The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1921-06-10
HARDING SPEAKS
NATIONS DESIRE.
ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE couN.
TRY SAY WITH HIM THAT
WAR "MUsT NOT BE AGAIN."
DlSARMlNG SOMETHING ELSE
Insistsnt Propaganda to Persuade
America to Lay Down all Weapons,
Whatever Other Nations Do, Doesn't
Persuade Most congressman.
BY EDWARD B. CLARK.

! 6y EUWAHD b. CLAIM.
, Washington.-With the war in his
mind, President Harding when in New
York City, as he placed wreath on the
casket of the first American soldier
to die on German soil, said: 1t must
! not be again."
t All through tile country this express
sion of the President has been recog-
nized as simple but most striking
phrase, expressing as it does the de-
sire Of all the people of the country.
The speech on the pier at Hoboken,
N. j., OF which 1T must not be again"
was the keynote, has called particu-
larly sharp attention in Washington
to the propaganda for disarmament.
Congress today is, or recently has
been, confronted with several legisla-
tive propositions which bear directly
on disarmament, and of course there
Is also before the law makers the reso-
luton which asks that a conference
on disarmament he held between rep
resentattves Of Great Britain, Japan
and the United States.
In Congress and In the country to-
day an old fight to q certain extent is
being waged once more. All over the
United States there were pleas for
disarmament long before the United
States entered the great war, and in
fact long before any other nation had
entered 1t. There were attempts con-
stantly to induce congress to cut
down the armed forces Of the country
and with these attempts there were
others to prevent military exercises in
the schools of the country, and more
strongly to prevent the establishment
Of training camps for the youth.
Would Disarm and Be Trustful.
Today congress is being urged with
the same insistence as before the
war to take measures which will dis
arm this country while other coun-
tries still carry arms. The present
administration is opposed to anything
Of this kind and congress knows 1t,
but there is a strong minority in each
Legislative house which seemingly be-
lieveS that the United States can
throw away every weapon that it. has
and remain perfectly placid in the
feeling that even though all the other
nations of the world are armed, and
some Of them still ambitious, no harm
can come to the United States. =
The lineup in congress on matters
pertaining to what may be called in
a general way preparedness, is just
about the same kind of lineup that
was in evidence In the years 1914,
'15, '16 and in the, early part Of II.
1t is only the truth to say that there
was not one hard student Of the trend
Of affairs in the past who was not
convinced in these years that the
United States eventually must enter
the great war.
| It can be said that the majority of
the members Of both houses Of con-
gress in the years named believed that
before long the United States would
be compelled to get into the conflict.
It was known in Washington that
many of the representatives Of the
people in either house held back from
support of anything which, looked like
preparation for trouble, not because
they believed there was to be no
trouble, but because their constituents
or majority Of them, would not ad-
init for one minute, no matter what
their senses told them, that war was to
come.
What WiIful Blindness Cost.
!. It is terrible thing today to hear
some of the things which were said
concerning the cost to the United
States of the Indifference to the loom
ing cloud Of trouble in the three years
prior to April, 1917. 1t is said freely
in military and naval circles that the
disinclinatiOn to face the truth Of
what was to como cost the United
States the lives Of very many thous-
ands of men who otherwise today
would be alive and well, and added
fully fifty per cent to the lists Of the
sick and injured who are pleading to
a forgetful people for that remem-
;brance which seemingly should be due
to men who sacrifice themselves for
Others. a..., ..
All Of this is of the past. 1t has
taught its lesson In part. There Is
not much question but that eventually
the great, countries Of the world will
get together and enforce reduction
of ornaments, and will take means
to provide against future wars be-
tween civilized peoples. The question
now, however, has to do with today,
"a time prior to the agreement time
when the nations shall write their
disarmament rules and follow them
to the proper end.
There was no party division to any
marked degree when the senate the
other day voted down an amendment
which would have decreased the per-
;sonnel Of the United States navy.
There seems to be a majority feeling
In congress that the United States
cannot today go to an extreme Of dis
armament while other nations stiIl
maintain, perhaps not an extreme Of
armament but something approaching
to 1t. IA 49,. f.. ~. ... &.
3 Memorial day services for the dead