alarm and was more frighten-
ed than those he had derided and In
his speech at st. Louis he demanded
that America should have incompar.
ably the largest navy in the world He
swung from one extreme to the other
He tried to stop the preparedness
parade In New York and yet when 1t
succeeded and showed how tremend-
Gus the feeling was, he himself joined
in the preparedness parade in Wash
ington. Can man who thus shifts
like a weathercock be trusted to de-
fend our country in the hour of ex-
tremity? II he had not sense enough
to know that we needed preparation
when he saw the whole world tumb-
ling about our heads in sanguinary
war, If he remained blind for more
than a year to our danger, can he be
trusted to lead in our defense IL the
emergency should come? The real
danger will be when the war is over
and one side or the other is the victor
In the struggle.
Congress indeed at last, reversing it's
own course like the President, made |
provision for large navy but it will
take from three to five years to get
that navy into shape and we can not |
all tell when the need for it may arise. |
AS to the army the Presidents own
secretary of war, Mr.. Garrison, pro- |
posed an excellent plan which the |
President approved but when he met |
opposition in congress he weakened
and threw Garrison overheard and the
present act providing for state
militia, aided by federal subsidy is
utterly inadequate and is indeed mere
pork barrel legislation. The party
A. 4 - T.