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OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE
THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE
BY
GEORGE H. MAXWELL
THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE HOMECROFTERS
RURAL SETTLEMENTS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON
MARYLAND BUILDING
NEW ORLEANS
COTTON EXCHANGE BUILDING
1915
_Copyright, 1916_,
BY RURAL SETTLEMENTS ASSOCIATION.
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
TO
ALL HOMECROFTERS
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
"_Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war_"
PREFATORY NOTE
_Ammunition_ is necessary to win a battle. Where it is a great _Battle for
Peace_, to be fought with pen and voice, the ammunition needed is _facts_.
Whenever the people of the United States know the _facts_ relating to the
subject to which this book is devoted, _then what it advocates will be
done_. Much fault has been found with Congress because of the country's
unpreparedness. Congress is not at fault. "The stream cannot rise higher
than the fountain." The will of the people is the law. The people of this
nation are unalterably opposed to a big Standing Army. When they know that
the safety of the nation can be assured without either the cost or the
menace of militarism, the people will demand that it be done, and Congress
will register that popular decree, gladly and willingly. It is not at all
surprising that Congress does not yield to the clamor of the militarists
when they know the adverse sentiment of the people on that subject.
President Schurman of Cornell recently said:
"It would be self-deception of the grossest character if Americans made
their love of peace the criterion of the military policy and preparedness
of their country. It would be madness to enfeeble and imperil the United
States because we believe peace the chief blessing of the nations."
All that is true. But when the problem is analyzed _there is no other way
that can be devised_, except that proposed in this book, that will
safeguard the nation against foreign attack or invasion, and do it
_adequately_, without incurring stupendous cost or creating a menace to
liberty. Americans are a brave people, but they have a hereditary aversion
to the clank of a saber in time of peace.
There are a few books that every one who wishes to master the subject
should read. First among these is "Fields, Factories and Workshops," by
Prince Kropotkin, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. A new edition
of this book has been recently issued which costs only seventy-five cents.
"The Iron in the Blood" is a chapter in "The Coming People," by Charles F.
Dole, published by T. Y. Crowell & Co. of New York. A reprint of this book
can be had for twenty-five cents from the Rural Settlements Association.
"The Secret of Nippon's Power" is another pertinent article, in "The First
Book of the Homecrofters." A new and enlarged edition of this book will
soon be issued. In the meantime copies of the first edition can be had for
twenty-five cents from the Rural Settlements Association.
More has been accomplished in Duluth, Minnesota, to prove the benefits of
the Homecroft Life than in any other City in the United States. A special
publication, descriptive of the Homecroft Work in Duluth, and a pamphlet by
George H. Maxwell entitled, "The Cost of Living," which shows the relation
to that subject of the Homecroft System of Education and Life, can be
obtained by sending ten cents in stamps to the Rural Settlements
Association, Cotton Exchange Building, New Orleans, La.
The legislative machinery necessary to inaugurate the plans for work to be
done through the Forest Service and the Reclamation Service is all provided
for in the Newlands-Broussard River Regulation Bill. That bill provides for
river regulation, flood prevention, land reclamation and settlement, and
the establishment of forest plantations in all parts of the United States.
It also brings the departments of the national government into coordinating
by forming the Board of River Regulation. Through that board, all necessary
plans would be worked out for coordinating other departments with the War
Department, and completing the organization of the National Construction
Reserve and the Homecroft Reserve. When perfected, those plans would be
presented to Congress with a recommendation for their enactment.
Those who favor the plan advocated in this book are urged to concentrate
their influence first on the passage of that bill as the entering-wedge to
the ultimate adoption of the entire plan. They are also urged to do all in
their power to enlist the active interest of their friends by inducing them
to study the subject and _get the facts_.
Copies of the Newlands-Broussard River Regulation Bill and explanatory
printed matter may be had without charge by writing to the National
Reclamation Association, 331 Maryland Building, Washington, D. C.
This book, OUR NATIONAL, DEFENSE--THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE, has been
published by the Rural Settlements Association. The price of the book is
$1.25, including postage, and orders for copies, with remittance for that
amount, should be sent to Rural Settlements Association, Cotton Exchange
Building, New Orleans, La.
GEORGE H. MAXWELL, _Executive Director_,
Rural Settlements Association,
National Reclamation Association.
FOREWORD
_Would it interest you to know_ that the people of the United States,
having first blindfolded themselves with the self-complacence of ignorance,
are walking along the crest of a ridge with a precipice on one side falling
sheer into the abyss of devastation by war with an invading foreign power,
while on the other side boils the seething crater of a social volcano?
If so, _you will be convinced of that fact_, if you will carefully and
thoughtfully read this book through from cover to cover; and _you will also
be convinced_ that the only road to safety is that pointed out in this
book.
Would you not feel that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"
when reflecting on the ease with which any of the Great European Powers
could _again_ occupy and burn Washington, as it was burned in 1814, and
capture and levy an enormous indemnity upon New York?
Would you contemplate with indifference and equanimity _the annexation of
the Pacific Coast of the United States to Japan_?
Has it occurred to you that, unless we wake up, mend our ways and change
our national policy, war is ultimately as inevitable between the United
States and Japan as it has been for years between France and Germany?
_Would it interest you to know_ that in the event of such a war the
Japanese would be found fully prepared, while we are utterly unprepared;
and that Japan would, within ten days, mobilize an army in California large
enough to insure to them its military control; and that within four weeks
thereafter they would land an army of 200,000 veteran soldiers on the
Pacific coast?
_Would it interest you to know_ that in such an emergency our navy would be
impotent to check this occupation and invasion, and that our so-called but
now confessedly misnamed coast defenses would be about as much protection
as a large load of alfalfa hay; and that as part of this military occupancy
by Japan of the territory lying between the Cascade and Sierra Nevada
mountains and the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese would dynamite every tunnel,
destroy the Colorado River railroad bridges, and fortify the mountain
passes; and that the recapture of one pass by the United States would be a
more difficult military undertaking for us than was the capture of Port
Arthur or Tsing-Tao by the Japanese?
_Would it interest you to know_ that the very real danger that California,
Western Oregon, and Western Washington may be annexed to Japan and a
thousand miles of deserts and inaccessible mountain ranges, instead of the
Pacific Ocean, separate Japan from the United States, is a danger that
exists because not one in ten thousand of the people of the United States
will give the slightest heed to this question, which overshadows in
importance every other question affecting the people of the United States?
_Would it interest you to know_ that there is just as much, and more,
danger that the desolating flames of war may sweep over and devastate
Southern California as there was that they might sweep over and devastate
Belgium? You doubtless will say, "That is impossible!" You would have said
the same thing a year ago about Belgium, with much more of assurance and
positive conviction.
_Would it interest you to know_ that the doing of the things that would
insure peace forever between the United States and Japan, as well as all
European nations, would at the same time end all danger from the ravages of
destructive floods, stop forest fires, perpetuate our forest resources,
preserve the forest and woodland cover on our watersheds, create a great
national system of inland waterways, reclaim every reclaimable acre of arid
or swamp and overflow land in the United States, and reduce the cost of
living by doubling the agricultural production of this country within ten
years?
_Would it interest you to know_ that the doing of the same things would end
child labor, end woman labor in factories, end unemployment, end the whole
multitude of evil and vicious influences that are degenerating humanity and
deteriorating the race in the congested cities of this country, and
safeguard the United States against the internal as well as the external
dangers that now menace its future welfare?
_Would it interest you to know_ that the doing of those same things would
inaugurate an era of business prosperity, based on human welfare and
advancement, instead of on human exploitation, and would insure the
perpetuity of that prosperity?
_Would it interest you to know_ that the things which it is proposed shall
be done by the United States have already been done, practically and
successfully, by Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand; and that they can
and will be done in this country whenever the people wake up and decide to
do something for themselves instead of waiting for somebody else to do it
for them.
If you doubt any of the foregoing statements, _read the book_; and you will
be convinced of their _absolute truth_ and you will be appalled at the
magnitude of the preventable calamity that menaces the people of the United
States solely because of their heedlessness, indifference, and refusal to
face facts.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I Page
SHALL THERE BE AN END OF WAR? 1
Question may be answered in the affirmative by the
United States?--Facts must be made known to the
people--Nationwide educational campaign is
necessary--Every individual must be aroused to
action--Appalling consequences of triumph of
militarism--United States must lead the world in its
overthrow--Cannot be dependent for peace on cooperation
of other nations--Appalling losses may result from
public apathy and indifference--Necessity for national
policy for flood prevention--Naval is out of
balance--Other things more needed than
battleships--Nationalisation of manufacture of
armaments and battleships--There must be an end of
private profit from such manufacture--It inspires
militarism and stimulates war.
CHAPTER II
INADEQUACY OF MILITARIST PLANS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE 24
Militarists believe war inevitable--Urge United States
is unprepared--Peace Advocates leave to Militarists all
plans for National Defense--Militarists have no
adequate plan--Enormous cost of large standing
army--Menace of a military despotism--No reliance can
be placed on State Militia--Impracticability of a
Reserve composed of men who have served in the Regular
Army--War must be recognised as a
possibility--Hypocrisy of opposition to war by those
who profit from so-called civilized warfare--Peace
Propaganda must be harmonized with national
defense--All plans far world Peace have thus far proved
futile--United States spends enormous sums on Army
without any guarantee of national defense--The
Frankenstein of War can be controlled.
CHAPTER III
IMPREGNABLE DEFENSE AGAINST FOREIGN INVASION 44
Plans for national defense must primarily operate to
prevent war--Reasons why War Department will never
devise satisfactory system--Militarists have no
sympathy with peace movement--It aims to render
military profession obsolete--Standing Army is economic
waste of money and men--It should be a great
educational institution--Chairman Hay of Committee on
Military Affairs, House of Representatives, shows
enormous cost of Standing Army and impracticability of
Reserve as proposed by Army Officers--Comparison of
Military Expenditures and Results in United States and
Japan--Increase of Standing Army to 200,000 would be
futile and unwarranted--European War will not bring
disarmament--Warning of Field Marshal Earl
Roberts--Standing Army promotes military spirit which
increases danger of war.
CHAPTER IV
NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION RESERVE 74
Enlistment of Construction Corps in government Services
in time of peace--Transformation of same organization
into military force in time of war--National forces
must be organized for conflict to save, not destroy,
life and property--Forest Service and Reclamation
Service work should be done by Reservists enlisted in
Construction Corps--Same system should be adopted in
all government services--Construction Reserve to be so
trained as to instantly become army of trained soldiers
whenever needed--More than work enough in time of peace
for a million Reservists--planting forests--fighting
forest fires--preventing floods--irrigating
deserts--draining swamps--building highways, waterways,
and railways--Importance of safeguarding nation against
destruction by Nature's invading forces.
CHAPTER V
ADAPTABILITY OF SYSTEM FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE 115
Swiss Military System ideal for Switzerland--Not
adapted to United States as a whole--Reserve of wage
earners impracticable--Their mobilization would cripple
industry and cause privation for families--City clerks
and factory workers lack physical stamina--A citizen
soldiery needed of hardy men like founders of this
nation--Anglo-Saxon stock is deteriorating in
cities--Only remedy is Homecrofts for workingmen and
their families--Otherwise Industry will destroy
Humanity--Greatest danger to the City of New York is
from within--Racial degeneracy is most serious
menace--Patrician class warned against Roman System
which resulted in Proscription and Confiscation--The
spirit of Switzerland should sway the world--Inadequate
Standing Army a serious danger--Invites attack against
which it cannot defend--United States Standing Army
gives no assurance of national safety.
CHAPTER VI
MENACE OF ASIATIC COMPETITION AND INVASION 135
Japanese influx into Hawaii and Pacific Coast
States--Unexpected incident like blowing up of Maine
might precipitate conflict--In that event peace
advocates and governments might be powerless to prevent
war--Japanese merit the good will of other
nations--Reasons why they come to Pacific Coast--Japan
is overpopulated--30,000,000 rural people on 12,500,000
acres--Population increasing 1,000,000 annually--More
Japanese in California of military age than entire Army
of United States--Japanese in South America and
Mexico--United States must meet economic competition of
Japan--Pacific Coast must be settled with Caucasian
population that will cultivate the soil as Japanese
would cultivate it if it were their country--Otherwise
armed conflict with Japan inevitable.
CHAPTER VII
JAPAN AND THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY 176
Another Japanese Empire could be created in the
Drainage Basin of the Colorado River--What Japanese
would do with that country if it were Japanese
Territory--We waste annually water containing
357,490,000 tons of fertilizing material--5,000,000
acres can be reclaimed between Needles and
Mexico--Every acre would support a family--Climate
makes gardening equivalent to hot house culture out of
doors--Inexhaustible supplies of nitrogen, phosphates,
and potash for fertilizer--Enormous possibilities of
electric power development--Japan would fight the
Desert and Conquest it with same thoroughness that she
fought Russia--Would develop vast Commerce from
Colorado River and Gulf of California--Japanese
Colonization in Mexico--Spirit of Speculation retards
development by United States--What should be done with
the Colorado River Valley--United States must reclaim
and colonize that country the same as Japanese would do
if it belonged to them.
CHAPTER VIII
STRENGTH OF A HOMECROFT RESERVE 213
A Homecroft Reserve in Scotland of one million Soldiers
would have prevented this last great war--Scotch
Homecrofters make such Soldiers as the Gordon
Highlanders and the Black Watch--Story of the Gordon
Highlanders--The Scots were the original
Homecrofters--The description in "Raiderland" of the
Homecrofts in Galloway--Grasping greed of intrenched
interests drove the Homecrofters from Scotland--Same
interests now blocking development in United
States--Homecroft System of Education and Life would
breed a race of stalwart soldiers in United
States--Could leave home for actual service without
disturbing industrial conditions--Homecrofters would be
concentrated for training and organization--Would
eliminate all danger of militarism or military
despotism--Comparison in value of 1,000,000 trained
Homecrofters with 1,000,000 immigrants--Homecroft
Reserve System will end child labor and woman labor in
factories and will also end unemployment.
Chapter IX
HOMECROFT RESERVE IN COLORADO RIVER VALLEY 247
United States owns land, water and power--Development
by national government would result in vast profit to
it--Australian System of Land Reclamation and
Settlement should be adopted--Action should be prompt
to forestall friction between United States and
Japan--Will never have war with Japan except as result
of apathy and neglect--United State must create in
Colorado River Valley dense population settled in
self-containing Communities--Characteristics of Country
particularly adapt it to requirements for Homecroft
Reserve--Safety of Southern California from invasion
would be insured--Military Highways to San Diego and
Los Angeles--Defense of Mexican Border--Homecroft
Cavalry Reserve in Nevada similar to Cossack Cavalry
System--Correction of Mexican Boundary Line to include
mouth of Colorado River in the United States--New State
of South California to be formed.
CHAPTER X
CALIFORNIA A REMOTE INSULAR PROVINCE 277
More easily accessible from Japan by sea than from
United States by land, in case of war--Mountain Ranges
bound it north, east, and south--All plans for defense
of California with a Navy or coast fortifications are
futile and a delusion--Bombardment of English towns and
comparison of English Coast and California
Coast--Japan would, if war were declared, seize Alaska,
Philippines, and Hawaii--Would then transport an army
of 200,000 to California--Railroad tunnels and bridges
being destroyed by dynamite would render relief by
United States impossible--Reliance on Panama Canal too
uncertain--Quickness with which occupation of
California would be accomplished by Japanese--Huge
military difficulties in the way of United States
reconquering it--Mountain passes would be fortified by
Japanese--Railroad bridges, culverts, and tunnels
across deserts would be dynamited--To recapture a
single mountain pass more difficult than capture of
Port Arthur--Death and Desolation are Supreme in the
Southwestern Deserts--Japanese would rapidly colonize
all vacant lands in California--The way to make the
Pacific Coast safe is for the United States to colonize
it first with a dense population of intensive
cultivators of the soil.
CHAPTER XI
MILITARISM AND THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 301
Military caste absorbs to itself undue power--Danger
seen in military opposition to improved system for
river regulation--Military control of inland waterways
detrimental to country--Army Engineers wedded to System
of "Pork Barrel," political, piecemeal
appropriations--Reason why Army methods of education
hamper progress in river improvement--Mississippi River
requires comprehensive treatment--Necessity for Source
Stream Control on all upper tributaries--Why the
Calaveras Reservoir was not built--Blunder in
Construction of Stockton Cutoff Canal--War may be
uncertain, but necessity for fight against floods and
storms is certain--Description of a great Gulf
Storm--Comprehensive plan for protecting lower delta of
Mississippi River by great Dikes like those in Holland
Safety from floods guaranteed by construction of
Atchafalaya Controlled Outlet, Wasteway, and Auxiliary
flood water channels.
CHAPTER XII
BENEFITS FROM THE NATIONAL HOMECROFT RESERVE SYSTEM 335
What this generation would bequeath to future
generations--United States safeguarded against internal
dangers and made impregnable against attack or
invasion--No other plan will accomplish that
result--Summary of reasons why Homecroft Reserve System
will accomplish it--Comparison of cost of larger
Standing Army and same number of Homecroft
Reserve--Epitome of advantages of a Homecroft Reserve
from the standpoint of Peace--Homecroft Reserve System
must be evolved gradually--Rapid development would
follow when system once well established--This is
illustrated by growth of Rural Mail service, Electric
lighting, aerial navigation, and telephone--Where the
first 100,000 Homecroft Reservists should be
located--50,000 Reservists in California, 50,000 in
Louisiana, 80,000 in West Virginia, and 10,000 in
Minnesota--Specification of apportionment to projects
of the $100,000,000 that would be saved from military
expenditures for increased Standing Army--Homecroft
financial System proposed--Homecroft Certificates to be
issued--Advantages of the Homecroft Reserve System to
the Homecrofter--Economic power created for the Nation
would result in Universal Peace.
OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE
THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE
CHAPTER I
_Shall there be an end of war, and of all danger or possibility of war in
the future, not only in this, but in all other countries, and shall we have
universal peace on earth through all the coming centuries?_
That is the most momentous question that has ever confronted any nation in
the history of the world. The United States of America stands face to face
with it to-day, and can answer the question in the affirmative, if the
people of this country so determine.
On their decision depends, not only the safety and perpetuity of this
nation, and the welfare of our own people, but the welfare of all the other
nations and peoples of the earth as well, through all future time.
_The question will have been answered in the affirmative whenever the plan
proposed in this book shall have been adopted by the people of the United
States._
Its adoption will strengthen every plan that can be devised to prevent war.
It will vitalize the influence of this nation in behalf of peace.
It will make the nation impregnable in case of war, if, notwithstanding all
efforts to prevent it, war should come.
In the great crisis through which civilization is now passing, the United
States alone has the opportunity and the power to emancipate humanity from
militarism, and prevent it from ever again being drawn into the maelstrom
of war. Unless that is done, liberty, the world over, will be slowly
submerged by the subtle and insidious growth of military power in the
affairs of government, and our present civilization will ultimately go the
way of all the civilizations of the past.
If, on the other hand, this country rises to the opportunity, and provides
a system of national defense which will not only safeguard the nation
against foreign invasion or internal conflict, but will also at the same
time promote human advancement, insure all the blessings of peace to the
people, and check the growth of militarism, we will establish a
civilization that will endure as long as the human race can inhabit the
earth.
The first thing that must be done to achieve that boon for humanity is to
arouse the people of the United States to a realization of the fact that
the settlement of this great question cannot be left by anyone to somebody
else.
Every man and every woman, the length and breadth of the land, must enlist
in a great national campaign of education to get the real facts and all the
facts into the minds of the people.
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
This is a government, not so much by the people as by the _thought_ of the
people.
Right thought must precede right action. Knowledge must go before right
thought. The people cannot think right until they know the facts, and they
must study and understand and analyze those facts and face them squarely.
That can be brought about only by a nation-wide campaign in which every
patriotic citizen must participate. Each must first learn the facts himself
and then carry the knowledge to others--drive it home to them and stir them
to action.
To every reader of this book let it be said, as a personal message:
When you have read this book, do not lay it down with the thought:
"Yes, that is a good idea. I hope somebody will succeed in getting it
done."
Buckle on your own armor and helmet, lift up your own sword and shield, and
go right out into your own community and make converts yourself, who are
willing not only to think but to act and to _do things themselves_, to lift
the deepening shadow of militarism from this nation, and rescue the world
from the barbarism of war.
The souls of the people must be set on fire to fight a great battle for
peace and to save the ideals and traditions of our forefathers from being
submerged under the rising tide of militarism.
That battle must be fought with voice and pen against ignorance,
indifference, and every powerful interest intrenched in selfish opposition
to human advancement.
Popular interest must be stirred to its depths to create an irresistible
wave of public sentiment that will sweep away all opposition to the
necessary expenditures and legislation.
Every man who would be willing to serve his country in time of war must be
enlisted to serve it in time of peace, by fighting in advance of war to
safeguard against it and ultimately end it forever.
Every woman who wants the menace of war lifted from the lives of the women
of the world must show the faith that is in her by putting her whole heart
and soul into the work of enlisting her own community in this great
movement to do away with war, and to save the women of the future from the
inhuman cruelties and heart-breaking agonies that war has brought upon them
in the past.
The people of this country must stubbornly stand their ground to check the
future advance of militarism in the United States. For years it has been
stealthily gaining, while the people at large have paid no heed. Military
expenditures have grown larger and larger--they have trebled within a
generation--and the people have voiced no vigorous protest. _They have been
"asleep at the switch._"
There must be an end of this indifference of the majority of the people,
who have been selfishly and self-complacently attending to their own
affairs while the world has been drifting into a bloody welter of war. It
is only by chance that the United States has not already been drawn into
it. Complications may at any time arise which will involve this nation in
war.
An interest must be awakened as tense and vivid and all-compelling as would
be instantly aroused by an actual invasion of the United States by a
foreign enemy, and it must be awakened far in advance of that invasion, to
make sure that it never happens.
For nearly two thousand years the gentle admonition "On earth Peace, Good
Will toward men" has been the ideal which the human race has been
struggling to attain.
And after all these centuries we are in the midst of the most bloody and
destructive war the world has ever known.
Civilization has crashed backwards into the abyss of barbarism, in Europe
at least, and no one can foresee the end.
In the United States the trend is in the same direction. This country will
soon become a great military nation if the present tendency is not sharply
checked.
Mere ignorance and indifference on the part of the people of the United
States must not be allowed to stand in the way of the adoption of the
national policy advocated in this book--a policy that will bring permanent
and enduring universal peace to the world.
That policy must be adopted. There can be no alternative. The final triumph
of militarism would be too appalling to contemplate.
Must every woman who bears a son live under the terror that she may have to
dedicate him to be mangled in the service of the War God?
Must every home remain liable to be ruined and destroyed by the fires of
war?
Must every fair and beautiful garden-land continue to be subject to the
menace of devastation by marching armies or the bloody ruin of the
battlefields?
Must the flower of the world's manhood continue to be flung into the jaws
of death to satiate the blood lust of militarism?
Must the wheels of industry turn, and the sweat of human labor, for all
time, be given to make machinery for human slaughter?
Is there no inspiration to patriotism that will move the people to action
but the death combat?
Is there no glory to be won, that will stir heart and brain to supreme
effort, except by causing human agony and devastation?
Is there nothing else that will bring out the best there is in men but the
stimulus of war, and its demands for sacrifice, even of life itself?
Is there no higher service to their country to which women can give their
men than to die fighting to kill the men of other women?
Must this nation, as well as others, so impoverish itself by war and
preparation for war that nothing is left to pay for protecting itself
against Nature's destroying forces, flood and fire and waste of the
country's basic resources?
The intelligent and patriotic men and women of the United States would
answer every one of these questions, with all the fervor of their being, in
the way they must be answered to save civilization, if the questions could
be put to them, face to face, by anyone who was ready to show them what to
do to make good that answer and transform the desire into actual
accomplishment.
We must therefore arm the multitude with the facts and burn into their
minds the clear-cut definite vision of the plan that must be carried out to
make certain that accomplishment.
That plan must provide that we shall first do the things which the people
of this country can do by themselves alone without saying "by your leave"
or "with your help" to any other nation.
The influence of the adoption of a right national policy by the United
States will draw the world into the current as soon as its practicability
and benefits to humanity have been proved, but we must not begin with a
plan that will fail unless adopted by all the great powers of the world.
We cannot allow the success of our own basic plan for peace, _and for
safeguarding this nation against war_, to depend on the cooperation of any
other nation.
That has been the difficulty with nearly every plan heretofore proposed for
the permanent establishment of peace throughout the world. The agreement of
all the nations could not be had, and without such agreement the plan was
futile.
Disarmament or the limitation of armaments is impracticable without the
consent of all the great powers.
Nationalization of the manufacture of armaments, if it is to be a
world-wide influence, must have world-wide adoption.
No plan for a peace tribunal can be successfully made effective without all
nations agreeing to abide by its decrees.
And then it will fail unless given power to enforce its decrees.
That power will never be vested in it by the nations, not in this
generation at least.
All plans for arbitration rest on the same insecure foundation.
Arbitration voluntarily of any one controversy between nations is
practicable, where consent is expressly given to arbitrate that particular
controversy.
But a general plan based on an agreement made in advance to arbitrate all
future unknown controversies would be unenforceable and would afford no
assurance of peace.
The plan for an international force, either army or navy, is too remote a
possibility to be depended on now for practical results.
Agitation of these projects is commendable and should be encouraged, but we
cannot wait for their adoption to set our own house in order and insure its
safety.
In framing a national policy of peace for the United States, we must
constantly and clearly draw the line of distinction between the deep-seated
original causes of war, and causes which are secondary, or merely
precipitating incidents.
The assassination of the Austrian Archduke in Sarajevo precipitated the
present war, but it was not the cause of the war.
Fundamentally, that cause was the check imposed by other nations on the
expansion of the German Empire. The necessity for that expansion resulted
from the rapid increase in the population, trade, and national wealth of
Germany.
The same problem faces the United States with reference to Japan and we
cannot evade it by any scheme for arbitration or disarmament. We must
squarely face and solve the economic problems that lie at the bottom of all
possible conflict between this nation and Japan.
A lighted match may be thrown into a keg of gunpowder and an explosion
result. It might be said that the match caused the explosion. In one sense
it did--_but it was not the match that exploded_.
And gunpowder must be protected against matches, if explosions are to be
avoided. So with national controversies. The economic causes must be
controlled, and conflict avoided by action taken long in advance of a
condition of actual controversy.
In our dealings with Japan, as will be shown hereafter, we are sitting on
an open keg of gunpowder, lighting matches apparently without the remotest
idea of the danger, or of the way to eliminate it.
But the situation on the Pacific Coast with reference to Japan is not the
first instance of similar risks that have been run with most appalling
losses as a consequence.
The danger of an earthquake in San Francisco was known to everybody.
Likewise it must have been known, if the slightest thought had been given
to it, that an earthquake might disrupt the water system of the city and
make it impossible to quench a fire that might be started by an earthquake.
As San Francisco is now heedless of the need for a policy that will really
settle the Japanese trouble, instead of aggravating it, so she was heedless
of the earthquake danger. That heedlessness cost the city $300,000,000 in
entirely unnecessary damage caused by fire. San Francisco was destroyed by
fire, not by the earthquake. The earthquake was unavoidable, the fire was
wholly preventable.
That sort of heedlessness is typical of the American people. Busy with the
present, they take no thought of the future. Every city in the United
States which is liable in any year to a great flood, is equally liable to a
great fire--a fire which might as completely destroy it as the San
Francisco fire destroyed that city, because, owing to the flood, all the
means provided for fire protection when there is no flood, would be
rendered useless by the flood.
Yet every such flood-menaced city in the United States stolidly runs the
risk. No general precautions are taken to prevent such destruction, though
it must be recognized as being possible at any time. Great floods will
rarely follow one another in the same place. For this reason, flood
protection for a city which has already suffered from a disastrous flood,
like Dayton, is no more important than similar protection for all other
flood-menaced cities. The only way to safeguard against floods, and the
consequent risk of fire losses in flood-menaced cities, is that _all such
cities_ should be completely protected against floods, under a nation-wide
policy for flood protection and prevention.
When appeal is made to Congress for legislation providing for such a policy
and for the appropriations necessary to make it effective, we are told that
so much money is required for military expenditures that none can be spared
for protection against floods.
Are we to go on for the next ten years doing as we have done in the last
ten, and spend another billion dollars for the army and fortifications,
while floods ravage unchecked?
If we had been getting actual protection from foreign invasion for that
billion dollars, there might have been some justification for its
expenditure; but we are getting neither protection from foreign invasion
nor protection from flood invasion.
The fact that the people of the country at large give no heed whatever to
the risk of tremendous losses of life and property by flood, arises from a
fixed habit of apathetic indifference, and the fact that no commercial
interest pushes steadily in behalf of flood protection.
There is money to be made, and large dividends may be earned, by furnishing
insurance against fire. Consequently the owner of every building in every
city is constantly reminded by insurance agents of the importance and
necessity of fire insurance. This has been done until public education,
stimulated by private profit, has created a habit of thought which
instinctively recognizes the danger of fire, and insures against it. The
property owner who now fails to carry fire insurance is commonly regarded
as assuming an unwarranted risk.
The same conditions exist from a national point of view with reference to
war. We build battleships, for example, largely because there is a huge
private profit made therefrom, which warrants a nation-wide propaganda to
educate and sustain a favorable public sentiment. The profit is large
enough to permit of propitiating troublesome opposition by endowing peace
palaces. That is a gruesome and ghastly hypocrisy that must come to an end,
if the world is ever to attain to universal peace.
The government should, if it needs them, build its own battleships; but the
first thing it should do, before it builds any more battleships, is to
provide for its other more pressing naval requirements, such as trained
men, target practice, transports, coaling stations with adequate coal
supplies, swift cruisers, torpedo boats, submarines, aeroplanes, and
ammunition.
After all that has been done, if it is made the law of the land that
dividends shall no longer be earned by private corporations from building
battleships or from manufacturing armor plate, it might be found that no
more battleships ought to be built. By that time naval experts may have
agreed that, as against torpedoes and aeroplanes, battleships are too
uncertain a defense, and may have decided that we need something else.
A battleship costs anywhere from ten to twenty million dollars, and they
are too expensive to be built for experiment or ornament.
The people of the United States have been relying on battleships for coast
defense, but all Britain's battleships did not protect Scarborough or
Hartlepool or Whitby. Neither have the battleships been able to protect
themselves from torpedoes, mines, or submarines.
Congress is a mirror. It merely reflects public sentiment. So long as the
need for battleships and more battleships--for bigger and still bigger
battleships--is constantly dinged into the ears of the people by the
profit-takers from the government, just that long will public sentiment,
and the legislation and appropriations that respond to it, be warped and
one sided. Our navy will continue to be top heavy with dreadnoughts, and
inadequate attention will be paid to the other things necessary for a
symmetrically equipped and efficient naval defense.
When private profits for building battleships shall have been eliminated,
Congress will no longer skimp appropriations to man the battleships we now
have, or for other naval equipment, in order to build more dreadnoughts.
After this war, it ought to be possible to conduct to success a
nation-wide, and possibly a world-wide propaganda to end forever the
earning of dividends from human slaughter.
That is the issue, bluntly and plainly stated, and those who profit by
manufacturing the machinery of war must face it squarely. The time will
come,--it is to be hoped it is near at hand,--when they will be held in the
same estimation as are nowadays the pirates who forced their victims to
walk the plank.
Over-preparedness, as well as unpreparedness, may precipitate a war. The
causes of the present European war were, however, more deeply rooted than
that. It was inevitable that they would some day result in war. But the war
would not have come at this time if Germany had not thought England
unprepared. Nor would it have come if Germany had not been, as she
supposed, invincible, because armed to the teeth by corporations like the
Krupps that make war and the machinery for it the source of stupendous
private profits and accumulated wealth.
The growing temptation to create similar conditions in this country must be
forever strangled. After the close of this war, the fields of battle in
Europe must be cleared of war's devastations, and in the United States of
America the field of industry must be cleared of all temptation for our
merchants and manufacturers to become slaughterers by wholesale of human
beings--murderers and manglers of whole battalions of their
fellowmen--slayers of the fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons of millions
of women. That is what they become when for money they furnish the means
whereby it is done, or is to be in future done, by this or any other
country.
It is far better that capital should be idle and labor unemployed than that
either should be used to promote death and devastation in return for
dividends or wages. All available capital and labor can find occupation in
doing things that will promote human welfare. To the extent that the
machinery of war may be needed by any government, it should be manufactured
for its own use by that government, and never by any private concern or
corporation for profit. A world movement to that end is being organized and
every patriotic citizen should bear a hand to promote its success. The
United States has the opportunity to be the first nation to adopt this
advanced and peace-promoting national policy.
Whenever we have put an end to the making of private profit from the
manufacture of battleships and machinery of war for our government, we will
be relieved of much of the persistent pressure to make our navy top heavy
with dreadnoughts, and to steadily increase our naval and military
expenditures. More than that, we will then be able to get full, fair, and
unprejudiced consideration, by the people at large, of every question
relating to war or peace, or to our own preparedness for war, or the extent
of the necessity for such preparedness.
Now the people know only a part of the facts on which a comprehensive
judgment should be based. They have been urged to do the things which, if
done, would result in profit to the manufacturers of battleships or
machinery of war. Knowing this, many people go to the other extreme and
oppose everything in the way of an adequate military or naval system. This
tends to endanger the nation by unpreparedness, just as the Militarists
would endanger it by over-preparedness, or a one-sided and unbalanced
preparedness, like having battleships without other things even more
necessary for naval defense.
The government should manufacture for itself all the machinery needed by it
for war on land or sea. Its manufacture by anyone else should be prohibited
by law. But it does not by any means follow that the government itself
should refrain from manufacturing it, under the conditions that now prevail
in the world. Neither does it follow that there will be no more wars. Nor
again does it follow that the government should fail to be at all times
adequately prepared for war. On the contrary, the possibility of war should
be fully recognized and national defense should not be neglected.
Under the conditions that surround this country to-day, no nation should
more carefully than ours safeguard against the danger of unpreparedness.
The United States should be, not unprepared, but fully prepared, and that
can only be accomplished by carrying out the plan advocated in this book,
for both immediate and ultimate national defense.
The assumption that this country will never be involved in a foreign war is
one which every fact of history, every trait of human character, and every
probability of the future proves to be unwarranted, unless measures are
taken and things done for national protection, and for the preservation of
peace, that are as yet not even contemplated by the people of this country.
The cost of those measures is so small, in comparison with the enormous
losses this country would suffer if it became involved in a foreign war,
that to forego them because of the cost involved would be as unwise as to
fail to equip a passenger steamer with life preservers as a matter of
economy.