Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1916-01-13

Il at the Socialists should greatly in
crease the army and navy, anu Jonn
Spargo contending against this posi-
ton.
-Mr.-Russell declared thef he hate!
war as much as did anyone in the
Socialist movement; that the ause
of war was the present competitive
system and that so long as the pres
emit competitive system existed, so
,ong would there be war.
If We are going to- have war; he
asserted, I'VE are going to have the
Nools of war. If we don't remove the
'ause. we, must stand the consequen-
,es." Mr.. Russell contended that
Germany would win and that if she
id win, she would endeavor to ex-
tend her empire to the Persian Gulf;
would have Gnder her sovereignty
from .175, 900, 600 to 200, 100000 people,
all trained in the arts of war, and that
she would possess tremendous col
lection of tools Of war. Nor could we,
he affirmed, in view of her disregard
of Belgian neutrality, depend upon
her observing treaties in which she
entered.
IF we wish to be logical" he con-
tinued, I'VE must do one of two things
either disband our ormy, tear down
our forts and melt our. guns and let
anyone come and kick us in the face
or go on and secure armaments better
than those of any other nation. There
is no place for moderate preparedness.
We can preach non-resistance until
we. are black in the face but we can
never get the American people to &C
cept it. / am an American. am not
ashamed of the gospel of democracy.
l. believe that America ought to be
prepared to defend itself as the last
bulwark of democracy"
John Spargo maintained that at the
present time there was less need for
preparedness than for many years
past and that there was never greater
need than at present for the American
Socialist movement to combat, by
every possible means, the spirit of
militarism. Even if we assume that
the war ends as Mr.. Russell predicts
and fears-which / do not for one
moment believes it not quite evil
dent to every thoughtful mind that to
hold and weld into cohesive and CO
herent imperial whole its violently
different parts, to secure the unity es-
sential to imperial safety and stabil-
ity, all the genius of the conquerers
must be taxed for at least a genera
ton There will be neither time nor
strength for foreign conquest"
Never at any time in our history,
! dare affirm, have We been SO free
from peril of attack fran any quar-
ter in the world as we are today. We
are asked to pay an increased prem
ium to insure ourselves against any
enormously decreased risk.
IF we are to have an army and
a navy better than the best, as Com
rade Russell has told. us, we must
abandon our democracy and in it's
place accept imperialism and bureau
cratic despotism. That is the logic
of my friends position"
The one cause for fear, Mr.. Spargo
believed, was the Japanese question
But, he asserted, If we expend rs bill
lions Of dollars to arm and fortify the
Pacific Coast, it would cause Japan to
make alliances with other countries
unfriendly to US.
but suppose We spend only rs mil
lions through a department of peace
to promote good relations and a right
understanding with japan, to draw
ever tighter the bonds of friendship
between the two peoples, is it not
certain that you will do far more to
avert warXand to insure peace than
twenty-five millions spent by a depart
do?"
The speaker also centended that the
expenditure of vast sums of money
for military Preparedness would de-
crease the money available for social
legislation.
tdf we are to consent to this vast
increase of military and naval expen-
diture," he said, then we must aban-
don all hope of old age pensions for
the victims of the industrial struggle, |
OF sickness and accident insurance |
and SO on. The program of the navy
board requires an annual expenditure
OF some 265 millions on the navy alone |
and the army expenditures will be /,
no less. Here, then, we are to spend ,
upon this hideonsly Wasteful work of |
death and destruction each year far |
more than the total cost of the Pana- |
ma Canal. We must abandon the |
work OF social reconstruction and con-
secrate all our energies to the work |
OF destruction, slaves Of Mars"
MT: Spargo also expressed his be-
LIEF that the democracy. Of Europe will
emerge victorious from the war and
that at the end Of the war twill be
our duty to lead In the movement for
disarmament We can do this much I
more effectively, he believed, should
we not now increase our army and
navy.
John Haynes Holmes spoke Of TIT
spirit Of internationalism and declared
That the labor movement, the woman
movement and the spirit Of genuine re-
lig1on, were leading with the great
hopes for future brotherhood.
James. H. Maurer and William Eng
lish Walling also spoke
The Convention appointed . commit
- 81 three 70 inFe6tlgato MilikaFinm