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The Commoner
VOL. 15, NO. 11
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of was that ho must kill somebody or bo killed
by somebody. According to the duelist's stand-
lard of honor, it was more honorable for a man
, to throw his wife and children upon the care of
'a community than to allow what ho called an
insult to go unchallenged. It required moral
courage on the part of many to effect the change
which has been wrought on this subject, but the
i chango has come and wo not only havo a law
against dueling in every stato in the union, but
we now call tho man a coward who sends the
challenge, not tho man who declines it.
About fifty years ago a prominent statesman
of Georgia received a challenge from another
statesman of that state. Had the challenge been
received a century ago instead of a half century
the one who received it would hardly have dared
to decline. But a change was taking placo and
tho challengo was declined in an answer that
has become a part of history. The challenged
party said: "No. I have a family to take care
of aud a soul to save and, as you have neither,
wo would not fight on equal terms. Therefore,
I will not fight." No nation is challenging us;
no nation is trying to draw us into war with it
self. But if, In a moment of excitement, one of
tho madmen of Europo were to challenge us, I
think wo would bo justified in answering in the
spirit of tho answer of that Georgia statesman:
"No. Wo have the welfare of a hundred mil
lions of people to guard and priceless ideals to
preserve, and wo will not got down and wallow
with you in tho mire of human blood, just to
conform to a false standard of honor."
Do not allow yourselves to be deceived or mis
led as to the real issue. The question is not
whether this nation would defend itself if at
tacked. Wo have a potential power of defense
such as no other nation has today such as no
other nation has ever had, and other nations
know It. .There is no danger that an attack
would not be resisted, and we would not depend
upon tho jingoes. They would be too busy mak
ing array contracts and loaning money at high
rates of interest to reach the front. If we ever
havo a war, we will depend, as in the past, upon
those who work when the country needs workers
and fight only when the country needs fighters.
The question, I repeat, is not whether we
would be willing or able to defend ourselves if
attacked. The real ' estion is whether we shall
adopt tho Europea standard of honor and build
our hope of safety upon preparations which can
not be mado without substituting for the peace
ful spirit of our people the spirit of the militar
ist and the swagger of the bully. The spirit that
leads nations to put their faith in physical force
is the spirit that leads people into war. It is
the spirit that expresses itself in threats and
revels in the ultimatum.
If you would know what tho
dangers of preparedness will bo if
preparedness becomes a national pol
icy and is administered by those who are leading
in this crusade, just imagine what the situation
would be today with so many opportunities to
get into trouble, if we had in the White house
a jingo with tho duelist's standard of honor and
anxious for a fight. We have reason to be grate
ful that we have as President a man who loves
peace and is trying to find a peaceful solution of
all the problems that confront us.
I ask you next to remember that it i3 an ex
pensive thing to prepare for wars that ought
never to come. It cost us $15,000,000 to build
the last battleship launched, and that was only
one-tenth of the amount spent on tho navy that
year. You might think, from the manner in
which the jingoes belittle our army and navy,
that we are at the present spending nothing on
preparedness. But we ate, as a matter of fact,
pending now two hundred and fifty millions of
dollars annually, getting ready for war. We
are spending moro than one hundred and forty
seven millions on the navy and over one hun
dred, million on tho army; and how much are we
j spending on agriculture. The department of
agriculture, -which looks after tho interests of
&he largest single group in this, the largest agri
cultural country in tho world the department
of agriculture which plants experiment stations
througtiout our land and sends representatives
.throughout the world to gather information for
the farmer's benefit this department receives
an appropriation of twenty-three millions a
year. We are, In other words, spending more
than' ten times as much gotting ready for war as
we aro spending on the department of agricul
ture. And yet the jingoes aro not satisfied. They
iy'that we-must now turn over a new leaf; that
s vwe iaust-'got ready in earnest.
There are'two -organizations in this country
whidh, together claiming a monopoly of the pat
riotism of tho nation, have taken upon them
selves the task of getting the country ready for
war. The Security league thinks that we should
spend three hundred millions a year on tho navy
and ono hundred and fifty millions a year on the
army two hundred millions more than we aro
now spending, or nearly double the prr jnt ap
propriations. Tho Navy league is older, had
moro ciphers at its disposal and had tho advant
age of making Its bid after the other bid had
been made. It insists that we ought to appro
priate five hundred millions for the navy and
have an army of a million men. Its program
could not be carried out for seven hundred and
fifty millions a year three times the present ap
propriation, or an increase of five hundred mil
lions a year.
To show you what a burden this would cast
upon our taxpayers let us assume that the ap
propriations for the army and navy will be kept
at what they are now about two hundred and
fifty millions a year and inquire what we could
do with this proposed increase of five hundred
millions a year five billions in ten years if we
spent it for things beneficial. I was in California
last summer and learned from a commissioner
of highways of tho work they are doing in the
building of hard roads. They are spending
eighteen millions of dollars and their plans con
template two highways running from the Ore
gon line to the Mexican line one down the Pa
cific coast and tho other down the great central
valleyB of the state. These two highways are to
bo connected at tho county seats; a splendid sys
tem. The commissioner told me that it had
been found by experiment that a farmer can
haul four times as much with the same team on
a hard road as ho can haul on a dirt road, and
he can haul it any day in the year and any hour
in the day, and he does not have to consult the
weather bureau when he hitches up his team.
They aro also building hard roads in Oregon.
The road between Ashland and Med ford has al
ready reduced the cost of carrying freight be
tween the two points 50 per cent. The railroads
charge 16 cents per 100; the auto trucks haul
for 8 cents and in addition have eliminated dray
age charges at both ends of tho line.
They aro building hard roads in the state of
Washington; the road between Seattle and Ta
coma is near enough completion to enable auto
buses to compete successfully with tho steam
railways and the electric lines.
I have made a calculation to see how much
hard road could be built for five billions the
five hundred million increase would aggregate
that sum in ton years. From information t fur
nished by the department of agriculture I' find
that the average cost of a macadam road 16 feet
wide and 6 Inches thick is a little over $6,000 a
mile. That there may be no doubt about the
estimate being sufficient let us arbitrarily raise
it to $8,333.33 1-3 per mile, which will enable
us to make the computation in round numbers.
If we count the distance from ocean to ocean at
3,000 miles and the distance from north to south
at 1,200 miles, we can with five billions of dol
lars build enough macadam road, three miles
for $25,000, to make 100 highways from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, putting them twelve miles
apart, and highways north and south twelve
miles apart, so that when tho five billions were
spent the country would be gridiijoned with ma
cadam roads twelve mileB apart east and west,
north and south, and no American citizen would
then live more than six miles from a hard road
that would take him anywhere in the United
States.
If tho jingoes insist that we are in danger of
attack, let us propose that we get ready by build
ing roads; it will greatly increase our defensive
power if we are able to quickly mobilize our
army and rapidly transport it to tho point
threatened. And there is an advantage about
this kind of preparedness; if, after we havo pre
pared ourselves, the war does not come, we shall
bo able to make good Use of tho preparation in
the work of production. If, however, wo divert
the money from useful channels and spend it all
on battleships and arms and ammunition, we
shall have wasted our money if the war does
not come; and if it does come, the chances are
that before it comes changes in methods of war
faro will very much reduce the value of the
preparation in wmen we nave Invested.
But as some may be more interested in hav
ing the volume of loanable money increased
than in having good roads I present another
calculation. The total capital and surplus of
all the banks of the United sfn0 il? ,r
'3MI5E a Mttle less than
-fOUr billions nf rinllrrra t:v a ,..
could duplicate every hanlTdouole the loanaMo
bank capital and surplus of the nation and hiv
a billion dollars left with which to celebrate
prosperity.
The taxpayers of the country will not be will
lng to bear the burdens necessary for the pro
posed preparation unless they are convinced that
some nation is about to attack us. The jingoes
understand this and they are, therefore, bearine
false witness against other nations. They tell
us to beware of Japan on the west, and if that
does not frighten us they pick out some nation
In Europe and accuse it of having designs
against us; and if that does not frighten us they
say: "Beware of the fate of Belgium!" How
any normal mind can think of Belgium and the
United States at the same time passes under
standing. Belgium has seven millions and a half
of people while we have a hundred millions
Would not an ordinary mind, working smoothly
and without excitement, be able to see the dif
ference between seven and a half and a hun
dred? And there is a still greater difference.
Belgium is separated from the countries round
about by an imaginary boundary line, while we
havo the Pacific ocean on one side and the At
lantic ocean on the other. If any one is unable
to see the difference between an imaginary line
and an ocean, let him learn what difficulty the
nations have had in moving armies across nar
row channels and then ho will understand the
protection of tho Atlantic Ocean.
We can not single out a nation and begin to
prepare against it without cultivating unfriend
liness toward that nation, and we can not make
hatred a national policy for a generation with
out having our people anxious to fight as soon
as they are ready to fight. If the nations at war
had spent in the cultivation of friendship but a
small percentage of the amount they have spent
in stirring up hatred, there would be no war in
Europe today. We should not transplant upon
American soil this tree of hatred unless we are
prepared to eat of the fruits of the tree, for it
has been bearing its bloody fruit throughout
tho years.
Tho third reason which I ask you to consider
is this. The preparedness which wo are now
asked to make is against nations which aro not
preparing to fight us. But suppose we get ready
to fight them; will they not prepare against us?
If they can scare us when they are not prepared,
will wo not scaro them when wo do prepare?
And then will not their preparation compel us
to prepare more, and will wo not scaro them
again and they us again, and we them again, un
til bankruptcy overtakes us all? This is no
new thing. The people who profit by furnishing
preparedness have been playing the nations of
Europe against each other for a generation.
Every battleship that is built in one country is
made the excuse for building more battleships
in other countries. Let me illustrate the plan
of the battleship builder. Suppose three farm
ers lived around a little lake and a battleship
builder wanted to increase his business how
would he go at it? He would go to the first
farmer and say: "You are helpless. If your two
neighbors were to combine against you, they
could overcome you; your lack of preparedness
is an invitation to them. Let me build you a
battleship and anchor it here by your land. They
will see that you are prepared and they will be
afraid of you and peace will be preserved." He
would then go to the second farmer and say:
"Do you see that battleship over there? Do you
know what that is for? That is for you. Are
you willing to invite attack by being defenseless?
Let me build you two battleships and then ho
will see that you are prepared and will be afraid
of you and peace will be preserved." He would
then go to the third farmer and say: "Either
one of your. neighbors is more than a match for
you alonej together they can annihilate vou.
Your only safety lies in the building of three
battleships. -Then when they see you are ready
they will bo afraid of you and the peace of the
lake will bo preserved." By this time ho would
bo able to go. back to the first man and say:
"Your little battleship is out of date. It is a
provocation instead of a protection. Unless you
aro willing to build jnore ships you had better
sink that one. It shows that you want to fignt
and everybody knows you can. not fight. You
must have four battleships of the latest pattern
in order to prevent war by being preparod tor
it." And so on and so- on. That is what they
have been doing in Europe. Is it possible tiiai
they can entice us into this mad rivalry?
If wo are urged to depart from the traditions
- of the past and to enter upon a new policy, tneri
aro two -answero which can. be made, either o
-them sufficient. Eirst.lf .we eyerjntend to chanb"
our policy, Iho chango .must not bo made tu'
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