The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1930-01-24
PREPARING FOR WAR


By the time this editorial appears in print many
Of our readers will have heard King George of
England over the radio delivering the opening adj
dress at the first meeting of the delegates to the
five power-naval-reduction conference in London,
provided His Majesty was not incapacitated thru
over indulgence in stimulants the night before and
was forced to relegate the duty to his dry Presby
terian, socialist premier.
However, that's not the point we are driving at.
We know there are large number of people in
this country well as in other lands who believe
that the empires represented at the London con-
ference are serious about the business of reducing
naval ornaments. Well, they are not
The conference is the direct result of the grow
ing rivalry between the United States and Great
Britain that was given an impetus by the world
war and the defeat of Germany as a naval and
commercial rival of Englnd. No sooner was the war
Overland even before-than those two great i'm 2
perialist powers began to regard each Atha~-as-
proc s4sses-s1ists in contest for world hege-
mony. Smaller powers also involved in this riv-
airy but France, Italy and Japan are lesser stars
revolving in the orbits of the two great military
planets, Great Britain and the United States.
But for the danger of war there would be no
need for peace conference any more than there
would be need for the calling together of this
countrys biggest business men to stabilize produc
ton no economic crisis existed There is an inter
national crisis today and it portends world war
that will make the last struggle look like quar-
rel at Quaker picnic.
Every country represented at the conference
wants as large naval force as possible Each one
IS going TO build to the limit of its ability regard
less of what the conference may decide. The con-
ference is not likely to decide on anything of i'm
portance. There will be good deal of newspaper
ballyhoo and cartoons showing Mars having his
evee Kicked out by the dove of peace This propa-
ganda must not fool the masses That's the OBJ
ject of it.
Italy wants navy equal 10 that of France. ia
pan wants more submarines than the United States
wants her to have. France wants more submarines
than Great Britain wants her to have The United
States wants more cruisers with long cruising ra-
dius than Great Britain wants he to have. Britain
has plenty of coaling stations throughout the world
so cruising cruisers are not so vital
to her. The United States is not so well provided
in this respect she needs the long distance cruis
ing cruisers That's the kettle of fish.
Now ladies and gentlemen, if blood is thicker
than chicken soup and the great liberty-loving
English-speakng, coffee-drinking bunk-peddlino
Ango-Saxon capitalists in the United States and
England have so much love for each other that #
passeth understanding what in the name of rotari-
anlsm do they want battleships for? Why can't
they turn their swords over to the Shrners and their
oattleshlps over to the Anti-Saloon League to be
used as rum chasers and put their admirals and
generals to work enforcing prohibition? WHY can't
they tell Japan France and italy that if thew start
war they will not get any publicity in the Anglo
Saxon press and that their heroes will be looked
upon in the same light as speakeasy brawlers?
The answer is that war is as indigenous to the
capitalist system as sharp tongue to shrew a
lea to NANCY dog or bride to prohibition
agent The United States and Great Britain are
bound to fight for the commercial supremacy of
this earth. They need battleships. submarines and
war planes to back up their drummers. The lesser
powers have their own pitches to exploit France
and Italy are quarreling over the hegemony of the
mediterranean and the overlordship of North Az
rlca Japan has her eyes glued to China and is a
rival OF the United States in the Pacific. Those
trade and profit gluttons can no more ward off a
war than the average Christian can refrain from
eneatng his neighboT when he gets chance Can
tast rivalry within nations is fought out in price
cutting and in the courts. Capitalist rivalry he
tween nations is contested on the field If bo++lo
with armies or navies or both
Pacifists to the contrary, there can never he
peace as long as capitalism exists ONLY when +be
system of wealth production for unfit Oives x,,x
to production for use win the human raca he &C.
sured that wars between nations win cease Thew
Will cease because the economic reason fo~ vr,rs
will have been eliminated