Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-02-05

acting, so as to'-remove all possible
friction. Meantime Americans who
knew Japan got busy and told the
truth about this courteous neighbor of
ours until it was clear to honest souls
throughout our nation that all the talk
of war with Japan twas the idle yapor-
ing of ignoramuses1or deliberate falsi.
fication on the part Of those who hoped
to profit from an armed conflict be-
tween the two nations. At this juno.
ture the present calamity in Europe
burst upon the world. The golden hom
of the militarist struck. In the pres
ence of the awful fnhumanity Of this
war elemental passions are let loose
and old instructive fears are easily
excited. Persistent appeal for months
has been made to these fears by some
of the press of the nation The awful
doom of the countries oyerrun by the
Teutons is being daily held up be-
fore our people, not that there Is the
slightest chance Of ur=iand's sharing
such fate, but In order to stir. into
life that unreasoning passion, fear
Large headlines are devoted to the
warning of men like Hudson Maxim,
perhaps the greatest inventor of ex.
plosives America has produced, and
John Hays Hammond, another invent
or whose reputation as an information.
al trouble maker in South Africa is
apparently forgotten. The campaign
has been so skilfully waged that one
of the strongest hopes of the advo-
Gates of world peace, President vii.
son, has been swept off his feet, and
1t certainly looks as though Congress
may be carried away into voting a
half billion dollars for war prepara.
tons at the very moment when the
inarticulate voice Of humanity is all.
ing upon America to take a stand that
shall make future war impossible.
"PiffIe." >.-....
The nature of the advocacy of these
enormous preparations for war is
shown by the Impotence exhibited in
many public utterances directed
against the workers for peace. In
stead of meeting their arguments, re-
sort is had to epithets like @molly-
coddle." "piffle" and the like, which,
when applied to such intellectual lead
ers as DR.. Jordan of California, DIR.
jefferson of New York, or Jane Ad-
dams of Chicago are bound in time
10 make the thoughtful public react
against those who employ SGCh tactics.
The question is altogether too grave
to be dismissed In any such fashion.
Ii is not the money involved that
should lead the American people to
go slowly in upsetting their most sa-
fro6 nd
that is considerable not &c be en-
tirely overlooked where indirec- taxa.
ton falls heaviest upon the toilers.
1t is the manifest destiny of our coun-
try which is at stake in this prop Dsed
about-face in our history.
Profit and Loss.
The burden of proof is certainly
upon those who demand that a definite
course of action pursued ever since
the FOUNDATION or our nation be Ibid
aside now that we have reached, large
ly by means thereof, the status of the
most influential power on earth II is
claimed that We should have been bet
ter off in the war of 1912 and in our
civil war if we had been prepared.
But whatever our losses may have
HbOCH III TIC SSSOuu war with ElSldUu,
we won and in such a manner that
the two peoples have not fought for
hundred years, and if our past Dolicy
be continued, will never fight again.
The inconsiderable loss due to unpre-
paredness in 1912 was infnitesimal
compared to the untold evils that mill
tarism would have entailed If il had
prevailed since the achievement of our
independence. Pre- aredness ia 1861
would have meant bloodier war, and
might have given the Confederacy the
victory because then the South domi-
mated so largely the military situation.
II our country had possessed a large
up-to-date navy and that had been con-
trolled by the South, one can fancy
how differently history on this CONT
nent might have read. Again in 1898
what we suffered from our lack of
form was bagatel compared to the
gain coming to us from our consistent
peace policy. Any line of action that
makes a nation great costs. Rome
tried war, waxed colossal and perish.
ed. The United States tried the direct
opposite, has grown greater than Rome
and gives no sign of perishing. On
the contrary, il looks now as though
the whole world enamored of her pol