The Topeka state journal., 1916-05-01

the men so successful IN peace had not
in peace trained themselves so as to
be a able to defend themselves in war,
and to make other nations realize in
advance that they were able to do So
Take a Look at China.
If our people are not willing to study
the lessons of history, let them look
at what has gone on before their eyes
in China For centuries China mas
looked down on the military caste, and
has DISCOURAGED the development of
: the fighting spirit The vagaries and
dreams and blindness of her paciflst
leaders and pacifist statesmen
have paralleled those OF our
own. Her people have been
peaceful and industrious; they nave
put peace above honor, above JUSTICE
above national se1f-respect- AS a con-
sequence, China, the most populouS
empire on the earth, sees nan ner
territory under the control of ahen
mowers. and in the remainder holds
what precarious independence remains
at the mercy of whichever one of these
alien powers is for the time being able
to nullify the influence OF the othefs.
If the shortsighted pacifist and the
shorfsiehted materialist have their
yav. The same fate will oveitake US;
and it would be hastened, not averted,
by business prosperity and efflclency
and harmlessnesS. To mobilize our re-
sources and introduce eff1ciency
make us a more attractive and more
helpless prey unless we in similar
fashion develop our power and pur-
pose for Self-defenSe- stand heartily
for protection. By that I mean not
only protection. to American industries
and to the material interests of
American workingnen, farmers and
business men. 1 also mean, and with
even greater emphasis, protection for
the whole American nation. protection
for American honor, protection for
Americas self-reSpect, protection for
Americas position among the nauons,
protection for her when she strives, as
she ought to strive, to bring peace to
the rest of the world. And there can
be no such protection without thor
oughgoing reparation-military. So
cial and induStrieI
Danger in Europe.
have before used the effect of
non-preparedneSS on China as an ar
gument for preparedness. Really the
events of the last twenty-one months,
including especially the events of the
last month, show that no argument is
needed save our own history during
these past twenty-one months. On
August l, 1914, the great war began;
and it had already become clear that
the already dreadful situation in Mex
leo was going steadily from bad to
worse 1t should have been percep-
3
our credit as a nation that it was not
evident to us-that there was the
gravest danger of our being involved
at some point with the European bel
Hgerents and the almost certainty that
we would have to take action sooner
or later as regards Mexico. Even the
first few weeks of the great war made
it evident that the prime factor in
success in war was preparedness in
advance and that it was impossible
] II.
begun Yet our well-meaning, foolish,
peace-at-any-pric people clanored so
loudly that we must not prepare be-
cause preparedness would increase tho
chances of war that we followed their
advice. Six months went by without
one particle Of preparation by u.s. Our
army and navy remained as weak as
ever. Nothing of any sort was done to
| help put over industries in shape to
! help US in the event of war. The pro-
! feSsional pacifiStS hailed this refusal to
exercise precaution in the face of the
| hurricane as an evidence of virtue on
our part It was merely an evidence
! of blind and timid weakness. Then
after six months Germany announced
that she would conduct a submarine
/ blockade of England under circurn-
stances which rendered inevitable the
loss of American lives We sent her
an ultimatum announcing that in such
| case we would hold her to a strict ac-
countability 1 use the word ultima
| tum'' for it is the only word to describe
the document containing the words
strict accountability if these words
mean anything. When we took that
action we placed ourselves in a posi-
| ton where it became a crime against
ourselves not Immediately to prepare.
Fourteen months have passed since.
| Germany has again and again done
| what we said she should not do. We
have protested, sometimes strongly.
sometimes weakly, against what has
been done; but we never took a single
step in the way of preparation to en-
force our words if unhappily it should
| become necessary to do So At pres
ent we have sent another ultimatum
| to Germany no stronger than the one
sent fourteen months ago; but the cir
cumstances of its delivery are such as
to seem to indicate that more weight
must be alta to it.
Still Not Preparing.
Yet we are still not preparing in
any way. The lower house of con-
gress has taken what measures it
| could to interfere with the organiza-
tions on which we should have to rely
in any belated and hurried efforts to
meet our needs should we have to act
| in support of our note, and has passed
Legislation excellently designed to pre-
vent all efficiency from the military
standpoint. Substantially we are not
| in the army or the navy than we were
tWenty-one months ago and instead of
| endeavoring to secure industrial pre-
| paredness congress has done every
thing it could to interfere with it. AL
| this moment after nearly six weeks of
effort we have been unable to scrape
| together an army sufficient to cap
| ture the bandit Villa. We have not
an efficient body of troops of a size
that would make it a tangible asset in
the huge death-wrestle that is going
on around Verdun. We have not in
| these twenty-one months prepared in
any shape or way to make good on any
| field of action any demand we might
| make for our own rights or the rights
| of humanity. OCr words have been
| like n check issued by a man on a
| bank in which he has no funds but ex-
meets TINT c11,aha1.. I,a.. will