The Commoner
'T
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WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
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VOL. 15, NO. 9
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Lincoln, Nebraska, September, 1915
Whole Number 677
A Few Taftisms
Ex-President Taft made a speech at the San
Francisco exposition on September the second,
and the readers of The Commoner may ho in
terested in digesting a few Taftisms that appear
in the press reports. First, he is in favor of a
largo increase in both the army and navy.
Among other additions, he favors an increase in
the navy of nearly 20,000 sailors and 900 offi
cers; an addition to coast defense to the extent
of 10,000 artillerymen and 600 officers; and
an increase in the "Mobile Army" of 50,000
troops and' a quadrupling of the military
officers. After giving these figures he thinks
"the program I have proposed, modest as it is,
will certainly increase the total of the army and
navy appropriations $150,000,000.00 for each of
the three years and- probably more.' (As we are
now spending about f2 5 0,0 00, 00 0.00 on tho army
and navy, Mr. Taft's modest proposals would in
crease the expenditures 60 per cent.) m.part of
this sum, ho thinks, can ba raised by increasing
import duties, and a part of it by a tax on in
comes. In defending the increase in taxes he
delivers himself as follows: "Tho payment of tho
tax, however small, makes the man a better cit
izen." My, what good citizens our people ought
to be by this tiine after the opportunities the
republican party has given them to pay taxes!
How much better does Mr. Taft want to make
our citizens? "To assume," he continues, "that
tho plain people are unwillfrig to pay increased
taxes in case of national need is to distrust them
and to ascribe to them the lowest motive for
political action."
Of course the jplain people are willing to pay
any tax that may be necessary, but the plain peo
ple may not look at the matter from exactly the
same point of view as the builders of battleships
and the manufacturers of armor plate, ammuni
tions and arms; and the patriotism of the plain
people will not be" called into ' question merely
because they are disinclined to enrich army and
navy contractors and provide a few more life
tenure offices.
His address as reported, concludes as follows:
"Let us exclude politics from the question of
preparedness. Let us accept the cost.
Let us insist that congress and the
administration manifest the courage to in
cur the odium of unthinking and unpatriotic men
who would resent contributing to such a cause.
Let us insist that congress and the administra
tion shall defer to the judgment of real expert
naval and army officers and boards as to how we,
should prepare, an3 shall not allow the danger
ous little knowledge of committee chairmen and
civilian politicians, ignorant of our needs, to ob
struct the work of proper national defense."
This contains three 'propositions. First, that
Politics are to be excluded from the question of
preparedness, and yet other republicans are in
sisting tfjarc the republican party shall conduct
its n4 campaign on the issue of preparedness,
Second, he insists that congress and tho admin
istration have the courage "to incur the odium
of unthinking and unpatriotic men who would
resent contributing to such a cause." This is
rather a sweeping indictment; those who differ
from him as to tho necessity of increasing ap
propriations are condemnod both as unthinking
and unpatriotic. This is an easy way to dispose
ofthose whose arguments ho is unable to an
swer. But tho third proposition is the most danger
ous: "Let us insist that congress and the admin
istration shall defer to tho judgment of real ex
pert naval and army officers and boards as to
how we shall prepare, etc." It will be a sad
day for th,e taxpayers when they delegate to
army and navy experts the right to decide HOW
MUCH they should spend on preparation. A
tailor is a good man to consult as to the way
clothes should be made but we do not let him
decide the amount to be spent .for clothes. , So.
with our naval-tallors-7-we shall consult then
as to the be1iTrirflri"dltog the amount- ap
propriated, but they can not be trusted to decide
the amount to be appropriated. These
officers hold lif oppositions and are not only ex
empt from the vicissitudes of those whoso in
comes are contingent upon the season and busi
ness conditions, but they are soldiers by pro
fession, and incline towards the settlement of
disputes by force rather than by peaceful
means. They are trained to serve WHEN THEIR
SERVICES ARE NEEDED, but unless our whole
theory of government is to be overthrown the
taxpayers, speaking through their representa
tives, retain and should retain the right to say
how much preparation we necd"and what pro
portion of our annual income shall be devoted
to getting ready for war.
A comparison of the views of ex-President
Roosevelt and the views of ex-President Taft,
will convince any careful reader that the differ
ence between them is not a matter of principle
but a matter of language and a matter of
amount. They both belong to the jingo class; they
are both moving in the same direction. Mr.
Taft moves more slowly than Mr. Roosevelt, and
Mr. Roosevelt more noisily than Mr. Taft.
W. J. BRYAN.
CONTENTS
' A FEW TAFTISMS
"INTERESTS" BEHIND INTERVENTION.
A WORD OF WARNING
THE ARABIC CASE
TAFT'S DISGRACEFUL CONFESSION
MADDENED BY SCENT OF BLOOD
PRESENT PREPAREDNESS
CAMPAIGN EXPENSES
THE "BLOOD AND THUNDER" GOSPEL
PROTECT THE COTTON PRODUCERS
THE ALTGELD STATUE
THE ELECTION OF POSTMASTERS
A NEW DANGER
A CALL OF THE CAMP
MR. BRYAN'S LECTURE
WAR AND ANARCHY ,
MR. BRYAN'S POSITION
(
a.
"Interests" Behind
Intervention
The Chicago Tribune Is supporting Its demand
for Immcdiato armed intervention by quoting
the opinion of several persons whoso names aro
not given. One Chlcagoan who has "Interests"
in Mexico is quoted as saying: "I liavo hundreds'
of names of people with interests in Mexico, and
I believe I am correct In saying that every per
son. of my acqualntanco wants Intervention but
is afraid of retaliation by Mexicans if he comes
out and says so."
Hero we have the explanation: Everybody who
has "interests" there wants Intervention. It is
not in the name of humanity, or for the wolfaro
of this country, but for the benefit of those who
have "interests" thore. A few Amorlcans havo
inyeate"d money in Mexico, arid the rest of the
people aro expected1 to make the investment
good. What difference docs U mafcec&rd;,
ing to these, how many lives tarevlbit ;ilvei
of others do' not count. ' It' is another, in
stance where tho government Is asked o put
tho dollar above tho man. No Wonder the
Tribune wants to prepare for war. But does it
understand what a war with Mexico means? It
moans war continued for an indeflnito period,
with enormous expenditures and the sacrifice
of thousands of lives; it means a carpet bag gov
ernment and tho arousing of hatreds that will
last a century; it means tho exciting of suspi
cion throughout Latin America, which will un
do all that has been done during the, present
generation; it will mean the introduction of re
ligious questions into the politics of tho United
States. This is too high a price to pay for the
privilege of helping a few Americans with "In
terests" in Mexico.
It is one thing to protect our citizens from
lawless bands that cross the border wo are
now doing .that but it is quite a different thing
to invade Mexico and visit punishment upon a
whole nation because a few irresponsible ban
dits have committed depredations on this side
of the line. Watchful waiting la to Je preferred
to a policy that would unite a neighboring re
public against us. W. J. BRYAN. '
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A Word of Warning
If any democrat, in office or out of office,
imagines that tho democratic party can be fright
ened Into frenzied preparedness he is maklug a
serious mistake. We aro now spending more
than two hundred and fifty millions a year on
tho army and navy ten times as much as we
are spending on the department of agriculture.
We have been "getting ready" by gradually en
larging "Iho appropriations. Why got excited
now? Our. preparedness Is Increasing REL
ATIVELY as other nations exhaust themselves.
No nation wants to engage In war with us no
war Is In sight or even probable, unless we de
liberately invite it by falsely accusing other na
tions of being enemies, and by making hatred a
national policy.
Then rank and file of tho democratic
party are producers of wealth not manufactur
ers of arms and ammunition and tney will not
consent to the taxes necessary to meet tho pro
gram of the jingoes. The masses favor peace
and know that "preparedness" is both a burden
and a menace. W. J. BRYAN.
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