Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-01-04
Preparedness, the BuIwark
Of AmericaniSnl.

OF AnerTcdnISH1.
There is no stronger advocate OF American
prsparedness than Charles H. Grasty, of Baltimore
a veteran journalist of national distinction VINO
recently returned from lengthy sotourn in the
vrs- zone and who is particularly well informed,
broueb wears of travel and personal acquaintance,
&c 70 European conditions and probabilities. Mr..
C,rasty is speaking and writing with marked enect
of the need of adequate army and navy Tor the
United States In of his most eogent articles
which appears in the Manufacturers Record ne
discusses the dangers that will confront our ma
,inal interests and policies especially the Monroe
roc,rine in the aftermath OF the Old World war.
The United States he declares, will be fabulously
rich and Europe will be ptifully poor. The United
States will be softened with material prosperity;
Europe will be hardened by sacrifices and hungry
for compensation In these circumstances would 1t
be at all surprising if ambitious, necessity
driven Power or group of Powers should turn to
this hemisphere as field for recOuping war losses
and adventure 20 override the Monroe Doctrine?
Says Mr.. Grasty:
Here stands the weakest man in the
world, who is also the richest man in the
world That's us There stands the poorest
man in the world, who is also the strongest
man in the world That's Europe. The weak
man Is menacing the strong man viii
stuffed club. II doesn't take any prophet or
expert TO tell what is going to happen.
With our wealth and weakness we are trying
to maintain world policy that is most offen-
Give to other nations. l believe In the Mon
roe Doctrine. IL is a policy for the preserva-
ton OF human freedom. 1t is policy to pro-
tect our democratic garden from the tares OF
autocratic systems. But to have a great pol
icy OF this kind and to be impotent to enforce
it is not only monstrous bluf-it is ma
tional crime"
Whether or not 1t be true, as this writer be-
deves, that after the war I'VE not going to
have a single friend among the great Powers it is
certain that none of the grea. Powers will be dis
posed to an alignment with the United States for
the preservation of purely American interests and
policies Our rigid neutrality has incurred the ILL
will OF the Teutonic empires without gaining the
good viii of the Allies. While we have supplied
Great Britain and France with enormous stores of
munitions and food, We have reaped royal profits
in so doing The wisdom of neutrality is undenia-
BILE from the American point Of view, but the fact
remains that from the European point of view we
have prospered while others suffered, and largely
a result of that suffering However convinced
we may be that in the long neutrality will
work for the good of the world well as for our
own, but realize that our position has not
Dccu OHe 10 SUR or enlist the
patty of any of the nations struggling for existence
We must fight battles for democracy in
the New World we have left others to fight alone
for democracy in the Old World.
Mr.. Grasty notes the pertinent fact that
in the great republic of Brazil, Germans own
tremendous interests and that five hundred
thousand Germans are settled in that
land. with these interests in that new, rich
country and with a population already rooted in
pose for an instant he asks. that when the
is and the German nation begins to look about
for ways and places to recoup, they are going to
let any Monroe Doctrine stand in the way of what
they regard as their needs and their rights?" So
in other Latin-American countries. notably Mexico
Germany's commercial interests are deeply in
trenched, and there is sharper incentive to po-
Htical friction than commercial jealousy.
II the United States is to maintain its standing
In this hemisphere, if il lie to uphold those policies
and ideals which it is committed it must be pre-
pared to check and thwart at the outset any show
Of aggression not only from Germany but from any
other Power alliance. Who can say what strange
realignments the years following the present war
may bring forth? In in politics, forces
that opposed bitterly in contest may be
united in another In the light of history, and of
history comparatively recent, the existing alliance
between England and Russia is remarkable az is
also Ihat between the OehIdI Empires ana turkey.
The United States should bear constantly in mind
that it stands isolated. isolation that is truly
splendid in some respects but which demands none
the less that this country be prepared to protect
policies against combinations which now may seem
sbsurdly fanciful or impossible.
An adequate navy and adequate army are
the surest and indeed, the only guarantee against
foreign invssiOns of this hemisphere. Weakness on
our part will invite attack Strength such as
thorough preparedness brings will make attack
Improbable. and will conserve peace as we'll
as our security. The highest duty before the
present Congress is to take due measures to save
his country from hardship and misery and shame