New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-05
r Of The Tribune.

10 the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: II this nation Is to maintain itself IN
peace and prosperity it must prepare against
war, and this preparation must De oo'n III
dustrial and military.
Tho end Of the present European connict
yill he the beginning Of the most titanic
e,ruqyle for industrial and commercial su-
r,er,acv which the world has ever seen. In
this conflict il will be the United states
against the world.
Germany will maintain and extend her won
5o,eul industrial organization. The one great
need Of her people will be cash, and cssn
"a, no cot only from the outside world ms
,oco..itv for ready money will impel inc
Germans to use every means they can 'n'nN
- 80 oust other nations from the markets
Of the world -,
France and England, suffering from the
..,os re.d of ready money, will follow Ger
many, lead. These nations VIII douO'ieSs
aoranete among themselves, but the one great
.or,notitor of them all will be Uncle sam
Each Of these commercial nations VIII iee0s-
,ize the United States as its most danger
ous antagonist Envy Of our wealth ana 1ho
universal struggle for trade VIII strain III
,crnstiorsl relations 10 the uttermost. More
over all the great European nations VIII DC
bank,uot and j has been IN the past no
uncommon thing for bankrupt nations ana
BANKRUPT men 70 turn highw aymen.
u,cle Sam will have the fullest purse m
Inc world. and the very fulness OF his purse
ocnbasizes the necessity for arming himself
The nacifcists pretend not TO see this neces-
.i,,. Their argument in substance, Is this;
There always have been in the history OF
mankind some robbers and murderers; there
are some robbers and murderers now; but
to-norrow all men will be good and honorable
and robbery and murder will be no more THIS
"a sheer imbecility 10 which no sane man
should give the least heed. What always has
been and IS now surely will be tomorrow,
the next day and for many years to come. No
great nation Of the past or present has ever
escaped war, and only an imbecile expects
that Uncle Sam will be forever immune. Some
time in the future we shall have war unless
we prepare adequately for peace, and this
preparation must be both mental and physi-
cal. Mental preparation for defence should
begin in our schools and continue through
our universities. Physical preparation should
begin at once and be extensive and thorough
should like 10 outline tho things which
believe tn. United States should do TO pre-
pare against war;
First-We should Immediately strengthen
cur navy until our Pacific feet shall be equal
to that of Japan and our Atlantic feet equal
20 that OF Germany. The American who can
not imagine the possibility OF an alliance Of
these two powers against the United States
lacks knowledge of the past and vision OF the
future.
Second We should erect three more ma
val academies similar TO that at Annapolis
one should be situated somewhere on the
Gulf coast, another on Puget Sound and a
third on Lake Michigan.
Third-In connection with these great ma
val academies we should establish shipyards
capable Of turning out every class Of vessel
which might be of use in actual war and in
training our sailors for war. At the same
time the government should encourage the
maintenance and establishment Of private
shipyards capable Of turning out any sort Of
craft
Fourth We should establish two or more
military academies in addition 20 that AZ
West Point We should require also that all
the land grant universities should perform
their duty in training officers for our navy.
Fifth.-We should erect two or more great
munition factories 10 be owned and managed
by the United States and located somewhere
vest Of the Alleghsnies and east OK the