Part 3 (2/2)

The utter worthlessness of state militia as a national defense in the event of war with a first-cla.s.s power is strongly set forth in the warning by George Was.h.i.+ngton quoted in a later chapter.

The impracticability of a reserve force like that proposed by the Militarists is clearly shown in the article from which quotations are made in a later chapter by Honorable James Hay, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives in the Congress of the United States.

The situation when a.n.a.lyzed is certainly a most extraordinary one and can only be accounted for on the theory that the people of this country are not informed as to the facts and a.s.sume that we must be prepared for war, and able to defend ourselves in case of war, by reason of the stupendous expenditures we have been making for over ten years for the military branch of the government. To the average man it would seem as though $250,000,000 a year ought to be enough to provide for the national defense.

The situation would be different if we had any a.s.surance that the United States would never again be involved in a war. In that event we would need no plans for national defense.

_But we have no such a.s.surance._

The Peace Advocates give no guarantee against war.

The Militarists believe war inevitable.

Neither insures peace and neither is prepared against war.

The people are between the upper and the nether millstone.

We cannot be certain of peace.

We are undefended in case of war.

The situation is ill.u.s.trated by the old darkey's c.o.o.n trap that would ”catch 'em either comin', or gwine.”

The frank belief of the Militarists that war must be regarded as inevitable is well expressed in the following quotation from a recent editorial in ”The Navy,” a journal published at Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.

”Since the beginning of the war in Europe, the a.s.sertion has been repeatedly made that this is the last great war; that the peoples of the world will be so impressed with the wanton destruction of life and property, that there will be organized some form of international arbitration that will prevent future wars. _Not so._ The war now raging between the nations of Europe is much more probably but the first of a series of tremendous world-wide conflicts that will be fought by the inhabitants of the earth for national supremacy, until the supremacy is obtained by a single people, or possibly by an amalgamated race, the ingredients of which are just now being thrown into the melting pot.

”The wars of the past will sink into comparative insignificance when future historians compile statistics of coming conflicts among the nations of the earth.”

Whether all this be true or not, there is enough foundation for such beliefs to make it imperative that the comprehensive and complete plan set forth in this book should be adopted to harmonize the peace propaganda with plans for national defense in case of war.

_It can be done and it must be done._

The plan proposed in this book will tremendously strengthen the peace propaganda and there is no reason why every Militarist should not heartily approve and accept it, unless he is making a profit out of the manufacture of war machinery or dependent on it for employment.

In that event we must strongly appeal to patriotism and try to induce the surrender of personal profit or benefit in order that we may preserve the nation and promote human welfare.

Anyone who rejects the possibility of war must be blind to current events.

Sad indeed it is that it should be true, but none the less it is a staring fact that every theory that war between civilized nations had ceased to be possible has been rudely shattered by recent events.

Every prediction that there would be no more wars has proved false.

Every plan heretofore proposed to prevent war has thus far proved futile.

Every influence relied on to put an end to war has proved a broken reed.

The Socialists have inveighed against war.

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