The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-02-10
CHANDLER STRONG
FOR PREPAREDNESS
AGAINST INVASION
Ambition, Not Arnaments,
Cause of Upheava1 in Old
World, He Ayers.

Hartford, Feb. 1O--''The penalty for
failure to prepare is national death
and the loss of autonomy said Com
pensation Commissioner George B.
Chandler in discussing with Rev. DR..
Rockwell Harmon Potter, the subject
Resistance VS.. Non-resistance.' Mr..
Chandler spoke in favor of prepared
ness and DR.. Potter opposed it, favor
| ing moral preparedness and "splr-
.itual resistance
Mr.. Chandler said in substances:
War Inevitable.
| at cannot name the day or the hour
or the nation or the part of the world
Tor the pretext or the affront which
will plunge this country into war. But
it may, be predicted with absolute ac-
curacy that this country and others
about so often in the history of the
world are to be plunged into war
Statistics show that. in the years from
111O to 1914, England was engaged in
200 wars and was at war Sd. 4 per cent.
of the time; France in IT'S wars and
478 per cent. of the time, and other
leading nations of Europe over 500
wars and 36.6 per cent. of the time.
The United States is, by no means, as
peaceful a. country as the pacif1sts
would have us believe It has been
engaged in war, on an average, every
20 years since it was born. Accord
ing to the laws of probability a war is
due between now and 1917.
"a proposition Of the pacif1sts is
that the ocean is our protection. We
are living in a, FOOLS paradise. This
war has shown that the ocean is the
best method of transporting troops.
How much start does the ocean give
us over our competitors when it tales
FIVE days for transport to come to
America? Five days start is tactic
ally neglibIe.'
MT. Chandler. said that the Ameri-
can people were at all times sitting
over a powder magazine in the shape
of the Monroe Doctrine, and that no
man could tell when we would be
plunged into war over a quarrel be-
tween a South American country. and
a European nation.
1.-THE cornerstone of the pacifist
argument is that ornaments cause
war The present European war was
not caused. by ornaments. 1t was
| caused by ambition-the ambition of
| the Hohenzollerns to rule over world
empire. That and-no thing else is the
cause of the present war in Europe.
| Arnaaments are the effects, not the
cause: are the end, not the means. The
nations mentioned before were at war
| previous to the period of great mod
crn ornaments 1875 per cent. of the
time and, during the half-century OF
modern armaments, 26.4 per cent of
the time OF the nations of Europe,
the only one who has been at war
more since the period of great mod
ern ornaments than before is England
-unniIitary and unprepared. Great
modern ornaments decrease the fire.
uuency of war, but make them more
widespread and disastrous while they
last Armaments cause war ?-That
contention hasn't a foot to stand on.
Nations fight because they get mad.
they don't fight because they are pre-
pared or unprepared. Unprepared-
| ness for war is guarantee for peace
all that it guarantees is defeat
when you get into war;
America g. Prize.
In closing his address Mr.. Chandler
said that America would be a rich
prize to an impoverished and re-
VengefH1 nation with a trained army
on its hands when the present war
| was over.
! what is the penalty for failure to
| prepare?'' he concluded. National
| death and the loss of autonomy. The
pages of history are strewn with the
| wreckage of nations who were I'M
prepared or unwilling to prepare