Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1927-02-10
NOT ADVOCATING WAR
(Mille Laos County Times)

(Mille Laos County Times)
Editor Petersen, of the Askov Amer
lean, is still firing broadsides at us
on the question of the ACCESSIBILITY
of maintaining national guard in
this country, and as if that was not
enough two of his subscribers have
come to his assistance. The trouble
with these gentlemen is that they
first lay down false premises and then
draw their own conclusions from
them.
The first false premise is the as
sumption that anybody who advocates
preparedness of a country for mill
tary defense is in favor of war. We
do notNfavor war, and do not know
of anybody else who does. To assume
that preparedness means favoring war
is as absurd as it would be to as
sumo that if one is in favor of a police
department he is also in favor of
the burglars crooks, and criminals
that make such police force necessary.
Another false premise is the as
sumption that military training makes
man anxious to fight. Quite the
contrary is the case as can be GER
titled by the thousands of young men
who we're trained in military tactics
during the World war. Military train
ing is hard, disagreeable work, and
is of such a nature that a man fairly
gets to hate the sight of a uniform.
G Of nc
and they will confirm this statement
The fact is that these gentlemen
are appealing to the emotions instead
of to common sense. The relation of
nations of the earth to each other
is that of anarchists. They recognize
and the law of the jungle rules. It
is the old law of the survival of the
fittest which applies to nations as
we'll as to individuals. Force is the
only thing that decides their issues,
when it gets down to a question of
which one is to survive.
p 1t is all well and good to. talk of
peace, but flair words butter no par
snips," when it comes to a showdown.
True, peace has been preached for
1000 years on this earth, but wars
go on just the same. 1t is con-
dition and not theory that confronts
us. Wars are commercial and as long
as the world is dominated by COM
mercialism there will be war, wheth-
er we like it or not.
Then the only question is: With
conditions existing that create wars,
is it wise to be prepared to meet
such eventualities? Is country safer
and more immune from the danger of
wars if it's citizens lack training, and
it's defenses are neglected?
If neglect of military preparedness
prevented wars then the United States
should have had a history free from
wars. 1t has maintained the smallest
degree of military preparedness of
any of the great nations of the world,
yet it has had five great wars in it's
$50 years of history since it was
founded. Our standing army has
been negligible, and each war cost
enormously in men and treasuretbe-
cause we were not prepared. In the
war of 1912 the United States was so
badly beaten, it's government driven
out of Washington and the national
capitol burned by the British troops
shipped three thousand miles across
the Atlantic ocean and landed on our
coasts, that we had to sue for peace,
and at the Treaty of Client no men
ton was made of the cause of the
war, the impressing of American sea-
men into the British service, and the
British never agreed to discontinue
that practice. All because the United
States was unprepared for war and
it's citizens lacking in military train
ing.
The Civil war found the United
States with practically no army and
no navy. If there had been 100000
men trained in military tactics and
armed and equipped at the disposal
of the government the Civil war would
not have lasted 60 days in the opinion
of military experts. But Lincoln had
to call for volunteers from all walks
of life who had to have months of
training before they were able to
accomplish much of anything. Thus
this war cost thousands of lives and
billions in treasure because the ma
tional government was unprepared to
meet such a contingency.
The Sioux Indian outbreak in Min
nesota in 1862 found the state wholly
unprepared for such an emergency.
The settlers, unframed in the simp-
lest of military tactics, were easy
victims of the savages. Their only
protection was in flight to the near
est settlements, and they would have