The Coconino sun., 1919-01-17
THEN AND NOW.

In 1916 the American people were told that they were being kept out of war;" despite the fact that the pol icies then being pursued made it inev- itable that they would become involv- ed in war, and the only end served by the cry was to promote the polit- ical fortunes of those who employed it, and prevent the country from adopting program of preparedness for the war every thinking man real ized was just ahead.
 Now the "he keeps us out of war" slogan is again abroad in the land. It is being employed by the same politi- clans for the same purposes, and it is duping the same gullible people, whose ardent love of peace makes them pathetically subject to any pro- gram proposed on the theory that it means the ending of war, even if, as a matter of fact, it only makes cer- tain the involving of this country in dangers and responsibilities that mean an increased menace of war rather than an insurance of peace, .
 The people are being told by the same propagandists who put oyer on the public the campaign cry of 1916, that if this country will involve itself in the creation of super-state which is to control the relations of nations, it will mean an insurance of the worlds pecae. It would doubtless contribute to some extent to peace in Europe, but so far as this country is concerned, it will serve only to com plicate American with European af- fairs to such an extent that whatever menaces the peace of the older conti- nents will threaten that of the United States.
 An interesting commentary upon the sincerity of this outcry that "he will keep us out of war" is the rec ommendation of the Secretary of the Navy that we shall build the worlds largest navy, and that of the Secre- tary of War that by the purchase of all the cant0nment sites we shall make provision for the worlds larg- est army. These officials understand that the task of assuming responsible ity for the worlds peace means that this country must undertake military and naval preparations heretofore un- known beyond the borders of the con- tinent from whose feuds and rivalries and embrolments we have heretofore been fortunately separated. The rec concentrations of these two officials involving vast expenditures, give far better evidence of what we are drift ing into than all the highflown phras- es of the same demagogues and doc trinaires who befuddled and befooled the country in the last national cam paign with the assurance that we had been "kept out of war"
 Pooling the people in 1916 was the fault of the politicians. But if the same people are fooled by the same politicians in the same way now it can only be the peoples fault. It is evidently intended that we shall be kept out of war now in the same way and to the same extent and from the same motives and with the same re- suit which followed the great confi- dence game of the last national cam paign, when the politicians in power were taking credit for keeping the country out of a conflict they knew then we would inevitable be swept in- to, and which they now say was at that time a struggle in behalf of civ ilization from which no nation could honorably withhold participation National Republican. s~r.