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The Commoner
VOL. 15, NO. 12
22
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Patriotism, Plunder and Preparedness
- . . . r i t r tn A TUf A
fHfrb are Some Facts Whhh You Might Turn. Over m Your Mmci ceiore uoing Any mor
;' Talking or Th i iking About Our Needs for More Preparednesss for War
By Allen Benson In Pearsons
' There you have an interior view
of the Navy league of the United
States. When you read, as you will,
- appeals for many more dreadnaughts,
. many more soldiers, maiiy more
, guns, mountains of shrapnel and tre
mendous quantities of other muni
tions, kindly remember that these ap
peals havo the heartfelt approval of
Colouol Thompson and his nineteen
patriotic friends. As the Now York
Evening Sun said, you may not know
what the country should have but
these gentlemen do. Every man con
nected with the thirteen corporations
that, according to the Chicago Trib
une, have profited on war munition
orders to the extent of approximately
$500,000,000 every one of those
gentlemen knows what the country
should havo.
Hero is anothor whiff of war
profits see into whoso houses the
wind blows it. Forty of the biggest
mon in Wall street are connected, in
one way or another, with war muni
tions companies or with companies
that are dealing with them. In ad
dition to the twenty patriots whom
I havo named are: Oliver Ames,
George F. Baker, Cornelius Bliss, Jr.,
Anthony N. Brady, W. E. Corey, H.
1 Rieman Duval, Pliny Fisk, John W.
Griggs, B. S. Guinness, A. Barton
Hepburn, Gerald Hoyt, William B.
Joyce, Samuel M'Roberts, C. D. Nor-
, ton, William H. Porter, Charles M.
. Schwab, George R. Sheldon, E. T.
Stotesbury, Frances Lynde Stetson
and James N. Wallace.
Every man who is profiting direct
Vly or indirectly from the manufac-
hire and sale of war munitions, may,
nevertheless bo purely patriotic when
he urges the United States to be "pre-
. pared" and thus enter the market for
great quantities of war munitions.
Each of them may honestly bqlieve
the nation is in such great danger of
war that it should proceed to arm
1 itself to the teeth. Nobody on the
other hand, is compelled to believe in
the disinterested partiotism of those
-who, profiting from war-contracts
with Europe, urgo the United States
to become a great purchaser of war
supplies. Wo have every reason to
suspect, them and we should suspect
them. Their financial interest is too
great to justify 4he belief that in
'. urging preparedness they are consid-
ing only the national welfare. If they
: aro considering only the national wel
fare, let them urge congress to place
the governmert in a position to man
ufacture its own munitions. If they
;.;are not willing to do that, they must
'' stand convicted of tainted patriotism.
Who expects these beneficiaries of
war who aro crying so loudly for
"preparedness" to forego their pros
pective profits? Who expects them to
urgo the government to become the
manufacturer of its own war muni
tions? Is there a single syllable of
their propaganda that has tho ring of
honesty? What do they mean when
they say ihey want this nation to be
prepared? Do they mean that they
want us to have a larger and better
army than Germany had a month be
fore the outbreak of the war. Do
they mean that they want us to have
a larger and better navy than Great
Britain had? If "preparedness" is the
way to peace, plainly Germany's army
was not large enough nor was Great
Britain's navy .rge enough. How
large should Germany's army have
been, and how large should have
been the navy of Great Britain? Will
our prosperous, patriotic countrymen
kindly tell?
Will they tell what this nation
should do if, having followed their
advice and plunged on armaments,
some other nation should plunge a
little harder and exceed us? Having
100 dreadnaughts, what should we
do if some other nation had 125? If
so, 'can Colonel Thompson and the
other gentlemen of our Naval league
tell us how we could prevent the oth
er nation from bringing its dread
naught fleet up to 175? If we can
not prevent other nations from play
ing the game of "preparedness," is it
not inevitable that, once begun, it
must go on until one or the other na
tion is financially exhausted?
The munitions patriot may remark
at this point that therein lies our op
portunity that we are the richest
nation on earth and can exhaust the
other fellow. But suppose there are
two or more other fellows? Have
our munitions patriots never heard
of alliances'? Are we richer than all
the rest of the world? Suppose the
size of our armaments should so fill
with fear even two of our potential
adversaries that they should enter in
to an alliance against us? We are
not richer than Great Britain and
Germany. Suppose three nations
should combine, against us what
then? Should we be "prepared?"
Even if we had built a navy twice
as big as that of Great Britain, where
should we be if we were at war with
two or three nations that had aggre
gate navies greater than our own?
and, in times of peace, how poor
should we be if we Were supporting
a navy twice as great as that of
Great Britain and an array of propor
tionate size? .Do these Navy league
gentlemen not know what it would
mean for each family to be compelled
to set aside part of its food and part
of its clothing for a soldier?
One may safely indulge the belief
that tho munitions patriots know
more than they seem to. They know,
first of all, that there are millions
and, ultimately, billions to be made
in the sale of munitions. As great
members of the capitalist class, they
also know that great markets can of
tentimes bo gained with a great navy.
It is not alone defense in which they
are interested they want to be pre
pared to wage wars of aggression.
They clamor for a great fleet of
dreadnaughts with which to defend
our coasts, though Germany's mines
that can be exploded from shore and
Germany's submarines have for more
than a year protected a coast that
Germany's dreadnaughts could not
have protected for a week. Anchored
mines that can be exploded from
shore and submarines are so admir
ably suited for defense that even the
British navy dare not defy them. But
fields of anchored mines can be used
for only defense. They can not be
towed half way around the world and
used to conquer markets. Dread
naughts are not so good for defense,
but they can be moved around the
world and can bo used to conquer
markets.
Why is it that the Navy league
gentlemen, who arS so solicitous lest
wo shall bo successfully attacked,
subordinate, the best means of de-
fense to the best means of offense?
Why do they demand dreadnaughts
that are useless if outnumbered,
when the banking of all Europe with
mines would not be a menace to is
or render us vulnerable if we already
had enough mines and submarines to
guard the coasts of America?
In the September number of this
magazine, I ventured to express the
opinion that the coasts of America
could bo protected with mines and
submarines against the greatest fleets
that could be brought against us. and
that if our apostles of "preparedness"
were honest they would advocate
mines and submarines instead of
dreadnaughts and battle cruisers.
After the article appeared, I received
a commendatory letter from Hon.
Finly H. Gray, member of, congress
from Indiana and also a member of
the house committee on naval affairs.
Mr. Gray also sent me a speech that
ho de on the rhMpo nt ofQnnn
depends on the size of the forts tho
area, and so many conditions t,!
;it would be difficult to specify the ex
act size oi me attacking force but
as I say, in general they would not
attempt to entc; such a fortified har
bor by means of a fleet alone- it
would not pay. '
"Mr. Gray. Then those instru
mentalities would be sufficient to pro
tect the harbor without any warship
in tho harbor, or would you require
a warship in tho harbor in order in
co-operato with those instrumentali
ties i
"Admiral Fletcher. You would
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WWiM - ......
the house February 5, 1915, together
with some most important expert tes
timony before the house committee
on nayal affairs with regard to the
defensive power of mines and sub
marines. I quote from the testimony
before this committee, Mr. Gray be
ing the questioner and Admiral
Fletcher the witness:
"Mr. Gray. Suppose that a har
bor is protected by tho ordinary land
forts and also by a sufficient number
of torpedoes, mines, and submarines,
how large a hostile fleet would be re
quired to enter that harbor if it was
protjeted by those instruments?
dmiral Fletcher. It would be a
very difficult matter. They probably
would not attempt to enter, the har-
IZ' Sa matter of fact, under mod
ern conditions of war it is doubtful
if it ever becomes necessary f ,
fleet to enter a harbor. 4,:
VpuS; ? 'SoPPOB? a hfotile fleet;
desired to enter the harbor1, and ;theJ
ESIJ7 yaLrotect6d witn ordinary-
...- iwi m, ami wim a certain4 number1
of mines, torpedoes and siihiriarlnea,
how large a hostile fleet would hi
tS2?lrcd nteor that harlior er
those conditions? - . i
"Admiral Fletcher. Of course it
GRAY HAIR AND GOLDEN
The girl's eyes flashed and she gave
her small head, with its fluffy mas3 of
bright curls, a defiant little toss.
"But, grandmother, I won't havo
Robert talking to those agents when
he might bo spending his time with
me! Just the very idea of his taking
out a life insurance policy and that
even before we are. married gives
me the blues! I wish he wouldn't
think about such things."
The white-haired lady, thus ad
dressed, smiled an understanding,
slow, sweet smile. "Dear," she said,
"how little you know of life and its
struggles!" And then the room was
still for a moment save for the tick
ing of the gay little clock upon the
mantel.
"I wonder," it was the same gentle
voice again very soft and low, "if I
might help you to understand Rob
ert's viewpoint if I told you a story
a true one that happened over
forty years ago."
fT ntnn f..r.4 4"rwrr -nmrylrel VinCrmn m
i.i WU.O juat inu VYCCIVO uuiuic mj
wedding day and your- grandfather
had come in fromv the city for a last
fleeting visit. We had a wonderful
time, of course, just as you and Rob
ert are now having. I remember it
was on the drive to the station that
he suddenly turned to me and, in his
characteristically abrupt manner,
asked my advice. He had practically
made up his mind that he needed
some insurance but,, as I was the one
directly concerned", he felt that he
could not decide definitely without
consulting me. Well, dear, it just
broke my heart to hear him tallnng
of the possibility of his not always
being with me, and I positively for
bade him to give the matter another
thought. I grew almost hysterical
and before we parted he had promised
not to take out a penny of insurance.
' "We had two years of happiness
and then after a brief illness he left
me alone with our tiny twin boys.
Heartbroken, inexperienced, and far
from strong, the next five years
dragged along as one continuous
nightmare. Our very meager bank
account was soon exhausted. None
of my people were in a position to
help me, so J kept them in ignorance
of my serious plight. How I man
aged to pull through, I don't know.
I very seldom speak of those days
even yet. Worry over financial trou
bles made the loss of your grand
father doubly hard to bear. When
night came, I was always so urea
that I could not make much of an ef
fort to throw off the ever presen;
feeling of hopeless loneliness ana
gloom. Money coming in at tnai
time would have sodmed a God-sena.
'Don't make the mistake that I
did, little girl. Go, tell Robert
. But tho girl had already gone.
Note Robert now has a $10,000
policy in
TheMidwestLxfe
of LINCOLN, NEB RASK A
A STOCK COMPANY SELLING
GUARANTEED COST LIFE INSURANCE
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