The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1916-04-14
Making War
Munitions


Among other things, he said that one
of the reasons for war was the ac-
tiyity of selfish men who are interest
ed in the manufacture Of war mater
ials, ammunition, battle ships, armor
plate, etc. He illustrates it in this way:
Imagine a little lake with the land
of three farms bordering on it. Some
day man goes to one Of these farm
ezs and says:
"Has it ever occurred to you that
you are likely to have trouble with
your neighbors; and that if you do,
you have no way of keeping them
from coming across the lake and land
ing on your farm, and doing you a
lot of damage? What you should do
is to have little battle ship anchor
ed right out here by your land. If you
have this you can defend yourself.
Without it you are at the mercy of
your neighbors.
So the farmer gets little battle
ship, and ties it up to his wharf, where
it will be ready to use in case any
body should attack him. Then this
manufacturer goes to the second
farmer and says:
"Do you see that little battleship
over there? Do you know what that
fellow is getting ready to do? Some
of these days he will get in that bat
tleship, and will come over here and
attack you. You should have bat
tleship,. so that if he should come, you
can defend yourself. You are in dam
ger all the time until you get it."
The more the second farmer thinks
this over, the more reasonable it
seems to him, So he orders battle
ship and does not feel safe until he
has il tied up to his wharf. Then the
manufacturer goes to the third farm
err and says:
81 suppose you have not had any
trouble with your neighbors, but it
looks to me as if trouble might be
coming for you. You notice over
there that farmer A has battleship,
and | hear that Farmer B has just
bought one. That looks suspicious.
1t looks as if they might be getting
ready to make a raid on you. Don't
you think you had better do some
thing?"
And Farmer c lies awake that night
thinking about it; and the more he
thinks, the more uneasy he becomes;
and so he gives the manufacturer an
order for two battleships. Then the
manufacturer starts back to farmer
A and says;
"You see it is coming out just as
told you. Your one battleship is no
longer sufficient. You will have to
get ready to meet the combined at
tack of these other men," And so he
goes around from one to the other,
stirring up suspicion and trouble.
Mr.. Bryan exercised all the arts of
an orator to make his point. But
there is some foundation for the be-
lief that at least part of the trouble
in the world has been due to selfish
men whose interests will be promoted
by war. Men who are interested in
the manufacture of battleships and ar
NOR plate and guns and ammunition
would be more than human if they
did not view with at least some salts
faction the prospect of trouble which
might greatly increase the demand
for the things they are making.
Recently in the United States Sen
ate, bill was up which provides that
the government shall make its owr
ammunition and armor plate. There
are good arguments which can be adj
vanced on both sides of this question
The strongest argument against it is
that if the government went into this
business on large scale, the private
manufacturers would be driven out
that this would be very unfortunate il
case we should be driven into war
because it could not be expected thai
the government plants would be able
to make enough war munitions; thai
it is therefore desirable that private
plants be maintained at differen
points over the country, so that il
case Of emergency, we would be SURF
of sufficient war supplies.
Senator Cummins of Iowa present
ed the other side of the argument. H,
said that he would vote in favor o
the United States making its owl
armor plate and munitions. We quote
II shall vote for it because it is m.
profoundest conviction that the man
ufacture Of armor plate for, battle
ships is governmental function. 1t !
not only an appropriate governments
function, but it ought to be exclusive
" governmental function; and