The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1916-01-20
A LIMIT TO PREPAREDNESS.

Most people believe that there should be in the United States
5S%s Pssp var s3i t for prt tns sf5en5 for in w case or t pree eapnaty Is foa 1t dsfsnse
matters little, so long as the purpose behind the preparation is to
and not to wage an aggressive war on any one. It is usually ad-
m mite that we need ne d an Nanny army and dana a navy VA and d,; some h eqG ;m fsnnr TOR =
abandoning everything, in the nature Of military preparation while
all the rest Of the world ID is is ar armed are so few that it is unnecessary
There is anther extreme snts which Sa,t is equally al absurd urss1 namely y rtaha that
the dm'S who os' World at once: It is not likely that Frederick Palmer in
his recent published statement; meant anything 50 absurd, but his
eussng the conditions sH. which h win prevail after after the %d European EUROPE "a o war
is 6o Svf f1si he 90 and z eat tnst t seld EaTo? se'o6 cations S"ns, will and aa 100 nS sfssa-
naughts, and that as in the past nations at war with each other
t asxe 7S5oeso f 2a"sne against Is t f1 Pe1 unite d States St would %itl' be- possible sas $ Ss"
Of course such a thing tsp is possible 5 k, theGr sti4a : PRACTICALLY aI.i it is
against it; In our ordinary affairs we do not provide for all II the
theq Seh possibilities sSi dmhesn,, We zo ea m I'D do b; So h In a country fm r}+h where
earthquake shocks, though such shocks may come at any time.
against flood, though in consequence Of some unheard Of convui-
sion Of nature he he may find himself inset surrounded apn 1nel ID by IRA raging dYgs waters
has shown to be ordinary risk. with, perhaps, some additional al
loy E4 ga as "a a safety saes yn factor = and 1s3, let it g go a at that asffon., defensss A
coalition of the whole world against the United States is as i'm
S Spod at th Is top t Of Fixes pc peak. 4'2 4nd ~ were ere sue a IT thing y to occur.
any preparation that we might make against it would be futile
nation, and act with reference to things closer by;
So long as other nations are armed, it is essential that we should
fenseless condition, the temptation to attack us or to force hard
t Sarg nof f on p psrtis sane R Rrepel msa but f OF inss sd R5epe eonide . 4 Of
patriotic men, in the light of the best information available. 10
say LnaL III present Stage OIL preparation Is eAdCuy IIsHt, HeluloA
too great nor too small, is on a par with the assertions made some
twenty years ago that sixteen ounces Of silver had a value exactly
equivalent to that of one ounce Of gold, and that the politicians
who had established that tentative ratio in former years had, in
some miraculous manner, struck the precise and exact proportion.
Grand Forks Herald.
Big business, which has been bowling plantvely at the peril
which has been imposed upon it by the Sherman antitrust act and
the breadth of the term reasonable" upon which hinged it's in
depreciation has been relieved at last by the announcement Of At
torney General Gregory that where men have entered into a tran
saction, believing in good faith that the transaction is a lawful
one" although the law is violated, and the department lis yet sat-
listed of the good faith and innocent purpose of the parties and can
see that there was ground for the view of the law upon which
they acted, it has not been and would not be the policy Of the de-
partment to invoke extreme penalties against them"
Surely big business cannot complain now. The usual rule Of
law enforcement is that ignorance does not justify violation or
dispel guilt: And it was undoubtedly the assumption ofthe MAX
ers of the Sherman law that proper intentions would automatically
protect business concerns against prosecution. The extremely
liberal attitude announced by the administration may be justified
by the alleged vagueness Of the act, but I'll a question whether it
might not have been wiser for the Department of Justice merely
to follow it's policy of reasonable lenience without announcing that
the law might be violated with practical impunity if any corpora
ton or its attorney could make out a strong case of good inten-
tons.
DECEMBER WHEAT REPORT.
The acreage sown to winter wheat this autumn is estimated at
~ 356 000 acres which cOmnaroS with AZ 600 600 acres SOWn q