Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-02-15
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To the Capital Journals: Those in
favor of preparedness will date back to
revolutionary days to tell of the neces-
| sity of conquest. In reply l will say
those were colonial days. The days of
the wild tribesman, and the tommy
hawk when self defense was L neces
/ sity, and not the present day Of alli-
ances and preparedness, when if a cOun-
| try becomes powerful all the other war
/ dogs chain together and keep a join
ing, and a joining until they Operpow
er the greatest mlstiff, and then each
take a position for freedom, and COM
mercialsm. Freedom from unjust tax
alton, it is not war flag, and should
not be made one.
Since it represents freedom from un-
just taxation its people should not be
taxed for unnecessary preparedness.
Our creates statesman, William Jen-
nings Bryan, has been quoted as saw
| ing, more money than the farmers can
produce. If all the money the world
uses for preparedness was enumerated
it would runt out the enumeration ta-
Bile, and then some. Our people should
be deep thinkers, not feather Drained
like the parrot. They should get be.
meath the surface and count the cost,
use all this money for Just CONNER
cialism and we have the true splendOr
and significance of civilization. Would
not it be silly for one farmer to get
brass cannon to protect himself from
his neighbor Ism I it silly for one
country to get one, to fight the other.
Why, then, in the name of peace, are
we preparing for war, boasting that we
will have the largest navy in the world.
Have we forgotten that by saying it,
we are defying England She boasts
that Britannica rules the wave, and
won t take it from us, unless Germany
tramps her under. If true to our cOlors
we should not boast navalism, or mil
itarism. Then why preparedness We
should keep our flag civilly alOft, and
not throw it down in defiance to see
VINO dare step on it, like the fighting
lrishman who dragged his coat along,
and said, "Who will tired on the tlil
of me cOat2' Germany stands out be-
fore the world today as the greatest
example of preparedness. From a mil.
itary standpoint she is the pride of the
world. From a warning standpoint she
deserved the admiration of the world,
and because she is so great she is the
target of tn other great nations. who
think, or pretend to think, they are
fighting for peace by destroying mill
tarism. | say the way to keep the
peace is to quit fighting. The United
States wants to put on her boxing
gloves. What for' Just to keep peace
[ say she is out looking for trouble
Because Belgium was prepared, and
because she WASH t supposed to fight,
she fought to keep the peace. She
spilled German blood fighting to keep
peace, and got herself fought off the
map. That's not peace,
Serbia was prepared for war. A plot
was made by several, it fell to the lot
Of an is year old boy to kill an Aus.
trian kind. Serbia spilled first blood
and because Austria was prepared she
went to war. Then Russia began add
ing to her preparedness because she
was chained to Serbia. Germany being
chained to Austria, told Russia to Quit
Russia wouldn Z quit, so France be-
gan to prepare because she was chained
to Russia and because Germany was
prepared she went at it. Then Eng
land, because she was prepared, pitched
on. Then Italy, because she was pre-
pared, took a whack at Austria, and
Turkey, because she was prepared, took
a whack at Russia, and Japan, be.
cause she was prepared, pitched on to
Germany, and Hungary pitched on toI
Serbia. and Montenegro pitched on to
Hungary, and Canada crossed the sea.
because sne was prepared, and Mexico
is having 4 revolution because she was
prepared. After summing it all up,
think preparedness, alliances, and neu.
tralities are the worst forms of warfare
because they cause the war. they are
the war Without them there would be
no war, with all this dreadful warfare
before cur eyes, ani knowing all those
countries are fighting themselves to
death, wnat are We afraid of Surely
not of Japan for if she attacks us,
Germany will get even with japan, be-