Omaha daily bee., 1920-03-07
Preparedness
Against War

When the Fathers established
upon the soil of America a govern.
ment in which democracy was to be
tested as it had not been since the
days Of Pericles When they estab-
| lished the government of the United
| States. they had in mind the idea of
keeping aloof from European and
| Asiatic politics. They We're opposed
| to the system known as militarism
which had long been fostered in the
old world by designing rulers and
! ambitious military leaders.
AS a result of the early sentiment
| Of the American political leaders the
republic maintained comparatively
| small army and navy in the period
Immediately preceding the war of
1872. Our total unpreparedness In
| that war convinced a large number
OF leaders that we should increase
our strength both on land and sea.
!. However, every succeeding war
! found us unprepared. The Mexican
war, the civil war and the Spanish
! war followed in due time. one after
! the other, but still we slumbered. In
1851 the federal government could
have prevented the secession Of a
! number of states or could have inn
mediately taken adequate steps to
restore order had it had at it's sery.
ice a reasonably strong army fully
trained and inspired with zeal for
the well-heing of the nation.
In the period just preceding the
Spanish-American war, Theodore
Roosevelt, then assistant secretary
of the navy. made an eloquent and
forceful plea for an adequate pre-
paredness, and not only did he do
this but he practiced what he
preached by Immediately taking
steps to put the navy in shape so
that 1t could in case of war with
Spain successfully cope with the
Spanish vessels. To Colonel Roose-
welt, next to Admiral Dewey, him
self, the sweeping victory Of the
American fleet at Manila harbor was
due.
In the summer Of 1914 the great
European war broke out. We were
told at first that it was none of our
concern and for while we hoped
to keep out OF 1t. However. we were
gradually drawn into the struggle.
The violation of Belgian neutrality,
the sinking of the Lusitania, the
shooting of an English nurse. the
dCludl HlulOSI VI lIiliOCSuL WOIlcIl
and children on land and sea,
shocked the conscience of the world.
Many believed that we should in
1914 have instantly demanded Of
Germany that she respect the neu-
trality of Belgium. We were totally
unprepared, militarily speaking.
Then, too, our navy which in Mr..
Roosevelt's administration, was sec
ond only to that Of Great Britain,
had fallen to third place. Slowly,
while the British. French. Belgian
and Italian armies were battling
valiantly against heavy odds, we pre-
pared our lazy but fortunately tre-
mendous strength" and in the last
few months of the war, as Colonel
Roosevelt once said, "played an
overwhelming part"
We are now face to face with pre-
cisely the same problem with which
for years prior to the great war we
had been confronted, the problem OF
preparedness. The pacifist has loud
ly declared that preparedness breeds
war and that brotherly love alone
can preserve world peace. Prepared
ness-not militarislm-but reason
able preparedness, is the only thing
that can prevent us or can at least
give promise of preventing us, from
being dragged into another great
war whether the latter be within 10
years or fully so years from now.
Let us foster wherever possible the
spirit of brotherhood, but let us be
sure to face conditions.
Now, as a matter OF fact. the
pacifist by his very weakness invites
war; invites aggression. He views
conditions not as they actually are,
but as they ought to be.
The advocates Of preparedness are
in the vast majority of cases the
most sincere friends of a righteous
peace. They do not believe in pre-
paredness for aggressive, purposes.
Nothing is so utterly absurd and SO
utterly at variance with the facts as
the argument of the pacifists that
the friends of preparedness wish to
see us prepare SO that we can attack
some other nation. The advocates
of preparedness love a righteous
peace; they love it SO strongly that
instead of hiding from a wrongful
attack upon it as would the foolish
ostrich whom the pacifist would imi-
tate, they would instantly fight for it.
1t is today our sacred duty to SO
prepare ourselves by means of sys-
tenn of military service similar to
that of Switzerland or Of Australia;
to SO prepare ourselves that out
young men can at least be furnished
with a rudimentary understanding
of the principles OF military science.
We should SO arrange matters tnat
"never again will it be necessary to
draft men in June and kill them In
Teptember." A very considerable
number of our young men are In
their graves today-in their graves
today in far-off France-because
with only a few weeks training they
were unable to use the bayonet at
close quarters or otherwise defend
themselves with reasonable skill.
These things must never happen
again. Our navy, too. must be kept
in the highest state of efficiency as
has already been pointed out by
General Pershing, Admiral Mayo,
Admiral Sims, Maj. Gen. Leonard
Wood and many others. Ours is
solemn obligation We owe it to our
children and our childrep's children
to prevent the recurrence or the
tragedy of war; or at least or the
tragedy of criminal unpreparednesss
which we would all be guilty OF u
we fail to profit by the mistakes oi
the past. Let us hope that we VIII
never repeat the folly of preWar
days. The probabilities are that we
have now learned our lesson.
HARVEY J. CLARK,