The Washington times., 1916-01-08
DECLARES DEFENSE
IS BUSINESS ISSUE
Vice President Of Rubber Com.
pany Declares 1t Is Nations
Duty to Prepare.

The executives Of many great cor
porations are keenly alive to the neces-
sity for adequate defense.
AS business men they feel that they
are not getting value received for the
money they contribute TO their country
in the form Of taxes.
Raymond r. Price. vice president OF
the United States Rubber Company in
a speech before the big convention Of
United States Tire salesmen held in
Detroit. dwelt on the necessity Of pre-
psredness from a business standpoint.
His address in part follows:
THE American business man in his
daily routine has not In the past given
sufficient thought to the business prop
lens of his country.
"If this country Is going :c fulfill the
must be prepared by the businessmen.
The problems of the United States
for the future are business problems.
Training in big corporations Is an
excellent preliminary training to assist
I'VE hope that the United States Of
America will be able and willing to
protect an honest enterprise and look
after our country's interests in encour-
aging export business.
Would Resent Force.
Even il We admit to ourselves that
we are willing to surrender the Phil
ippines, that we are willing to give UP
Hawaii. that we have no interests in
the Caribbean, that we are willing to
turn over the Panama canal to anybody
in tho world, we still. every one, would
object to having somebody force US TO
do that, though We are willing to do IL.
But that Is the position we are IN
today.
to how much world dominion we
want, every red-blooded American citi-
zen must feel that we have today a re-
sponsibility that we are not prepared
to meet.
"An organization like the United
States Rubber Company can do a great
deal to help this to a real conclusion.
The United states Rubber Company
encourages its employees to join the
militia. because the United States Rub
ton owes a duty to its stockholders to
provide the kind Of protection that II
provides in other directions. by paying
fire insurance, plate glass insurance.
and so forth.
1T wants to do it's part toward con-
tributing to peace insurance.
THE Navy Department has no appro-
priation today for research work on
aeronautiss.
Americans are prone to laugh at
public graft. the pork barrel, and all
those scandals,
I'VE are not justified in laughing at
these things any longer.
More Men Are Needed.
when we stop 20 think that we have
spent hundreds of millions of dollars
on our coast defenses and have only a
third enough men to man what We
have already put money into; that some
of our ships are lying idle today be-
cause we haven't the crews to man
them with; when We have fewer Of
ficers for battleships than any other
navy in the world, and the Japanese
every battleship, that Is something for
us to think about. 1t is not good busi-
ness.
And are we business men going to
permit the United States, so far as our
efforts will prevent, to continue that
kind of business in the Government?
When we stop to consider that the
average Confederate soldier received
$l3 a month in worthless paper money,
and contributed the majority of that to
keep his cause Going: when he was
without shoes, almost without clothes
when his family was starving. because
he had faith and n belief, can we force
ourselves to believe that the unexpected
may not happen before this European
war Ia over?
Can any of us see any signs OF social
disarmament?
Il think we eve 1t to ourselves as
business men, as investors, 10 study
national preparedness. as we have been
trying to study our business prepared
ness. Let's all do our share"