The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-05-30

pare in any way that will have q ma
terial effect upon the present war.
Our folly has been such that it is now
too late for us to do this. All we can
now do is to prepare so that the war
shall leave no aftermath of horror and
disaster for our nation. If we fail so
to prepare then assIredly some day we
or our children will have bitter cause
to rue our folly. and to remember too
late the words of old Sir Thomas
Browne; For since we cannot be
wise by teachings there is an
unhappy necessity that we must smart
in our own skins
Result of Unprcparedness.
wish especially to call the atten-
ton of all people who may be mo-
mentarily nisled by the statements of
the peace-at-any-pric men, the pro-
fessional pacifists of today, to the ac-
tual results of our policy of unpre-
pa-cdress. Twenty-Five months have
gone by since this war began. Nearly
five years have gone by since the revo-
luton in Mexico loosed on Americans
in Mexico. and on Americans on our
own side of the border, the forces of
murder and misrule.
Yet, during these five years we have
taken no efficient steps to control the
situation in Mexico, and during these
/ twenty-five months, since the world
has been in such a cataclySm of fear
and blood as never before in its his
! y
astounding folly, with folly criminal
/ from the national standpoint, have re-
| fused in any way to prepare. The pro-
| fessional pacifists said, and even now
have invited trouble with Mexico and
! trouble with Germany and perhaps
with other world powers. Look at the
| facts! We kept ourselves helpless to
/ do justice to or for Mexico: we refused
| to make ready in any way to protect
I off in Mnx OIIr
own side of the Mexican border. We
submitted tamely to the murder of our
/ men and the rape of our women. We
/ bore with spiritleSs submission out
RACES upon outrages. until the number
of our citizens killed mounted into the
/ hundreds. Yet, so far from securing
the goodwill of the Mexicans, this
/ policy of unpreparedness and of tame
submission to insult and injury, merely
aroused both their anger and con-
tempt to such a degree that we are
now engaged in harasSing little war
along the border.
Forces Drained Now.
We have not the forces to make
that war effective. We have actually
drained the Coast Artillery from the
seaboard defense, to serve as infantry
down on the Mexican border This
nation of one hundred million people
with territory as large as all Europe
and more wealth than any other ma
ton in the world possesses, has to
strip its seacoast forts of their de
! tenders and put these defenders at
I work which they are not trained to do.
Even thus we are wholly unable to
/ make good our complete lack of pre-
| paredness.
If at the outset, if three years ago,
| we had reSolutely and with foresight
prepared to act, and then, if neces-
sary, acted, in Mexico, that country
| would today be as peaceful and pros
porous as Cuba-where we actually
did take the very action 1 advocate
for Mexico. If, the instant that the
great war broke out in July, 1914, our
fleet had been modified, competent
man put at the head of the Navy De-
partment, our army put into proper
trim, and steps taken by our repre-
sentatives at Washington, both Execu-
tive and Legislative, to show that We
were making ready to meet any ex-
igency that arose, there would have
been no trouble of any kind with any
belligerent. OF course, when we sub
mitted to wrongdoing from one side,
we invited repetition of that wrong
doing by that side, and the infliction
of similar wrongs by the other side.
The thousands of non-combatants,
men, women and children, including
many hundreds of American men,
women and children, who have been
killed on the high seas, owe the loss
of their lives primarily to the supine
inaction of this nation; to our failure
to prepare, and our failure in instant
inSistence on our own rights and on
those rights of others which we had
guaranteed to protect
Held in Contempt.
The professional pacifists insisted
that such lack of preparedness on our
part, and the observance by US of that
kind of neutrality which consists in
: tame acceptance of injury from ali
sides would II n oil
: the combatants and insue our well
being On the contrary, the only at
fact has been to earn for US the con-
temptuous dislike of all the warning
!, nations and to bring us to the verge OF
trouble with them. If we had pre-
pared we would have saved thousands
of lives and we would have guaranteed
5 our own peace. The failure to pre-
pare. the failure to stand up for the
| rights of ourselves and of others the
yielding to wrongdoing. resulted both
in deferring the day when it was pos.
I sible for this nation to act as peace.
) maker. and in bringing US measurably
! nearer to the danger of ourselves be
2 ing involved in the conflict. weakness:
i invites contempt. Weakness com
+ bined with buster invites both con.
: tempt and aggression. Self-respect
| ing strength that respects the rights O.
others is the only quality that secure.
| respect from Others If. in our foreign
: policy, we are weak, if we use loft,
j words at the same time that we com
= nit mean or unworthy actions, anC
e above all, if we fail to protect our owl
D rights. we shall not secure the good
s will of any one, and we shall incur tn,
o contempt of other nations; and con
j tempt of that kind is easily turned int,
|. active international violence If w,
= cannot protect ourselves we may b.
[ sure that no one else will protect us
s If we are not prepared in advance w
e cannot be true to ourselves; and if W,
: are not true to ourselves we shall Ger
e tainly be false to every one else
: Our Strength for Naught.
l believe in International Duty
hold that we cannot assert that W
!, are entirely guiltless of responsible,
= for the outrages committed on well
= behaved nations. particularly on Bel