New Ulm review., 1921-11-09
CarryOm

Carry On.
Demand for an actual reduction of
armaments is increasing daily. In
the inner circle the fear is growing
that the conference will be unable to
ignore this demand. Repeatedly we
are warned that not disarmament"
but limitation Of armaments ''a very
different thing"-is what the confer
ence was called to bring about. Or
we are told that the success of the
conference may be endangered by
unbridled or unguided enthusiasm Of
the people for attainment Of the OBJ
jects for which the conference has
been called"! Foreign delegates might
think that the American representa-
tives are bound to make concessions
in order to bring about results, it
seems.
No longer are the advocates of re-
duction in the army and navy to be
sneered at and ignored; their power
is acknowledged and they must be
reckoned with. Our old friend, the
Army and Mary Journal, admits the
great Indifference to the army on the
part of both the general public and
the ex-soldiers and declares ''there is
a positive determination on the part
of strongly organized groups with an
expert knowledge of how to use pro-
paganda and how to pull political
forces if possible, and if that cannot
be done, to reduce them to condi-
tion of impotency.'
1t fatty states that the pacifsts are
in the saddle. That may surprise
you. Perhaps you didn't realize how
much power you were exercising!
We admit we were far from feeling
like the powers that be, but perhaps
we, were mistaken. The evidence of
our power appears to be the fact
that we have forced the reduction of
the army to pre-war basis.
The facts about the army reduc-
tion are well-known but the status of
the naval building program is not.
The general impression is that we are
continuing our 1916 program as be-
fore. That is true, but it is going
very slowly. In a recent statement
on vessels under construction the Ma
Wy Department makes only one pre-
diction as to the probable completion
Of ship. That is the scout cruiser
Omaha, which will be completed July
/, 1922. There is also the possibility
that one battleship may be completed
next year and another in 1923, if
there is no further reduction in the
appropriations for new construction.
But the date Of completion of the six
battle-cruisers under construction is
given as Indefinite and the furthest
advanced of these vessels is only 27.4
per cent completed. Thus, you see
what results can be obtained by insist
ing that appropriations be kept down.
From the same Army and Mary
Journal we learn that the House
Military Affairs Committee is about
to refuse to function. They have
found that the House is in no mood
to consider military legislation, and
until it returns to sane channels of
thought they are through. When the
bill providing for the maintenance of
West Point at the authorized strength
was defeated, the committee threw
up their hands. One is inclined to
wonder if the sentiment of the House
of Representatives is not somewhat
influenced by the feeling Of the folks
back home.
But the big army and navy advo-
Gates are not vanquished. There is a
powerful, well-organized propaganda
to discount the conference. We are
constantly being told of new guns,
new gases, perfected plans for huge
my organization, continuance of for
tifications in the Pacific, etc. There
are strong indications that it is going
to center on the latter point. Every
effort will be made to frighten the
people into demanding a strengthen
ing rather than lessening of our for
tifcations in the Pacific and the pre-
parations which must follow such a
program would be sufficient to satisfy
the most ardent militarist.
So much for the situation today.
There is reason to be encouraged fer
whatever the outcome of the dis
armament conference, the ground
work is being laid on which to con-
tinue building after it is a thing Of
the past. Under such circumstances
Is it not worth while carrying on?
We notice that one Arthur lie
Sueur, at one time retained as legal
counsel by the Nonpartisan League
has been campaigning for the anti
farmer candidates in North Dakota.
Now, doesn't this prove, according
to the political reasoning we have
been hearing from certain quarters