YTr"
fF ' " w
.
The Commoner,
JANUARY, 1 1916
17
-
pw5S5TR!?
Francisco, alter hearing a powerful letter
L from ' the Secretary of ' waY, 'and hearing- u
via .oration by the ''eloquent Assistant Sefcre-
8,250; and-the amount appropriated, that ,year, .
was $24;ei0,561. In 1915 the officers, numb.ejcd
3,403, the naval cadets numbered 912, th$ .en
listed, meii numbered 52,501, and the amount ap
propriated , was, $145,734,103. In other- words,
we now- have a little more than twicje as many
officers as in- 1891, more than three times .as
many naval caddis, more than six times as many
enlisted men, and nearly six times as largo an
appropriation. We have now the second strong
est navy in the world, with no enemy in sight
and nothing to do but waste powder In target
practice, concoct war scares, and give tone and
polish to our flamboyant Washington society.
(Laughter and applause.) "In the name of the
Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,"
as Gen., Ethan Allen remarked at, the gates of
Fort Ticonderoga. what has becoitfe of that vital
plank of the Baltimore national platform pledg
ing he democratic party to economy and the
abolition of useless offices? (Applause.)
What does the greatest living soldier in the
United States think of this continental enlist
ment scheme recommended by the secretary of
war? I refer to Gen. Nelson A. Miles, a soldier
who commanded an army corps in the Army of
Hie Potomac when only 25 years of age rnot on
ly a gallant and conscipuous general with a four
years' battle service! in our great Civil war, hut
noted as the most successful Indian fighter in
the after-war period. Gen. Miles has visited
and inspected the- army of every one of the great
powers of Europe and has more expert knowl
odge of war's machinery than any soldier or war
specialist iii the United States. Of course, Gen. t
Miles is against the scheme. He seems to think
the scheme did not originate with the secretary .
of war, but was eoncocted in our so-callpd war
.allege. The war college, as we remember, was
the'favorite militant child of Col. Roosevelt when
he was" president." Hence the scheme has a wild
and Woolly flavor. (Applause and laughter,)- ,
The National" Guard is'almost unanimously' op- J
posed,. to this kind of preparedness. In Ihe re-
cent national convention oi mauonai uuuru m
San,
reac
fer
1 dry .of War Breckehridge, the Convention turned
down the continental proposition. Tiie same ac
tion was token by the state convehtidrt of the
Ohio 'National Guard held later in Cincinnati.
In further contention as to our ample pre,-;"
paredness for- war, let me state that during the
last 17 years 3 8 l-, 3 12-. men have been enlisted',
and these with the number in the amy would
make a total of more than 400,000 men, that
have passed through, the drill, instruction, and
discipline of the military service. Approximate
ly the same number have received military in
struction in the National Guard- Added to these
figures, there are between two and three millions
of men in our country that have passed through
all the drill, discipline, and instruction of Euro
pean armies, and who are now, in the main,
earnest, patriotic citizens of the great republic.
Approximately 25,000 young men are graduat
ing every year from our colleges and institu
tions where military instruction is given, I am
indebted to Gen. Miles for these vital statistics.
During the last 30 years the government has
expended nearly $176,000,000 on our seacoast
defenses, and the result at Cairo, Port Arthur,
and the Dardanelles is sufficient evidence that
guns on board ship are no match for coast forti
fications and submarine mines. Within the con
Irol of the national government and states there
are at least 1,000,000 serviceable rifles. Our gun
'and ammunition " factories are manufacturing
daily at least 5,000,000 cartridges and will soon
bo capable of manufacturing 50,000 artillery
shells. In fact, there is now being constructed
in our country daily more war material than any
two armies now warring against each other in
Europe are using in the same time. Hence the
alarming clamor about our unpreparedness is
criminal foolishness. It should fool no grown
up person outside of an idiotic asylum. (Laugh
ter' and applause.)
HOW THE FARMERS STAND
The farmers in my. district are everywhere
reported against "preparedness." The State
Grange of Ohio, recently in session at Elyria, de
clared against it. I noticed the Farmers' Union
of North Carolina, 50,000 strong, declared
against it. I am in receipt of the leading farm
journal,. the National Field, of December 2, the
national organ of the Farmers' Alliance. It
prints a very strong editorial, covering two en
tire pages, giving cogent reasons why farmers
everywhere should b'e against this unnecessary
extravagance. 1 have numerous letters, from
representative farmers, from the middle west'
and far west, all against preparedness. A letter
from A. M. Criswell, president Farmers' Alliance,
Biddleton, state of Washington, says: '
Wn held a large farmers union last night and
look a vote on AVllson's "proparedncss," or rather
on the defense bill, and not a vote wan In favor of
that plan.
William Madison Hicks, Oolagah, Okla., under
date of November 23, writes.
I was at Coweta last Saturday and delivered an
address on the plan of the PrcBldent for "prepared
ness," and the whole country seemed to be arouBed
against the military scheme. The citizens, without
regard to political preferment, openly Indorsed the
stand taken by lion. W. J. Bryan on this Issue.
The citizens at Chelsea, White Hill, Sperry, and
Sagecyah have openly condemned, but the great
dailies refuse to let the country know what we are
doing. In southeast Kansas in the last 10 days
and In southwest Kansas In the same time, 515 pub
He mass meetings havo been hold condemning the
President's plan, and yet not one of these resolu
tions have found Its way Into print.
Col. Frank G. Yoeman, a veteran soldier and
leading democrat of Milledgeville, 111., writes
that his business has taken him over Carroll
county, and finds that not 10 per cent of either
party fav6r the so-called preparedness schenfe.
A. W. Lewis, of Berkeley, Cal., a student and
writer on social and economic reform, writes
as fallows:
This is the hour when true men must arlhe mid
be numbered. Ascertain if tills malign Influence
for a big military establishment emanates fr.om the
noble spirit of American manhood, or from those
who are solely animated from the mean spirit' of
selfishness and greed.
THE LABOR UNIONS AGAINST
The. labor unions in my district arc against
"preparedness." At a called meeting of ,the
Central Labor Union of. Toledo, representing
3 0,000 organized workers and 91 locals, a reso
lution was passed, without one dissenting vote,
against the "preparedness" scheme, . Here, is a
specimen resolution passed by. .the machinist
union1, the largest, local in Toledo: , ,
Tn't'ernatfpnal Association '-of "Machinists, Tolodo
Ohid, NbVeiliber'1'6, 1915.. At the last rcgulaiupee.t
ing''o Lodge 1,05 the, lodge, consisting of over
1,000 members, went on record' as opposod to a
larger army or navy, the vote being unanimous
against it.- Karl H. Deane, Recording Socrotary.
Here let me 'quote an extract from a signed
statement made by our able, experienced, .and
aldrt leader,' the gentleman from North Caro
lina' f(M Kitchin): -
In the 'face of the fact that wo havo a navy, su
perior to that of Germany or any other nation, ex
cept that of .preat Britain: In the face of the filet
thai p.ur navy is growing larger, stronger, and
better equipped than ever before; in the face of
the 'fact, as tho President declared, both In his
message ,to congress December last and In his re
cent Manhattan cl.ub speech. "Wo are threatened
from no Quarter," the proposed "preparedness" pro
gram at one bound one year Increases our al
ready Immensely largo large naval appropriations
more than our total Increase for the last 14 years,
more than the Increase by Germany tho whole 15
years preceding the Kuropean war, and mqro than
tho combined Increase of all the nations in the
world In any one year In their history (in times of
peace). Tho five-year program proposed Increases
our naval appropriation over forty times more than
the increase by Germany in five years preceding
tho European war and $200,000,000 more than the
combined increase of all the nations of tho world
for the five years preceding tho European war, and
over, $50,000,000 more than the combined Increase
of all the nations In the world for the whole period
of 10 years Immediately preceding the European
war. Add to this the fact that prior to the begin
ning of the European war we were expending an
nually on our navy from $20,000,000 to $30,000,000
more than Germany or any other nation, except
Great Britain.
Evidently the average citizen, who has been
scared into the advocacy of so-called "prepared
ness," has been -misled by reading in the war
scare newspapers and armor-plate magazines
that we are utterly unprepared. This is a slan
der on both our army and our navy. And it is
untrue, unfair, and unpatriotic. We have the
strongest navy in the world for all defensive
purposes in our own waters; and in education,
in deportment, in discipline and efficiency, we
have the best naval officers in the world. And
our army officers in discipline and deportment
and efficiency will compare favorably with the
officers of any army anywhere on either contin
ent. I have no criticism of either the army or the
navy. My objection is not to quality or effici
ency, but to quantity. We need no big military
establishment in this republic. As Cardinal Gib
bons very wisely says, 'we are protected east and
west by two great oceans, a protection far more
formidable than forts or cannon or, navies; and
our people, already overtaxed, dan not stand the
burden of an increased military, cstablisbrapnt
already loo costly. : '..
At tho beginning of the European wariGgr
many was expending for past wara and prepara
tions for wars on its army and navy -55 per
cent of the total amount of revenues collected;
Japan, 45 per cent; Great Britain, 37 per cent;
France, 35 per cent; the United Statesr over 60
per cent. With the proposed military and naval
program enacted into law Jhc United States will
he expending over 70 per cent of its total rev-
onues; that'is, out of every $100 collected from
the people over $70 will go into mllitarlHm-ainl
navalism and vampircism to mark the ruin of
(he republic of George Washington, Thomas' Jef
ferson, and Abraham Lincoln.
On the question of national armament I take, ,', t
my stand with Thomas Jefferson, author of tfi"c
Declaration of Independeco and father ( of, tnfv'','1
democratic party. (Applause.) In 1799i(TIiom-v
as Jefferson wrote Elbrldgo Gerry as follows:'. '
1 am for relying for Internal defense on our nil-
II tin. solely till actual invasion, and for such a. naval,
force only as will protect our coast harbors from
depredations, und not for a standing army In time
of peace which may overcome the public sentiment,. m
nor a navy which by Its own expenses and the ex
ternal Avars In which, it tnitv implicate tts will grind '
us with public burden's and sink us under fliV'in.
Here is a fateful admonition for this 'jjtfuH
Jefferson made the protest against the standi iVg
army of England the most vital paragraph' in"tliG '( J
Declaration of Independence. In all the grldv-""
nnces protested against in that immorta'l dbcii- 'i4
incut the standing army, as a menace tp'iiic'
peace and prosperity of the Colonies, was men-'
lioned in three soparatc paragraphs, while cVcry"
other grievance was mentioned hut once.
Let me cite some illuminating history on the
preparedness of 05 years ago. In December,
823, President Monroe issued his memorable
message embodying "what is now known as tlio
Monroe doctrine. This message was a bold d6n
and challenge to the three great powers of Eu,-r
rope, known as the Holy Alliance. This Holy '
Alliance was a league formed in September: '
1815, after thq Battlc.of Waterloo had sentNa'
poleon into exile. It was formed' by Alexander ')
thoFirst of Russia; Emperor Francis of 'Austria,
William the Third of Prussia, and indorsed by (
nearly all the second-class powers of Europe. .
This Holy Alliance was formed to prcsertfp 'moi- '
archial absolutism in Europe, and secopugrllV
to see to it mat no meraucr oi me juoiiapuru
family should ever occupy any throne in Jihirrie"
ri
k
That President Monroe issued his famous racs;.
sage embodying the Monroe doctrine against any
interference by this alliance is a well-estoiultebett '
fact. Prof. Peck, in his new International Jsjifly-
. .- -T
1-inlti cmva
Tho most noteworthy attempt of this IToJAVIfif
niicr was to extend Its operation to the New W'M, ,
by the coercion of fipaln's revolting colonies.
President Monroe's message was a challenge''
to the whole formidable array of Old World '
monarchies, far more defiant and .sweeping that
Jefferson's defi to Great Britain July 4, 177&.:
How about our preparedness then? We had only
10,000 soldiers in the regular army, tycludjng '
infantry, artillery, and riflemen. And how about '
our Navy? We had 7 wooden battleships, U small
frigates, 2 coverts low sloops with one tier of
guns 5 sloops, 2 brigs, and 5 small schooners,
30 war craft all told. And how many sea dogs'
of war did wo have then.? Let us see. We ljjid
30 captains, 30 master commanders, 9 chaplains,'
35G midshipmen, 53 sailing masters, 10 boat
swains, and 18 gunners all told 512, beside
the lieutenants, quartermasters, and army sur
geons. What was the entire population of tlie
United States at that critical period 1823? By
the census of 1820 we had, including Indians,
9,033,822. How much did our navy cost us in
1823? Nine hundred and twenty-nine thousand
five hundred and three dollars all told. Did the
Monroe doctrine precipitate war? No. We had
3,000 miles of deep ocean between us and an,y
possible enemy in the Old World. That same
ocean still rolls between, and we have now 100;
000,000? instead of less than 10,000,000 in 1820.
Who is afraid? No one with self-poise or ordin
ary horse sense or courage sufficient to be a cit
izen of America. (Applause.) .,, .
I desire to call the attention of the advocates
of "preparedness" to a very valuable pamphlet
just issued by Anson Phelps Stokes, secretary of
the Yale university. Let me quote from the clos
ing paragraph:
If the United States tries to frighten Europe by
her armaments, her distrust of us and her mlsfh-tei-pretlng
of our motives will lead to deep suSf-.
plcions and hatred, and, these are thj things Ufax'
surely breed war. Knowing" that "armed pc-acU"
has proved a sham and a'delu&lon In Europe, wTbV
ftWmca, o. J stjj ti&'mblj&mi
!falatefcAti-cA iJfrrU?-Va
taMlMaaMitoaiUMuAi'e. ..
U'..,J.WdU r.ui. '!Mik tijtlttiU
aw i-t.ife .
