The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-12-08
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. @.
WHO IS GOING TO DIsARM?

-
come a contest, in which each of the
nations represented is striving to gain
some relative advantage in naval and
military strength over the others, is
now apparent to all who have closely
followed the proceedings
/ Furthermore, it is no surprise to
! those who understood the nature Of
the gatherings. No nation IS going to
disarm as long as the causes of in
/ ternational war remain unchanged, for
/ the simple reason that they are bound
| to cause war again. A certain saving
/ in taxes is the most that can be ex-
/ pected from the disarmament phase
| of the conference. Its consideration
! of the Far East question, on the other
hand may be regarded as the nearest
thing to a sincere attempt which mod
/ ern diplomacy has ever made to re-
move causes of war. Whether the at
/ tempt will have any success at all re-
mains doubtful.
France is coming in for a great deal
of criticism because of her refusal
to reduce her standing army, which
, she asserts she needs to protect her
against Germany and Russia. It has
been pointed out repeatedly that both
of these nations are incapacItated for
an indefinite length of time. France
is accused of employing sophistries to
esta blish her right to large army
So, it appears, she is, and so are all
the other nations. Her standing army
is all France has. She possesses no
strength on the sea where she is out
classed by three other powers-Eng-
land, the United States and Japan
Each of those nations is trying to get
out of the disarmament conference
some advantage in naval armament
Japan stands out resolutely for a ra-
ito which will leave her relatively
stronger than she was before the con-
ference. She brings forward the
sophistry that her peculiar position
makes necessary this extra strength.
The SUBJ arine Question.
England stands out for reducing
the submarine to the lowest possible
status. Hemmed in on her little Is
land. Great Britain is more menaced
by the submarine than by anything
else. 1t nearly starved her during the
war. 1t is capable of making the
transportation of food and material
from her colonies almost impossible.
On the other hand, it is not important
to the defense of her short insular
coast line. Hence large submarine
fIotiilas and the development of the
submarine are the greatest menaces
to England. She is in favor of almost
abolishing submarines She also
comes forward with her little sophis-
tries. What a horrible thing subma-
rine warfare is!
The United States is not so i'm
pressed with this horror. Submarines
are extremely useful on the defense
of a long coast line like ours. We are
in favor of a rather large supply of
submarines Furthermore, the genu-
ineness of our desire to disarm was
put to the test, it seems, when poison
gas was mentioned. 1t was suggested
that poison gas be eliminated alto
gether from international warfare, as
the most horrible weapon of all, and
the American delegation demurred.
1t is said that our war department has
the formula for the most destructive
gas on earth, and that in the next war
it will be our strongest asset. Are
we going to throw it away? We
should say not.
All of this is no criticism of anyone. |
1t is merely statement of the in |
evitable. No nation is going to dis |
arm as long as the world is full of |
things and situations that are capable |
of causing international wars. Dis /
armament will be possible when cause I
for international war has been aboI- |
ished everywhere as completely for |
example, as cause for war between |
the United States and Canada has |
been abolished. And these causes for |
International war will be abolished |
when the common man refuses to |
fight and pay taxes.
A good many common men in the |
world are in revolt against bloodshed |
and taxes now. That is the real rea-
son why the conference assembled.
That is the reason for all of its bum
combe about peace and fraternity, and |
for what sincere efforts it is making
to- establish in the Far East some sort
of an arrangement that will be less
Immediately and obviously productive
of conflict than the present one.
But in the main the causes of in
ternational war viii not even be
touched by the conference. The causes
of international wars are the quarrels
of investors of different nationalities
over concessions of trade and natural
resources in countries not strong
enough to defend themselves Every
international war SINNERS down tn
that in the long run. The late World
war was fought for a large number of
high ideals, as we all know. And we
all know that none of them were real
lied and that when the dust of battle
settled the victors were to be seen
dividing up, among their respective in
vestOrs, oil wells, iron deposits, spheres
of influence and little things like that.
The United States went into the war
with no selfish interest, but she came
out of it with the financial mastery of
the world in her left pants pocket.
What Benefits by Victory?
Yet how this financial mastery of
the world has benefited the man who
works for wages or a salary in this
country, it is hard to discover. He
either fought or paid for that mas
terry. but if called upon to produce his
share of the benefit he would have a
hard time doing it.
So it always is. The common man
never shares in the material benefits
of a war except in a temporary and
accidental way. Those go to a few
What the common man
gets is the fun of fighting and paying
taxes and the emotional exaltation or
engaging in a great patriotic enter
prise.
That these things are worth some
thing to him is evident from the
amount he pays for them. It is futile
to pretend that war has no appeal to
common man. If it didn't have, there
be any war. The common
mans life is apt to be a monotonous
restricted affair. War may suddenly
make it exciting, intense. War brings
to a people an enormous amount OF :