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diff --git a/39893-8.txt b/39893-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8792b9e --- /dev/null +++ b/39893-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9316 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Defenseless America, by Hudson Maxim + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Defenseless America + +Author: Hudson Maxim + +Release Date: June 1, 2012 [EBook #39893] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEFENSELESS AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Katie Hernandez and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: _Photo by Marceau_] + + + + + DEFENSELESS + AMERICA + + BY + HUDSON MAXIM + + [Illustration] + + "_The quick-firing gun is the greatest + life-saving instrument ever invented._" + + Page 83. + + HEARST'S INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY CO. + NEW YORK + + + + + Copyright, 1915, by + HEARST'S INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY CO., INC. + + _All rights reserved, including that of translation into the + foreign languages, including the Scandinavian_ + + + + +FOREWORD + + * * * * * + +THIS BOOK IS PRESENTED +WITH THE +COMPLIMENTS OF THE AUTHOR + +To a Few Selected Leaders of American Thought and Shapers of Public +Opinion + + * * * * * + +DEAR READER: + +I send you this book in the hope that if not already convinced, you will +be convinced by it of the defenseless state of this country--convinced +that our danger is as great as our weakness. I hope that you may be +moved to use your influence that this country may, by adequate +preparation against war, safeguard the property, honor and lives of its +people and the sanctity of the American home from violation by a foreign +foe. + +If you are already convinced of our great need then the reading of this +book may still strengthen your conviction and stimulate your efforts in +the cause of national defense. + +After you have read the book, kindly lend it to your friends, that they +also may read it. + +Defenseless America was published a year ago at two dollars per copy. +Several editions of the book have already been printed and sold. + +Soon after the publication of the work I presented ten thousand copies, +with my compliments, to students graduating in American universities. +This has given many persons the impression that Defenseless America is a +book for free distribution. + +To correct such an impression, let me say most emphatically that this +book is not free, except to a few persons whom I have selected, and to +whom I have sent it free at my own personal expense, for the good of the +cause of national defense. + +The book has exerted so marked an influence in rousing the people of +this country to their needs for defense against the red hell of war, +that the publishers, through patriotic duty, have placed the good it is +doing above all considerations of profit to themselves, and have +supplied me copies of this edition of the work absolutely at cost. + +The publishers have also put an edition of the book on sale, of which +this copy is a specimen, at only fifty cents a copy. In order to enable +them to do this, I have cut out all royalties on sales which they may +make. + +This edition of the book may be bought of or ordered through any book +store at fifty cents a copy, or from the publishers, Hearst's +International Library Company, 119 West 40th Street, New York, N. Y., +who will send single copies of the book to any address on receipt of +sixty cents, or they will send ten copies of the book, in a single +package, to any address on receipt of five dollars--fifty cents a copy. + +Copies of the regular library edition, printed on superior paper and +bound in extra cloth, gold stamping, may be obtained from booksellers or +direct from the publishers at two dollars a copy. + +Many of the readers of this book have already seen that wonderful motion +picture play, "The Battle Cry of Peace," founded upon it. + +Commodore J. Stuart Blackton, President of the Vitagraph Company of +America, who wrote the scenario of "The Battle Cry of Peace", has this +to say about Defenseless America:-- + + "To the fearless patriotism of Hudson Maxim and the plain, + practical, straightforward truths in his book, 'Defenseless + America,' I owe the inspiration and impetus which caused me to + conceive and write the scenario of 'The Battle Cry of Peace.' + + "The object of both book and picture is to arouse in the heart + of every American citizen a sense of his strict accountability + to his government in time of need, and to bring to the notice + of the greatest number of people in the shortest possible time + the fact that there is a way to insure that peace for which we + all so earnestly pray." + +Commodore Blackton, being a staunch patriot and a man with phenomenal +vision and breadth of understanding, and being one of the largest +producers of motion pictures in the world, saw at once, as soon as he +read Defenseless America, that the best way to impress the American +people with the message of the book, as he had himself been impressed by +reading it, was to visualize that message in a great motion picture. +Then the people would be able to see, with their own eyes, those +terrible things happening in our country and in our very homes, which +are happening abroad and which are surely going to happen to us if we do +not prepare, and immediately and adequately prepare to save the country. + + Faithfully yours, + HUDSON MAXIM. + + MAXIM PARK, + LANDING P.O., + NEW JERSEY, + 1916 + + + + +PREFACE + + +The main object of this book is to present a phalanx of facts upon the +subject of the defenseless condition of this country, and to show what +must be done, and done quickly, in order to avert the most dire calamity +that can fall upon a people--that of merciless invasion by a foreign +foe, with the horrors of which no pestilence can be compared. + +We should bring a lesser calamity upon ourselves by abolishing our +quarantine system against the importation of deadly disease and inviting +a visitation like the great London Plague, or by letting in the Black +Death to sweep our country as it swept Europe in the Middle Ages, than +by neglecting our quarantine against war, as we are neglecting it, +thereby inviting the pestilence of invasion. + +Self-preservation is the first law of Nature, and this law applies to +nations exactly as it applies to individuals. Our American Republic +cannot survive unless it obeys the law of survival, which all +individuals must obey, which all nations must obey, and which all other +nations are obeying. No individual, and no nation, has ever disobeyed +that law for long and lived; and it is too big a task for the United +States of America. + +It is the aim of this work to discover truth to the reader, unvarnished +and unembellished, and, at the same time, as far as possible, to avoid +personalities. Wherever practicable, philosophic generalizations have +been tied down to actualities, based upon experiential knowledge and +innate common-sense of the eternal fitness of things. + +The strong appeal of Lord Roberts for the British nation to prepare for +the Armageddon that is now on, which he knew was coming, did not awaken +England, but served rather to rouse Germany. + +Admiral Mahan pleaded long with his country for an adequate navy. All +the Great Powers of the world except America were stimulated by his +logic to strengthen their navies. The beautiful, imaginative, logical +language of General Homer Lea, on America's military weakness, in his +"Valor of Ignorance" and "The Day of the Saxon," has caused many a gun +to be made, many a battalion of troops to be enlisted, and many a +warship to be built--in foreign countries. + +The eloquent words of wisdom of Lord Roberts, Admiral Mahan, Homer Lea, +and all real friends of peace and advocates of the only way of +maintaining peace--by being prepared against war--have fallen on a deaf +America. I am well aware of the fact that nothing I can say will rouse +the people of my country to the reality and magnitude of their danger, +and to a true appreciation of the imperative necessity for immediate +preparation against war. + +Possibly this book may lessen a little the effect of the pernicious +propagandism of the pacifists--may somewhat help Congressional +appropriations for defense--may place a few more men and a few more guns +on the firing-line, and thereby save the lives of a few of our +people--may save a few homes from the torch--may lessen the area of +devastation--may, by adding a little power to our resistance, help to +get slightly better terms from the conquerors for our liberation. + +Pacifism has ringed the nose of the American people and is leading them, +blind and unknowing, to the slaughter. War is inevitable. It matters not +that, if this country could be roused, it might be saved. When it is +impossible to vitalize the impulse necessary to the accomplishment of a +thing, that thing is impossible. So, I say, war is inevitable and +imminent. + +The American people could not now be roused sufficiently to avert the +impending calamity even by a call that would rift the sky and shake down +the stars from heaven! + +Fate has decreed that our pride shall be humbled, and that we shall be +bowed to the dirt. We must first put on sackcloth, ashed in the embers +of our burning homes. Perhaps, when we build anew on the fire-blackened +desolation, our mood may be receptive of the knowledge that we must +shield our homes with blood and brawn and iron. + + HUDSON MAXIM. + + Maxim Park, + Landing P.O., + New Jersey. + March, 1915. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + PREFACE v + OUR GREAT OBSESSION xiii + I DANGEROUS PREACHMENTS 1 + II CAN LAW BE SUBSTITUTED FOR WAR? 22 + III OUR INCONSISTENT MONROE DOCTRINE 56 + IV MODERN METHODS AND MACHINERY OF WAR 68 + V THE NEEDS OF OUR ARMY (With Letter from General + Leonard Wood) 113 + VI THE NEEDS OF OUR NAVY 141 + VII LANGUAGE OF THE BIG GUNS 181 + VIII AËRIAL WARFARE 203 + IX OUR ARMAMENTS NOT A BURDEN 222 + X EGO-FANATIC GOOD INTENTIONS AND THEIR RELATION TO + NATIONAL DEFENSE 235 + XI A DANGEROUS CRIMINAL CLASS? 247 + XII THE GOOD AND EVIL OF PEACE AND OF WAR 265 + WHAT SHALL THE END BE? 306 + INDEX 309 + + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + + The Vast Territory that Our Inflated Monroe Doctrine Obligates + Us to Defend 60 + The Heart of America 76 + Relative Numerical Strength of Field Artillery 104 + Portrait of General Leonard Wood, U. S. A. 114 + Number of Officers and Enlisted Men of U. S. Regular Army 118 + Strength of Regular Armies on Peace Footing 124 + Portrait of Admiral Austin M. Knight, U. S. N. 150 + Strategic Spheres of Vital Importance in the Pacific 160 + Battleship Strength of the Nations 168 + How New York Could Be Bombarded from a Position off Rockaway + Beach Beyond the Range of Our Forts 188 + Opposing Fleets in Action _between_ 197 and 198 + Some Annual United States Expenditures 226 + Enormous Resources of the Warring Nations 232 + Casualties of Peace and War Compared 296 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +OUR GREAT OBSESSION + + +Success in every human pursuit depends upon ability to discern the truth +and to utilize it. Facts, though they may be stern, are our best +friends, and we should always welcome them with an open mind. + +Napoleon said that with good news there is never any hurry, but with bad +news not a moment is to be lost. Consequently, those who discover to us +certain facts of serious concern are our friends, even though it may be +bad news. It is every man's duty, not only to himself, but also to those +dear to him, to know the truth about anything which may menace his and +their welfare, in order that he and they may become awakened to the +danger and prepare for it accordingly. + +Those who deceive us by warning us of danger when there is no danger may +not do us any harm; in fact, they may even do us good by cultivating our +alertness and awareness. The hare may jump at a thousand false alarms to +every one of actual danger; but it is the false alarms that have given +him the alertness to save himself when real danger comes. On the other +hand, those who convince us that there is no danger when there is great +danger are the worst of enemies; they expose us, naked of defense, to +the armed and armored enemy. + +Among the great deceivers with whom the human race has to contend is the +confidence man, for he plays upon the fears, vanity, and credulity of +his victim with the skill of a Kubelik upon the violin. He enlists his +victim with him, and they work together to the same end. No man is +greatly deceived by another except through his own co-operation. Every +one has his pet egoistic illusion always under the spotlight of +self-view; to him, his own importance is a veritable obsession. + +A nation is only a compound of individuals, and what is true of an +individual also holds true of any aggregation of individuals. + +We, the people of the United States of America, are at this moment, and +have been for many years, afflicted with a dominating egoistic obsession +concerning our greatness, our importance, and our power, while we +correspondingly underrate the greatness, the importance, and the power +of other nations and races. Our accomplishments have indeed been +marvelous, and we have not neglected to award them all the marveling +that is their due. + +There is no denying the fact that in many competitive pursuits requiring +intellectual acuteness for the greatening of material welfare we have +outstripped the rest of the world. But the rest of the world has been +busy, too, and though we may possibly deserve more credit for our +accomplishments in the aggregate than any other people, still, others +have far outdone us in many important respects. + +Our hitherto isolated and unassailable geographical position has enabled +us to utilize our unequaled resources to become the greatest industrial +and the wealthiest people in the world. + +We have not been obliged to concern ourselves very much thus far with +measures for national security, and having at home all the land we +needed, we have acquired the habit of looking upon national armaments in +the light of frills, which we must maintain merely for national +respectability. Many of us look upon our Navy as dress-parade +paraphernalia, to be worn on gala occasions. + +Our response to the advocacy of a sufficient navy, of coast +fortifications, and of a standing army adequate to our needs, has been +that we have no use for either army or navy, and that coast +fortifications would be a useless expense. + +Our enormous wealth and inexhaustible resources have been and still are +pointed out as reasons why we require no armaments, although, as a +matter of fact, they are the strongest possible reasons for armaments of +a magnitude proportionate to that wealth and those resources. + +In America, we pride ourselves upon our so-called free institutions, +blindly believing that they are free, and that, therefore, every man +being an aristocrat, we, by consequence, have no aristocracy, entirely +oblivious to the fact that we have merely substituted the esteem of +wealth, and the power and the privilege which it represents, for the +esteem of family worth and family name, and the power and the privilege +which they represent. + +Isolation and wealth beget vanity and arrogance; and vanity, resting +upon the laurels of past accomplishments, rapidly fosters decadence and +weakness; so that the very pride of strength and virility begets +weakness and effeminacy. + +It has been said that usually there are but three generations between +shirt-sleeves and shirt-sleeves. The old man trades upon the name made +in the days of his younger strength, and the son, seldom possessing the +strength of the father, trades on the father's name, while the third +generation generally gets back to shirt-sleeves again. Although this +statement is not a general truth, it has truth enough to excuse it. + +The main reason why luxury and opulence lead to degeneracy, weakness, +and effeminacy, is that those who live on Easy Street, being relieved of +the intense strife necessary to gain a livelihood and to climb to +positions of opulence and power, suffer from weakness and decay, and +finally find their way down to shirt-sleeves, at the foot of the +economic and social ladder, either to be submerged in hoboism, or to +make the climb of old progenitors over again. + +What is true of individuals and families in this respect holds true also +of nations, only it takes a little longer time, starting from +shirt-sleeves, to get back to shirt-sleeves again. + +We Americans were taught by the promoters of the American Revolution--in +short, by the fathers of our country--that all men are created equal in +respect to privilege, and that no class distinction and no class +privilege were worthy of honor unless earned. By consequence, the symbol +and the badge of our class distinction became the dollar. + +Taught to despise aristocracy, we immediately created for ourselves a +new aristocracy in the shape of a plutocracy. This aristocracy of wealth +was fast becoming as tyrannical and unbearable and as much a menace to +the freedom of the people as the old aristocracy which it had replaced. +The old aristocracy had been established by the right of the sword; the +new aristocracy had been established by the purchasing power of the +dollar, and the people learned that combinations of wealth were a +compelling power as great as the combination of armies, and that a +government dominated by the dollar might become as intolerable as any +form of absolutism. + +Then there came another American revolution, led by the labor unions, +which proved that it is only necessary for the people to organize, in +order to conquer with the short-sword of the ballot as effectually as +with the sword of steel. + +Unhappily, just as intolerance and avarice have always led conquerors to +be overgrasping and tyrannical, so have intolerance and avarice made +prosecutions under the Sherman Law veritable persecutions. Now that the +common people have found their power, nothing under heaven can halt +them, or prevent them from abusing that power, except a higher education +of the common people and their leaders, compelling them to understand +the great truth that the people of a nation must co-operate with a +patriotism that shall emulate the spirit of the hive of bees so +admirably interpreted by Maeterlinck. + +Nevertheless, we must remember that, while we may with advantage imitate +the bee in this respect, the bee does not progress. There has been no +enlightenment in bee-life for a hundred thousand years, for the very +reason that the bees are dominated by that beautiful spirit of the hive. + +We owe our ability to progress and to become more and more highly +intelligent and enlightened, to the existence of that instability and +heterogeneity which stimulate and develop us by causing us to strive for +stability and homogeneity. + +Life is a series of reactions between the individual and environing +stimuli. For this reason, stern and exacting stimuli are required to +develop a man to the full. In all the ages during which the race has +been developing there have existed formative influences of the sternest +and most exacting kind; so that, just as our ears are constituted to +hear only a certain character of sounds, and sounds of a limited pitch, +duration, and loudness, and are deaf to all other sounds, so are we +constituted to react only to certain environing stimuli, and to react +with each stimulus in a certain definite measure, and only in a certain +definite measure. It is impossible for us to react supremely, or to be +developed supremely, by mediocre stimuli, but we must have supreme +stimuli, and in order to get those stimuli, there must be a prompting to +activity that demands of a man every ounce of his strength; and +everything that is dear to him must be staked to bring out and develop +all the latent, larger energies that are in him. + +Nothing that can be said and done by all the friends of national defense +will make this country take adequate measures for its defense. Nothing +but a disastrous war will supply the necessary stimulus. In all the +history of the world, this truth has been made manifest--that no nation +can be made adequately to prepare against war, no matter what the menace +may be, without either suffering actual defeat, or being so embroiled in +war as to realize the necessity for preparedness. + +This country must first be whipped in order to prepare sufficiently to +prevent being whipped. Therefore, our business at the present time is to +pick our conquerors. I choose England. I would much rather see the +red-coat in the streets of New York than the spiked helmet. I would much +rather see the genial face of the British Tommy Atkins than the stern +mystery of the Japanese face. + +If England does not give us a good, timely whipping, we are going to be +whipped by Germany or Japan, and the humiliation will be more than is +really needed to stimulate us for adequate preparation. + +When the present war is over, the precipitation of a war with England +may not depend on what England will choose to do, but it may depend on +what we shall choose to do. We have been a lamb rampant for a long time +in a jungle alive with lions, and we have owed our security to the fact +that the lions have been watching one another, and have not dared to +avert their eyes long enough to devour us. If we did not have a +grandiose sense of our importance and power, we should not need a +whipping in order to prepare against war, but so long as we believe that +we can beat all creation without any preparation, we are going to act +just as though it were true, and England, although she may be friendly, +may be forced, by our inconsiderate bluff and arrogance, to declare war +on us. Much better England than any other country. England now has no +territorial aspirations that would make her want to annex some of our +land. She would be satisfied with a good big indemnity, which we could +well afford to pay for the benefit we should gain from the war. If +England will merely come over seas, and whip us, and tax us for the +trouble, and thereby lead us to prepare adequately to defend ourselves +against less friendly nations, she will do us the greatest possible +good. + +We are living and working not alone for ourselves, but also for those +who are our own, and for all others insomuch as their interests and +their welfare are in common with our own. + +Our welfare is part and parcel of the aggregate welfare of all those for +whom we are working, and our welfare and their welfare are not only a +condition of the present, but are also a condition of the future. The +welfare of our children and our children's children, and of those whose +interests will be in common with theirs, is part and parcel of our own +present welfare. This is the true philosophy by which we who are sane +and conscientious are guided. Upon such philosophy are based all +economics and all prudence. + +The false philosophy of the selfish and the sensual, the spendthrift and +the debauchee, is the philosophy of such as they whose acts of omission +and commission brought on the French Revolution, and who said, "_Après +nous le déluge_"; but such should not be our philosophy. + +Therefore, if now there be a calamity in the making, which we are able +to foresee must surely descend upon the heads of our children, even if +it does not come soon enough to fall upon our own heads, it is a thing +that should awaken our concern and stimulate our inquiry, and lead us to +seek ways and means for averting it. + +It is a fact, which I absolutely know as certainly as anything can be +known in human affairs, that we, and all of those who are near and dear +to us, are sitting today on a powder magazine with the train lighted, +and it is only a question of the slowness, or quickness, of the fuse +when the time shall arrive for the explosion. + +The laws that govern human events are as mathematically accurate and as +immutable as the laws that govern the motions of the heavenly bodies; +the laws that govern human reactions--the reactions between men and men, +communities and communities, nations and nations--are as immutable and +are governed as exactly by the laws of cause and effect as are chemical +reactions. Nothing can happen without a cause, and there can be no cause +that does not make something happen. Every event is the child of its +parents--cause and effect. + +Now let us look at the parentage of the cause and effect whose progeny +are soon to bring upon us the great red peril of war, and, finding us +unprepared, will treat us as Germany has treated Belgium. We are +rich--our country from one end to the other possesses a vast wealth of +enticements to the invasion of a foreign foe--and we are defenseless. +These conditions are the parents of vast impending calamities. + +Europe, today, is involved in the greatest war in the history of +mankind, and--in spite of all the saving grace of our so-called modern +civilization, in spite of all the mercifulness of the Christian +religion, in spite of all the charitable kindness of the Red Cross--the +sum of brutality, savagery, and misery of this war is certainly not much +less than it has been at any other time in the history of a striving +world, every page of which has been written with blood. + +We have arrived at a time when we must decide whether or not our safety +can be better secured and peace maintained with armaments or without +armaments. + + + + + +DEFENSELESS AMERICA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +DANGEROUS PREACHMENTS + + "There will be no war in the future, for it has become impossible now + that it is clear that war means suicide." + + _I. S. Bloch, "The Future of War," 1899._ + + "What shall we say of the Great War of Europe ever threatening, ever + impending, and which never comes? We shall say that it will never come. + Humanly speaking, it is impossible." + + _Dr. David Starr Jordan, "War and Waste," 1913._ + + +They who are loudest in their vociferations about the calamities that +the warring nations of Europe have brought upon themselves are those +peace-palavering persons who have been telling us all along, during the +past twenty-five years, that human nature had improved so much lately, +and the spirit of international brotherhood had become so dominant, that +the fighting spirit was nearly dead in the souls of men. + +The peace praters have assured us from time to time that the last great +war of the world had been fought; they have told us that no great +nations would dare to go to war any more, because war between any of +the Great Powers would now mean bankruptcy and national suicide; they +have assured us that all international differences would hereafter be +settled by jurisprudential procedure, and that law would be substituted +for war. + +About fifteen years ago, a M. de Bloch "proved" in his book, entitled +"The Future of War. Is War Now Possible?" that war had become so deadly +and destructive, and, above all, so expensive, as to be impossible. So +impressed was the Czar of Russia with de Bloch's arguments that he +called a conference of the nations to consider disarmament. Since that +time a thousand different persons have, in a thousand different ways, +"proved" to us that war on a large scale was not only impossible, but +also absolutely unthinkable. Droll, isn't it, that the nations keep +right on fighting? We are consoled, however, by the insistence of the +peace prophets that this war is truly the last great war. We are assured +that this war will be the death of militarism, and then the lamb can +safely cuddle up to the lion. Consequently, we have been told that, war +on a large scale being now impossible, the United States needs no army +and no navy, and that it would be folly to waste the taxpayers' money on +such useless things. + +Many believe that this country should set the other nations of the world +a great moral example by pulling the teeth of our dogs of war, making +them lambs, and inviting the lions to lie down with them, unheedful of +the lesson of all ages that when the lion does lie down with the lamb, +the lamb is always inside the lion. + +Furthermore, we have been assured that the mere possession of armaments +leads a nation to wage war, because being able to fight makes one want +to fight; and that, obviously, the best way to avoid a fight is to be +unable to fight. + +I quote the following from Theodore Roosevelt's book, "America and the +World War":-- + + * * * * * + +"_These peace people have persistently and resolutely blinked facts. One +of the peace congresses sat in New York at the very time that the +feeling in California about the Japanese question gravely threatened the +good relations between ourselves and the great empire of Japan. The only +thing which at the moment could practically be done for the cause of +peace was to secure some proper solution of the question at issue +between ourselves and Japan. But this represented real effort, real +thought. The peace congress paid not the slightest serious attention to +the matter and instead devoted itself to listening to speeches which +favored the abolition of the United States navy and even in one case the +prohibiting the use of tin soldiers in nurseries because of the +militaristic effect on the minds of the little boys and girls who played +with them!_" + + * * * * * + +When the prophet Isaiah told the Jews that there were big troubles +brewing for them in the East, he spoke to unhearing ears, because +unwilling ears. There were in those days, as in our day, the false +prophets of peace who said that Isaiah was wrong; that there was no +cause for worry about the indignation of Jehovah; that even at the worst +His wrath could be appeased at any time, as necessity might arise, by a +few burnt offerings and sacrificial mumblings. Their assurances were +more pleasing than the warnings of Isaiah, so the Jews listened to the +false prophets instead of to Isaiah, and they paid the penalty in +Babylonian bondage. + +The Isaiahs of true prophecy have long warned the people of this +country that there is big trouble brewing for us in the East and in the +Far East, and that we need armaments and men trained to arms to +safeguard us against that trouble. These Isaiahs have told us that we +cannot safeguard ourselves by any sacrifices made upon the altar of +international brotherhood, or forefend ourselves against the great red +peril of war by a few mumblings written down in arbitration treaties; +but that we must have guns and men behind the guns. The Isaiahs who +have been telling us these things are our true peace-advocates. + +Those self-styled peace-men who are telling us that the best way to +avoid war is to be unable to defend ourselves are not peace-men, but +war-breeders. Though they emulate the dove in their cooing, they are far +from being doves of peace. They ought to be styled dubs of peace. Their +intentions may be good, yet they are enemies of peace, and betrayers of +their country. Those who prevent the building of coast fortifications, +which are our modern city gates, by advising against them, betray their +country as actually as those who opened the gates of Rome to the hordes +of Alaric. + +Those who are trying to defeat our Congressional appropriations for a +larger navy, for an adequate army, and for sufficient coast +fortifications, although they may mean well, are as truly enemies of +their country as if they should, in war, contribute to the armament and +fighting force of an enemy, for the effect in both cases is identical. + +Again I quote from Mr. Roosevelt: + + * * * * * + +"_We object to the actions of those who do most talking about the +necessity of peace because we think they are really a menace to the just +and honorable peace which alone this country will in the long run +support. We object to their actions because we believe they represent a +course of conduct which may at any time produce a war in which we and +not they would labor and suffer._ + +"_In such a war the prime fact to be remembered is that the men really +responsible for it would not be those who would pay the penalty. The +ultra-pacifists are rarely men who go to battle. Their fault or their +folly would be expiated by the blood of countless thousands of plain and +decent American citizens of the stamp of those, North and South alike, +who in the Civil War laid down all they had, including life itself, in +battling for the right as it was given to them to see the right._" + + * * * * * + +But the false prophets of peace have assured us all along that there is +no danger whatever of war between the United States and any other +country. They tell us further that our armaments are a menace to other +nations; that they evidence suspicion of other nations, and thereby +place us under suspicion. According to such philosophy, the college man +who becomes an athlete is a trouble-breeder, for the reason that the +mere possession of muscle makes him a menace to other men. + +Now, if we are in any danger of war, we ought to do the right thing to +secure the safety of our country, of our homes and our families, and all +things that are dear to us. + +If it be true that the possession of armaments is an inducement for +those who have them to use them, and if it be true that armaments fret +the fighting spirit of other nations as a red rag frets a bull, and +thereby lead to war, then, surely, we do not need more armaments, but +less. Instead of arming ourselves any more, we should disarm until we +are defenseless enough to be perfectly safe. On the other hand, if there +be any likelihood that this country may be invaded by a foreign foe, we +should be prepared to meet the invaders in the right way, and with the +right spirit. + +If it be the proper way to go and meet them as the inhabitants of +Jerusalem went out to meet Alexander, with the keys to our gates, and +with presents and sacrificial offerings, then we should adopt that way +of preparing to pave their path with flowers and make them drunk on +grape-juice and the milk of human kindness. + +Dr. David Starr Jordan believes in disarmament. He further believes that +armor-plate, guns, battleships, and ammunition should not be made by +private manufacturers, but that, on the contrary, these things should be +made exclusively by the government, for he is of the opinion that +manufacturers of war materials foment disorder and promote war in order +to bring themselves more business. + +Long association with the manufacturers of war materials, especially of +explosive materials, has enabled me to know whereof I speak, and I do +know that such a belief is the utterest nonsense. The manufacturers of +war materials with whom I am acquainted are among the staunchest of +peace men, and they would no more be guilty of promoting war to bring +themselves business than a reputable surgeon would be likely to string a +cord across the street to trip up pedestrians and break their limbs in +order to bring himself business. + +In the treatment of human physical ailments, we should deem it folly to +confound remedy with disease, and to hold the physician responsible for +pestilence. No one would think of looking upon our science of sanitation +and our quarantine system as breeders and harbingers of pestilence, and +no one would think that our laws against crime and our system of police +protection tend to foster crime. Yet such is the attitude of many +well-intentioned but overzealous persons with respect to our naval and +military system and armaments. They consider them breeders and +harbingers of war. + +An army and navy are merely a mighty quarantine system against the +pestilence of war. We must fortify our shores, police our seas with +armor-clads, and be prepared to patrol the skies with aëroplanes around +our entire national horizon when the need may come. + +But it is urged that the people are overburdened with the cost of +maintaining armies and navies. Assuming that the burden is great, was it +ever less? Was it ever so small as it is now, compared with the numbers +and wealth of the people? Again, cannot we well afford to bear a +considerable burden of armaments as an insurance against war, and as a +further insurance that if war comes, it will be far less deadly than it +would be without them? + +If Dr. Jordan were better acquainted with the manufacture of war +materials, he would know that they can be made more cheaply, with equal +excellence, by private concerns, than by the government. Furthermore, he +would know that big manufacturers of war materials are obliged to employ +a very large force of skilled labor, and that this labor has to be +supplied employment when there are no government orders for war +materials. For example, the manufacture of armor-plate by the United +States Steel Corporation is only a small part of that company's +business. The manufacture of guns and armor-plate by the Bethlehem Steel +Company does not keep it constantly occupied, and it has to furnish +other employment for its men when government orders are not forthcoming. +Consequently, it is obliged to make things besides armor-plate and guns +and war materials. + +The du Pont explosives companies do a far larger business in high +explosives and smokeless powders for commercial purposes than they do +for government purposes. + +Therefore, if the manufacture of war materials were to be confined +entirely to government shops, then the government would truly have to +promote war to keep its employees busy. At any rate, the government +would have to maintain a large labor force, making war materials alone, +for the government could not devote itself to the manufacture of +automobiles, chairs, cloth, artificial leather, dynamite, sporting +powder, and the like, for commercial purposes, as private manufacturers +do. + +There is another reason why the private manufacturers of war materials +should be encouraged by the government, and it is that, in the event of +war, the government would find the large capital and plants of the +wealthy Steel Trust, the Bethlehem Steel Company, and the du Ponts +available for the purpose of national defense in addition to the +government's own resources. This is very important. + +The battle of Lake Erie was quite as much a du Pont victory as a Perry +victory; for the resources, energy, and generalship of the du Pont +Powder Company overcame inconceivable difficulties, carted the powder +from Wilmington, Delaware, all the way overland to Lake Erie, and got it +there on time. + +It is unfortunate that a person's confidence in his knowledge of a +subject is often directly proportionate to his ignorance of the subject. +It is a psychological truth that ignorance may be taught, just like +anything else, and a person may become very erudite in things which are +not true, just as he may in things which are true. + +Dr. Jordan, in recent public utterances, has said that he would rather +the United States should lose its Pacific possessions than that we +should go to war; and he has remarked that now, while the world is drunk +with war, is a bad time to lay in more liquor. This is an ingenious +metaphor, and well designed to trip the intelligence of the unwary. As a +matter of fact, when the world is drunk with war, and rapine, murder, +and plunder are rife, it is exactly the time to lay in more ammunition. + +Had Dr. Jordan been in the position of Captain John Smith in the +Virginia colony, when the Indians were on the war-path, he would have +advised the settlers to disarm and destroy their stockades and forts. +The Indians at that time went on the war-path and got drunk for war +because they had a grievance. + +When the present war is over and international commerce is +re-established, we are destined to give some other nation a grievance, +for the same reason that we then gave those Indians a grievance, and +that other nation will go on the war-path, just as those Indians did, +and that other nation when it takes up the torch and the sword and gets +a taste of blood, is going to be as savage as the men engaged in the +present European conflict. + +There are two kinds of true prophets: The one kind, like Isaiah, who is +directly inspired of God; and the other kind, who judges the future by +the lessons of the past. The scientist is a true prophet; but he is not +one of the inspired kind. The way he does his predicting is the way of +the astronomer, who uses a base line the width of the earth's orbit in +order to triangulate the parallax of a star. So the scientific prophet +triangulates the parallax of future events from a base line compassing +all human history. + +There is no one lesson which history teaches us more plainly than that +the possession of wealth by a defenseless nation is a standing _casus +belli_ to other nations, and that always there has been the nation +standing ready to attack and plunder any other nation when there was +likely to be sufficient profit in the enterprise to pay for the trouble. +Never have we seen any treaty stand for long in the way of such +practices between nations. Treaties have always been mere scraps of +paper, which, like the cobweb, ensnare the weak, while they let the +strong break through. + +It is strange that those who recommend that this country try the +experiment of disarmament to secure peace by setting other nations a +great moral example, should not have read history to see whether or not +the experiment were a new one; and whether or not, judging by past +experiments, it were likely to prove a success or a failure. Should +these men look back through history, they would find that ancient Egypt +tried the experiment, and went down under the sword and torch of fierce +invaders from over the desert. They would learn that the Greeks tried +the experiment and found it a failure. They would learn that India and +China have bled through the ages because of their peaceableness. They +would learn that the fall of Carthage was due not so much to the +superior military power of Rome, or to the reiterations of Cato that +Carthage must be destroyed, as it was to the peace talk of Hanno, which +withheld the necessary support of Hannibal in Italy. They would learn +that when old Rome lost her vigor and neglected her defenses, she was +hewn to pieces by fierce barbarians. They would learn that the fathers +of our own country, after the Revolution, tried the same old experiment, +with the result that the city of Washington was captured and burned by +the British in the war of 1812. They would learn, furthermore, that all +prophets who have said that the nations will war no more, have been +false prophets. + +Four years before the Russo-Japanese war, I wrote an article for a New +York magazine, in which I prophesied that war, and predicted Japanese +victory. I predicted also at the same time that there would be in the +near future a general European conflict. It has come. + +The following quotations from that article may be of interest: + + * * * * * + +"_By far the greatest probability of imminent war lies in the Far East, +between Russia and Japan. Japan feels the sting of the Russian whip that +made her drop Port Arthur and withdraw from the continent of Asia, thus +relinquishing the chief advantages gained by her victory over China. The +whole sum paid Japan by China as a war indemnity has been expended on +her navy and on armaments. In the East, in both naval and military +strength, she is superior to Russia_. + +"_Whether or not we shall soon have war will depend on whether Japan +will quietly wait until Russia shall have finished the Trans-Siberian +Railway, secured Korea, intrenched and fortified herself along the +Asiatic coast, and built a fleet of sufficient strength entirely to +overawe the little empire. It is doubtful if Japan will wait for the +time when Russia shall be ready to strangle her. She may strike and +drive Russia from Korea and secure, as well, a fair share of Chinese +territory; or, what amounts to the same thing, a lease of a portion of +the Celestial Empire. She will thereafter be better able to protect her +interests in Chinese trade and opportunities. Should she strike soon, +and she and Russia be left to themselves, Japan ought to win, for she is +close at hand and will be able to bring to bear upon the points of +collision a much greater force than Russia. She will also be able to +act with correspondingly greater celerity._ + + * * * * * + +"_If we would essay to predict future events, we must draw the lines of +divination in the direction that we see the nations grow, and these +lines must be parallel with those of great commercial interests--be +parallel with those of national self-interests. We then have but one +more question to consider, on which to base à priori judgment. It is the +question of might--of national resources and blood and iron._ + +"_What was true on a small scale, with primitive tribes of men, is also +true on a large scale, with the great world powers of today. In early +times, like the ebb and flow of the tides of the sea, conquest and +re-conquest, victory and defeat, followed one another. Then destruction +succeeded growth and growth destruction._ + +"_As the great banyan tree constantly encroaches upon the territory of +surrounding flora, to overtop and blight and kill all upon which its +shadow falls, so do and so must nations in their growth encroach upon +their neighbors._ + +"_In recent times, the tremendous strides made in the arts and sciences, +and the birth of new industries, and the enormous growth of all, have +provided room and occupation for the earth's great dominating peoples. +Vast land areas have been reclaimed, and boundless resources +developed. Thus far the overflow has been upon the lands of the tameless +American Indian--of the lazy African--of the docile Hindoo, and the +simple savage of the southern seas. Now it is China's turn, and the +wolves of greed, in the guise of trade, are already howling at her +gates._ + +"_Growth is proceeding with constantly accelerating rapidity, and soon +the overflow must be on lands already filled to overflowing--not then +with simple savages. It will then be Greek to Greek, over fortresses +that frown along the whole frontier. Then there will be a clash. It is +coming. Where the storm will first break, and when, is a question. That +a great conflict will come, and at no distant date, is certain."--"The +Home Magazine," July, 1900._ + + * * * * * + +At the first annual banquet of the Aëronautical Society four years ago, +I predicted exactly the use of the aëroplane in war that it has had +since that time. President Taft was one of the speakers, and his subject +was his pet peace and arbitration treaties. He said that there were not +likely to be the requisite wars for testing out the aëroplane, as +predicted. He said that there was going to be a shortage of wars. + +Since that time, we have had the revolution in China, the Italian war +with Tripoli, the Balkan wars, a continuous revolutionary performance +in Mexico, and finally, we have the present great European War. Not +much of a shortage in wars, truly! + +The following quotation from Dr. David Starr Jordan's "War and Waste" is +an excellent illustration of the prophetic wisdom that is keeping the +United States of America unprepared against war: + + * * * * * + +"_What shall we say of the Great War of Europe, ever threatening, ever +impending, and which never comes? We shall say that it will never come. +Humanly speaking, it is impossible._ + +"_Not in the physical sense, of course, for with weak, reckless, and +godless men nothing evil is impossible. It may be, of course, that some +half-crazed archduke or some harassed minister of state shall +half-knowing give the signal for Europe's conflagration. In fact, the +agreed signal has been given more than once within the last few months. +The tinder is well dried and laid in such a way as to make the worst of +this catastrophe. All Europe cherishes is ready for the burning. Yet +Europe recoils and will recoil even in the dread stress of +spoil-division of the Balkan war...._ + +"_But accident aside, the Triple Entente lined up against the Triple +Alliance, we shall expect no war...._ + +"_The bankers will not find the money for such a fight, the +industries of Europe will not maintain it, the statesmen cannot. So +whatever the bluster or apparent provocation, it comes to the same thing +at the end. There will be no general war until the masters direct the +fighters to fight. The masters have much to gain, but vastly more to +lose, and their signal will not be given._" + + * * * * * + +Eight years ago, when the great Peace Conference was held at Carnegie +Hall, New York, to discuss the limitation and abolishment of armaments, +the most notable of the pacifists represented were invited by the +Economic Club of Boston to attend a banquet in that city for the free +hot-airing of their views. + +There was much sophistical palaver about destroying our old battle-flags +and leveling our soldiers' monuments and all landmarks and reminders of +war. William T. Stead, however, was more rational, and he was annoyed by +the silly impracticable nonsense of some of the dubs of peace. Stead's +better sense was evidenced by the fact that the following winter he +recommended to the British Parliament that England build two battleships +to every one built by Germany. + +Invited to speak in defense of armaments, I held that we must arm for +peace, and not disarm for it. I began my remarks by telling them this +story: + +In a small paragraph in an obscure place upon the back page of a +leading Boston paper, I once saw the announcement that Herbert Spencer, +the great philosopher, was very ill, and not expected to live. On the +front page of the same paper, under bold headlines, was a three-column +article on the physical condition of John L. Sullivan. + +John L. Sullivan was a fighter, while Herbert Spencer was only a +philosopher; hence the difference in public interest. + +John L. Sullivan, in his time, standing on the corner, would deplete the +hall and break up any peace meeting in the world, and block the street +with massed humanity for a square, jostling for a sight of him. + +Several years ago, a reverend gentleman by the name of Charles Edward +Jefferson elicited much applause by his public utterances on the +blessings and advantages of non-resistance and meekness mild. He made it +as clear as the day dawn of June, to the unreasoning, that it is all a +mistake to build guns, warships, and coast fortifications; that our war +colleges are not institutions of actual learning at all, but are +institutions for teaching ignorance. He declared that militarism is +squandering the taxpayers' money by the hundreds of millions, and all +because the advocates of militarism and the friends of militarism are +perverse and wilfully wot not what they do, though wisdom radiant as the +rainbow stares them in the face; and because our military men, who have +been educated at government expense and who, we have thought, were +devoting their lives to the country's service in studying its needs and +fighting its battles, are desirous merely of promotion and of widening +the sphere of their activities. + +According to Dr. Jefferson, these men are not what we have supposed +them--a bulwark against trouble, but are trouble-makers, ignorant of the +primary essential of their profession, namely militant meekness; and +instead of being guardians of peace and an assurance against war, they +are actual war-breeders. He seems to think that there is a real +conspiracy to squander the taxpayers' money in the interest of a +military clique. + +A man may be wrong, and yet be honest. Prejudice is honest. Dr. +Jefferson is doubtless honest, and if it should be that he is right, +then his doctrine is practicable. If he is right, our military men are +wrong. If our army and navy officers, who have been educated at the +public expense and in the school of experience, do not know and +understand better this country's needs in the respects and particulars +for which they have been educated than does this good ecclesiastic, then +it is proved that the church is a better military school than Annapolis +or West Point. Theology, and not military science, should hereafter be +taught in those institutions. The military parade should be called in +from the campus and be replaced by knee drill in the chapel, and +hereafter, at Annapolis, at West Point, and along the firing-line, the +command should be Shoulder Psalms, instead of Shoulder Arms. + +Let us lay down our arms and spike our guns, disband the military parade +from the campus, as the sentimentalists desire us to do, and we shall +very soon, with Kubla Khan, hear "ancestral voices [George Washington's +among them] prophesying war." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +CAN LAW BE SUBSTITUTED FOR WAR? + + +I am a peace advocate--that is to say, I am one who advocates an active +campaign in the cause of peace, employing the best means and instruments +for the accomplishment of practical results. + +Unfortunately, a wide difference of opinion exists in the ranks of those +who style themselves peace advocates as to how the war against war can +best be fought. That difference of opinion is as to whether we should +arm for the fray, or disarm for it. Shall we go into the fight with +sword and buckler, and with armor on, prepared to return blow with +stronger blow; or shall we go into the fight with bared breasts, and, +when we receive a blow upon one cheek turn the other cheek also, and let +both our eyes be blackened and our nose be skinned in order to shame our +antagonist, by giving him an object lesson of the horrors of war? + +Ernst Haeckel has said there is nothing constant but change. He might +have said also that there is a no more consistent thing in its constancy +than human inconsistency. + +That other great philosopher, Herbert Spencer, declared that, as he grew +older, the more and more he realized the extent to which mankind is +governed by irrationality. + +Josh Billings said, "It is not so much the ignorance of men that makes +them ridiculous as what they know that is not so." + +The complex problems of ethics, eugenics, economics, and human dynamics, +which enter into all questions and problems of peace and war, are like +so many Chinese puzzles to the ordinary mind. + +There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of minds--the ratiocinative and +the irrational; in other words, the logical and the illogical. The +logical mind proceeds scientifically from sure premises to just +conclusions, taking no direction and traveling no faster and no farther +in any direction than warranted and justified by ascertained fact. The +irrational or illogical mind, on the contrary, is unable to discriminate +between belief and knowledge, between facts and fancies. Consequently, +this type of mind proceeds from guess to conclusion, with the result +that final judgment is necessarily distorted, warped, and swerved from +truth just in proportion as the basic guess is incorrect or false. + +There is a no more momentous problem before the world today than that of +international jurisprudence, especially with respect to the maintenance +of peace where practicable, and the control of wars, when wars are +inevitable or necessary; and there is no subject of such moment more +fruitful of irrationalism. + +In the light of practical common-sense, there is nothing funnier in the +writings of Mark Twain than the inconsistent prating of our peace +sophists. It is as though they let not their right-hand brain know what +their left-hand brain is doing. They are usually brimmed and primed with +sacrificial sentimentality and over-soul. Their delicatessen natures +shrink from contact with the stern, man-making realities of life. They +are the disciples of soft stuff. The mush and moonshine of maudlin +sentimentalism are their element. They possess no powers of +discrimination between the actual and the erroneous. The guise of fact +is no recommendation to them unless it fits into their scheme. An error +is far more welcome if it comes in a garmenture that conforms with their +ideals. They put their union label on what we receive by the grace of +God, but they fail to recognize and appreciate that they cannot +comprehend the infinite; that what to them seems disorder and confusion +in the world may be the most perfect order in the eye of God. They +cannot understand how infinite wisdom, infinite justice, and infinite +mercy should have created a warring world; consequently, they have set +themselves the task of repairing the faults of creation and of +recreating the world to suit their own ideas as to what infinite wisdom +and mercy ought to be. + +When one of these peace sophists gets into a fight, however, he promptly +prays to God to help him whip the other fellow. The pacific +sentimentalist is usually a most arrant coward. In time of war, the +cowardly sentimental pacifists are the loudest in appeals to Almighty +God to fight on their side and to lead their army to victory--that same +army which in time of peace they have done everything in their power to +disarm and disband. + +Recently, when speaking at a church, I was asked the question, "How long +is it going to take to make might right?" I asked my interrogator this +question: "If, at the creation, you had been consulted and your advice +asked as to whether or not a world should be made in which all life +should feed on other life, and half of the animal creation should be +made prey for the other half; whether everything should be made tooth +and nail, claw and scale, hunter and hunted, terror and blood, strife +and war; whether or not the cat should train for the hunt by torturing +the little bird--how would you have replied to God?" My querist did not +answer me, but went home to think it over. + +I do not purpose to make any apology for Infinite Wisdom. My pacifist +friends are doing that constantly. It is my humble opinion that the +Creator did the best He could for us, and that we ought to be thankful +and grateful. + +I believe with Pope, that: + + "_Spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, + One truth is clear--whatever is, is right._" + +I realize that the most perfect order is confusion to the mind that is +not constituted to comprehend it. + +I know that the macrocosmic mechanism moves with mathematical +exactitude, and that we, in comparison, are mighty only in our +arrogance; that, in fact, we are but microscopic specks in the drift of +worlds. + +Nature seems to care little for individuals, but very much for races and +species; little indeed for a person, very much for a people. + +The terms right and wrong, good and bad, are entirely relative. Right +for an individual may not be so for a large aggregation of individuals. +The welfare of a nation or a people may not be the welfare of the world, +and God has His eye on the world. + + _The wrong are weak, the right are strong. + This mean the two terms right and wrong; + And truth sought out to any length, + Finds all wrong weakness, all right strength._ + + +FORMATIVE STRIFE + + +Primeval man found himself thrust into an environment where all animal +life fed on other life, and half the animal creation was prey for the +other half. He was one of the hunted. Yet, with less strength but +greater cunning, he was destined to master all. Man's supremacy has been +developed by warfare of wit, craft, and cunning, versus brute force. + +Primitive man found himself "up a tree" in both the actual and the +metaphoric sense. His teeth and claws were no match for those of the +leopard and the sabre-toothed tiger. He had no recourse but flight until +stern necessity taught him to wield a club. + +Then he climbed down from his abode in trees, and began the conquest of +the earth. The club made man a traveler. His forays with that weapon +taught him to walk and fight upon his hind legs, and gave him his erect +carriage. But he had to travel a long and thorny pathway indeed, armed +only with a club, before he invented the stone hatchet and spear of +sharpened flint or bone. It was a far-flung span across the gulf of time +from the tree-home to the cave in the hill, his new abiding-place. + +The bow and arrow, which enabled him to kill at long range, were his +next weapon, and were the greatest invention of all time. + +The protection of the heart with the left arm and shield, with the right +arm free to wield the sword or hurl the javelin, made man right-handed. + +Armed with the bow and arrow, spear and shield, man was equipped still +better for travel; and ever since travel has been widening out the sky +and broadening man's mental horizon. + +The fighting spirit widened the acquaintance of different peoples, and +the terrible menace of some savage common enemy forced different tribes +to unite and build up nations. Union against danger is the best +instructor of self-government, and the best guarantee of internal good +behavior. + +It is generally recognized that man is a product of his environment; +that he is in body and mind the sum of his own and ancestral +experiences; that he is omnivorous; that he drinks water and breathes +air; and yet, many persons fail to recognize the inevitable concomitant +conclusion that he is also of necessity a warring animal, and that the +formative influences of the fierce struggle for existence have made him +what he is. His life is a series of reactions to environing stimuli; and +he is actuated and shaped by those stimuli, and just as those stimuli +have been necessary to his growth, so they are still necessary to his +continued growth, and even to his very existence. In other words, the +formative influences that have made and sustained man are still +necessary to his maintenance. The character of the strife may be +changed, and is already largely changed, from war to business. But the +intensity of the struggle cannot be alleviated one whit, because it is +impossible, in the nature of things, to maintain man's strength of +character in any other way. He could live a little longer without strife +than without food or air or water, but the absence of strife would be as +fatal to him in the end as would be the absence of food, air, or water. + +The struggle for existence has always been a business proposition with +man, and business today is a struggle for existence as intense and +merciless as the struggle in war. + +In olden times, piracy and war for plunder were the principal business +of mankind. Today, business is a warfare, and though it may be +law-abiding, still the weak go down under it and suffer and die under it +as surely as they did in old-time wars. The relation of strength to +weakness remains unchanged, and the reward for strength and the penalty +for weakness are as great as they ever were. + +There now exists, as always, the same intensity of incentive of all +classes to strive for something more and something better than they +have. Though the condition of all classes has improved, the struggle of +individual with individual is as great, the strife of class with class +is as intense as ever. + +The ownership of one's earnings, with freedom to apply and enjoy them, +was the greatest prize ever offered to stimulate the working genius of +this world, and the results during the past hundred and fifty years have +been phenomenal. + +The world has progressed more within that time in those things which +tend to complete living than it had previously progressed in all the +ages that had dragged their slow length along since the world thawed out +of the ancient ice. + +But human agencies, like all agencies in nature, are essentially +rhythmical. In order to accumulate the necessary energy and enthusiasm +to go far enough in the right direction, we inevitably go too far, and, +when the pendulum returns, it swings to the other extreme. + +It is important to realize the great truth that freedom ends when it +aims beyond the spirit which strives for the greatest good to the +greatest number. + +According to Herbert Spencer, the criminal classes are composed of those +who have been pushed out of the race in the struggle for existence under +modern conditions. They were normal components of society in the past, +when all men were soldiers and all soldiers were bandits, and the +principal business of mankind was piracy and war for plunder. + +There being no longer the ever-present opportunity to join in an +inter-tribal or an international war for robbery, the soldier-bandit +now makes war upon society. + +All of the Huns and Vandals in our midst are today armed with the +short-sword of the ballot. How important it is then that they should be +taught to know and to understand that in the use of this weapon their +work should be formative and not deformative; that it should be +constructive and not destructive! + + +SUBSTITUTION OF LAW FOR WAR + + +The poet's words, "The parliament of man, the federation of the world," +have become a very familiar quotation in recent years. Anciently all +wisdom was taught in poesy, and we have never yet quite freed ourselves +from the age-long habitude of receiving as unimpeachable wisdom whatever +may be said in verse. + +To the common mind, a statement in didactic verse has the proselyting +power of Holy Writ. Now, this line of Tennyson, "The parliament of man, +the federation of the world," points us toward a Utopia, without hope of +actual attainment. + +There is at the present time a growing good intention to put an end to +wars by international conciliation and arbitration; in short, to +substitute law for war. We must, however, keep strongly in mind the +interdependence of law and force, and the consequent interdependence of +international law and armaments. Conciliation must not be confounded +with arbitration, and persuasion must not be confounded with law. + +Law has been aptly designated "codified custom." Actually, law is an +attempt to construct experience into prophecy. We are able to judge of +the sufficiency of new laws only by the sufficiency of laws in past +practice. + +The error is very common, to confound as having the same meaning terms +of quite opposite meanings--for example, it is a very common error to +confound society with government, and civilization with enlightenment. +Society is an order of things by virtue of which we are able to +co-operate with one another and to enjoy mutuality of possessions which +gives them their only value; while government is an order of things for +the purpose of protecting society. + +The world has arrived at great enlightenment, and has attained some +degree of civilization. Self-interest is becoming more and more +altruistic, and altruism is becoming more and more profitable. We are +not so barbarous as we used to be, but we still slaughter one another to +adjust international differences. This cannot be esteemed civil +procedure. Enlightenment may be very uncivil, and civility may not be +enlightenment. + +The great problem yet remains of uniting under practical laws the +nations of the earth into a family of nations. + +This is not a work for dreamers or sentimentalists; but is purely a +business proposition, which can be effected only to the extent that the +best interests of all the contracting parties are thereby secured. + +When will arbitration be able to realize the Utopian dreams of the +pacifists? General Homer Lea answers the question once for all in the +following expressive terms: + + * * * * * + + "_Only when arbitration is able to unravel the tangled skein of crime +and hypocrisy among individuals can it be extended to communities and +nations. Thence will International Arbitration come of its own accord as +the natural outgrowth of national evolution through the individual. As +nations are only man in the aggregate, they are the aggregate of his +crimes and deception and depravity, and so long as these constitute the +basis of individual impulse, so long will they control the acts of +nations._ + +"_When, therefore, the merchant arbitrates with the customer he is about +to cheat; when trusts arbitrate with the people they are about to +fleece; when the bulls and bears arbitrate with the lambs they are about +to shear; when the thief arbitrates with the man he is about to rob, or +the murderer with his victim, and so on throughout the category of +crime, then will communities be able to dispense with laws, and +international thievery and deception, shearing and murder, resort to +arbitration._" + + * * * * * + +The men who control our city and state politics and make and enforce our +city and state laws all over the country are not always honest, but, on +the contrary, they are often notoriously corrupt, notwithstanding the +fact that they have much stronger incentives to be honest here than they +would have in dealing with foreign nations and strange peoples. What, +therefore, are we to expect of their integrity and their honesty in the +settlement of international disputes and in the enactment and execution +of international laws? + +What an enormous field for graft it will be when some weaker nation +tries to get its rights at the coming international tribunal! + +Our laws are now notoriously inadequate with respect to theft, burglary, +highway robbery, and municipal-government graft. The amount of money +loss to the people of this country through the failure of our laws to +suppress these iniquities is enough to support a standing army of half a +million men, build four battleships a year, and place us on such a +defensive footing as absolutely to preclude all danger of war with any +foreign power. + +Has human nature improved so much lately that special privilege will no +longer result from special power? Has the human race progressed so much +lately that privilege and oppression will not follow power; wealth and +luxury follow privilege; and degeneracy and disorganization follow +wealth and luxury? + +The race has certainly not so altered that men do not grow old and die; +and nations, like men, have their youth, their middle age, their +decrepitude and death. + +Periodically, some religio-pathological sect will announce the +conclusion of an understanding with the Great Reaper, whereby, through +certain incantations or breathing exercises, death may be indefinitely +postponed; but they, like other mortals, keep on dying. + +Those good men who are the leaders in the present peace movement must +realize the fact that the carrying out of their project will devolve, +not upon them--not upon the philanthropist, the sentimentalist, and the +humanitarian--but upon the politician. + +The actual procedure of the Hague congresses enables us to forecast +exactly this result. The judicial bench of that court was a +bargain-counter, over which political advantage was bartered for +political advantage. It was no real love of peace that dominated those +tribunals: only the powerful nations spoke or were heard. No protection +was suggested for the weaker nations, who, presumably, would be most +benefited by international arbitration. They were quite out of the +running. + +International arbitration will ultimately become a political machine. +Nothing can prevent it, and there is no reason to believe that those +politicians who will have control of the international arbitration +machine will be any more honest than other machine politicians. + + +ALL LAW MUST BE BACKED BY FORCE + + +It is a popular belief that when the paradoxical conciliatory legal +persuasion in the form of arbitration goes into effect, we shall no +longer require any armaments, but may forge our swords into plow-shares +and spears into pruning-hooks, disband our armies, and return the +soldiers to the shops and farms. + +We are prone to forget that law is as much a representative of the +requisite power behind it for its enforcement as a paper dollar is a +representative of the requisite gold available for its redemption. A +well-known orator came very near becoming President through a popular +misconception as to the interdependence of gold and paper money, and he +failed to get the Presidency because of a public awakening to the error. + +We are prone to forget, furthermore, that it is the respect for power +behind law that makes possible its enforcement. Any law to adjust +international differences by arbitration will simply be an embodiment +of the collective wisdom of allied Powers in the exercise of force, and +a force that is representative of their banded armies and navies. + +International law is static military force. War is the dynamic form of +the same force. I believe in international arbitration for all it is +worth. It is a good thing to push along. It will unquestionably lessen +the frequency of wars, but many wars are sure to come in spite of it, +and because of it. + + +NON-JUSTICIABLE DIFFERENCES + +There are ills of national bodies politic that can be cured only by the +sword. Insurmountable differences between various nations and races of +men are always sure to arise, as impossible to arbitrate as the +differences between the herbivora and the carnivora. + +The existence of the carnivora depends upon the sacrifice of the +herbivora. Their interests are, from their very nature, antagonistic, +and their differences are, by consequence, insurmountable, and not +justiciable. The harmony of nature depends upon inharmony between the +meat-eaters and the vegetable-eaters, and the harmony of modern progress +has likewise depended in large measure upon formative inharmony between +peoples. + +Such radical differences and such concomitant radical diversity of +interests exist among the various races of men that the task of +harmonizing their interests, aims, and activities will be about as great +as would be that of bleaching their skins to a uniform color. + +It is a practical impossibility to enact international laws that will +make the welfare of each nation the concern of all, with no +subordination of any one to the welfare of another. Will arbitration be +able to place all peoples upon a plane of equality? Will it be able to +secure to all, even the meanest, equal rights to enjoyment of property, +life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? + +Will arbitration be able to make the Anglo-Saxon, the Teuton, the +African, and the Oriental meet one another on common ground, and share +and share alike, live and let live, when their interests come into +collision? + +If arbitration cannot do this--if arbitration does not do this--if it +does not treat all with strict impartiality, then those who are +ill-treated are going to rebel, and wars will still come. + +Between nations no sentimental consideration exists or is possible, +sufficiently effectual to exert more than the merest microscopic +influence as a deterrent of war. Self-interest always has been, and +always will be, the deciding factor in the settlement of international +disputes. War uncloaks international hypocrisy, and the people are seen +in their true character. + +The attitude of the warlike and powerful nations in the past toward the +weaker nations has been very similar to that of the carnivora toward the +herbivora. + +International arbitration may somewhat lessen the burden of armaments, +but the time will be long before it can lift the burden. The orators who +plead at the International Tribunal will speak in the voice of the +deep-throated guns behind them; their persuasion will be that of cold +steel, and neither brotherly love nor international sympathy will be +their guide, but self-interest, and no demands will be relinquished +except from policy in their observance of such rights of others as are +warded by the frowning ramparts of opposing force. + +Unless all the nations of the world join in the pact, then arbitration +will simply be an alliance for the benefit of the allies themselves as +against all others. There will be nothing new in such an arrangement. +The Six Nations of New York did the same thing; they formed a federation +and settled their differences by arbitration, and it was a good thing +for the Six Nations; but it was not a good thing for the neighboring +Indian tribes. + +We Americans expect to get all we want any way, either with or without +arbitration. If we expected that the Chinese would be forced upon us, +or our rights and privileges curtailed in the Orient, we should not +think of joining in an arbitration pact for a minute. + +There will always be the warfare of commerce for the markets of the +world, and it will be tempered with avarice, not mercy; and commercial +warfare will become more and more severe as the nations grow, and as +competition, with want and hunger behind it, gets keen as the sword-edge +with the crowding of people into the narrow world. + + +UNCHANGING HUMAN NATURE + + +Human nature is the same today as it was in the ante-rebellion days of +human slavery. It is the same as it was when Napoleon, with the +will-o'-the-wisp of personal and national glory held before the eyes of +emotional and impressionable Frenchmen, led them to wreck for him the +monarchies of Europe. Human nature is the same today as it was in +Cæsar's time, when he massacred two hundred and fifty thousand +Germans--men, women, and children--in a day, in cold blood, while +negotiations for peace were pending, and entered in his diary the simple +statement, "Cæsar's legions killed them all." Human nature is the same +today as it was in the cruel old times, when war was the chief business +of mankind, and populations sold as slaves were among the most +profitable plunder. Yes, human nature is the same as it has always +been. Education and Christian teaching have made pity and sympathy more +familiar to the human heart, but avarice and the old fighting spirit are +kept in leash only by the dominance of necessity and circumstances, +which the institutions of civilization impose upon the individual. + +The following is quoted from "Origins and Destiny of Imperial Britain," +by the late Professor J. A. Cramb: + + * * * * * + + "_War may change its shape, the struggle here intensifying it, there +abating it; it may be uplifted by ever loftier purposes and nobler +causes. But cease? How shall it cease?_ + +"_Indeed, in the light of history, universal peace appears less as a +dream than as a nightmare, which shall be realized only when the ice has +crept to the heart of the sun, and the stars, left black and trackless, +start from their orbits._" + + * * * * * + +Max Müller has told us that the roots of some of our words are older +than the Egyptian Pyramids. Far older still are the essential traits of +human nature. The human nature of today will be the human nature of +tomorrow, and the human nature of tomorrow will be in all essential +respects the same as it was in ancient Rome, Persia, and Egypt, and even +in the palmy days of sea-sunk Atlantis. + +The best of us are at heart barbarians under a thin veneer of +civilization, and it is as natural for us to revert to barbarous war as +for the hog to return to his wallow. + +If we were able to apply to the upbuilding of our Army and Navy the +money that goes to political graft throughout the country, and the money +that has been squandered, and is still being squandered through our +notorious vote-purchasing pensions, we could place ourselves upon a war +footing that would be an absolute guarantee of permanent peace. It is +not, therefore, very encouraging, to enlarge this failing system of +laws, in order to save an annual expenditure certainly less than what +the defects of our laws now cost the country. + +Even though international wars may be prevented by a court of +arbitration, can rebellion and civil war be prevented, and ought they +always to be prevented? + + +JUSTIFIABLE WARS + + +When the unjust laws of an iniquitous government make existence +intolerable for the great mass of the people of a country or of a +colonial possession; "when in the course of human events, it becomes +necessary" for a people to throw off the yoke of oppression, as we did +in our War of the Revolution, or as the French people did in the French +Revolution, or as the great Chinese people have lately done by their +rebellion against the domination of an intolerable savage Manchu +monarchy, then war is the only remedy, and freedom can then plead only +with the sword. + +I quote the following from Theodore Roosevelt's "America and the World +War": + + * * * * * + +"_In 1864 there were in the North some hundreds of thousands of men who +praised peace as the supreme end, as a good more important than all +other goods, and who denounced war as the worst of all evils. These men +one and all assailed and denounced Abraham Lincoln, and all voted +against him for President. Moreover, at that time there were many +individuals in England and France who said it was the duty of those two +nations to mediate between the North and the South, so as to stop the +terrible loss of life and destruction of property which attended our +Civil War; and they asserted that any Americans who in such event +refused to accept their mediation and to stop the war would thereby show +themselves the enemies of peace. Nevertheless, Abraham Lincoln and the +men back of him by their attitude prevented all such effort at +mediation, declaring that they would regard it as an unfriendly act to +the United States. Looking back from a distance of fifty years, we can +now see clearly that Abraham Lincoln and his supporters were right. Such +mediation would have been a hostile act, not only to the United States +but to humanity. The men who clamored for unrighteous peace fifty years +ago this fall were the enemies of mankind._" + + * * * * * + +Those who are oppressed by the superincumbent weight of society, and +labor for mere existence, with no hope of freedom from poverty, are +slaves as much as were those made bondsmen in old-time wars. It matters +little whether the wolf at the door be a creature of sociological +conditions, or a creature of war. The evil is no less real. + +James Russell Lowell, in his admirable poem on France and the French +Revolution, said about the most expressive, the most potential, and +altogether the best thing that has ever been said illustrative of the +uncontrollable massiveness of the popular will, which, under the +stimulus of patriotism or the smart or burden of accumulated wrongs, can +stampede a nation into war: + + "_As, flake by flake, the beetling avalanches + Build up their imminent crags of noiseless snow, + Till some chance thrill the loosened ruin launches + And the blind havoc leaps unwarned below, + So grew and gathered through the silent years + The madness of a People, wrong by wrong. + There seemed no strength in the dumb toiler's tears, + No strength in suffering;--but the Past was strong: + The brute despair of trampled centuries + Leapt up with one hoarse yell and snapt its bands, + Groped for its rights with horny, callous hands, + And stared around for God with bloodshot eyes._" + +The justification of war depends entirely upon the conditions which +produce it. In short, war is justifiable only when it is a remedy for +evils greater than the evils of the war. War is sometimes a very bitter +remedy; nevertheless, there are diseases much worse than the remedy. The +horrors of the French Revolution, bad as they were, remedied a condition +still more horrible, for the condition of the French common people, +"bowed by the weight of centuries," had become so abject that life was +intolerable; no change could be for the worse. Under such circumstances +there is no fear of death; the fear of death is only fear of the loss of +life through love of life. When existence is intolerable, and there is +no hope in the heart for better things, life, having no value, is not +much loved, and death has no terrors. + +In spite of all the bloodshed of the reign of terror, in spite of all +who fell under the leadership of Napoleon, the French people were +benefited by the Revolution a thousand-fold more than they were injured +by it. + +If arbitration could prevent such wars, which are man's God-given +privilege that a people may secure its inalienable rights, then +arbitration, in that respect, would be an iniquitous thing. + +War, at best, is a horrible business. It is a reversion to the brute +force of primitive savagery, and is never justifiable except in the +extremity of last resort. But we must appreciate and acknowledge the +fact that the horrors of war, the sacrifice of treasure, the sacrifice +of life, are no arguments whatever against war when inalienable human +rights are at stake that must be fought for, and that are worth the +sacrifice. + +There are at times objects and obligations which are worth the +sacrifice. To prevent war in such cases would be a disgrace and a crime. + +As Admiral Mahan says, "Even the material evils of war are less than the +moral evil of compliance with wrong." + + +CHRISTIANITY AND WAR + +In 1901, the editor of _The Christian Herald_ requested me to write an +article in answer to the following question: "Is it consistent for a +loyal Christian, who believes that war is contrary to the teachings of +the Prince of Peace, to engage in the manufacture of material designed +exclusively for the purpose of war?" + +In my reply, I pointed out that the great majority of Christians +throughout the world, while they hate war, are often called upon +themselves to become warriors and to fight for their doctrine of peace. +The Rev. T. De Witt Talmage was chosen to reply to my article, which he +did by agreeing with all I had said. + +According to the annals of history, wars have almost invariably been +caused by one party attempting to rob another party, or one people +another people. On such occasions, it is self-evident that the blame for +the wars rested with the robbers. Those who fought in defense of their +lives and property, although actual participants in warfare, were +guiltless. + +Of course, the attempt to rob and plunder has sometimes been mutual, and +both participants have been aggressors, as were Napoleon and Alexander +in the Russian war. In the great majority of cases, however, one side +has been on the aggressive, and the other on the defensive. + +When an officer of the law catches an evil-doer in the act, and is +attacked by him, if, in making an arrest, the officer is compelled to +draw his own revolver and shoot the malefactor, he does a justifiable +act. We have here war in miniature, and it may be taken as a type of all +wars. While we are free to grant that wars are wrong, yet the wrong +rests entirely with the offenders, instead of with the defenders, of +human right. + +Housebreaking is wrong, yet the brave knight who, in mediæval times, +breached a castle wall to free some prisoner unjustly held, did a wholly +commendable act. Similarly, one nation which raises an army to free from +bondage slaves held by another nation, does an equally commendable act, +and the blame for the war rests with those who hold the slaves. + +War is an ugly and an awful thing, while some peace theories are very +beautiful, and they are quite safe in times of peace; but when, in the +past, slaves had to be freed, then the true Christians took down their +old swords and shouldered their old guns, and went to the front. If we +read the inscriptions on the monuments erected to the memory of those +who died in our great Civil War, we find it was an army of Christians +who fell. + +War is often a necessity. It cannot always be avoided, and, when it +comes, we want the best tools we can get with which to fight. It is +criminal negligence for a nation not to be prepared against war. It is +criminal negligence for a great nation not to be abreast of the times in +arms and equipment. + +Often at the bayonet's point, trade and civilization and even +Christianity, have been forced upon the savage, and upon exclusive and +unwarlike peoples, and now Christianity, civilization, and militarism, +sisters of strange relation, hand in hand, embrace the world. + +In "Sartor Resartus" Carlyle says: + + "_The first ground handful of nitre, sulphur, and charcoal drove Monk + Schwartz's pestle through the ceiling. What will the last do?_" + +His own answer is that it will + + "... _achieve the final undisputed prostration of force under thought, + of animal courage under spiritual_." + +Again Carlyle says, in the same work: + + * * * * * + +"_Such I hold to be the genuine use of gunpowder: that it makes all men +alike tall. Nay, if thou be cooler, cleverer than I, if thou have more +mind, though all but no body whatever, then canst thou kill me first, +and art the taller. Hereby, at last is the Goliath powerless and the +David resistless; savage animalism is nothing, inventive spiritualism is +all_." + + * * * * * + +What does the Bible say about Christ's mission of peace? + + * * * * * + +"_And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host +praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth +peace, good will toward men" (Luke II: 13, 14)._ + +"_And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest ... to +guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke I: 76, 79)._ + +"_And his name shall be called ... The Prince of Peace" (Is. IX: 6)._ + + * * * * * + +I hold that there is nothing whatever in the foregoing quotations +inconsistent with warring for the right. From the nature of things, war +is often the price of peace, and justice can only be enforced by the +sword. In the great American Rebellion it was the voice of guns alone +that could command the emancipation of the slaves. + +An apostle of the Prince of Peace may often best serve his Master by +becoming a good soldier. The Christian armies that turned back and drove +out of Europe the invading Moors rendered their Master better service +than had they, in order to escape war, fled before the advancing hosts +of Islam. + +Should China and India become really aroused and advance during the next +twenty-five years as rapidly as has Japan during a like period in the +past, and should the great "Yellow Peril" rise in its might, and +threaten the Christian World, is there a single soldier of the Cross now +enlisted in the cause of Peace who would not then buckle on his +cartridge-belt, shoulder his gun, and go and fight in the defense of his +religion and his home? + +I must confess my belief that, if invasion were threatened on the +Atlantic Coast, some of the pacifists I have met would not buckle on the +cartridge-belt, but would, on the contrary, gird up their loins, take +the advice of Horace Greeley, and go West. + +Let us again quote from the Scriptures: + + * * * * * + +"_The Lord is a man of war_" (_Ex. XV: 3_). + +"_The Lord of Hosts is his name_" (_Is. LI: 15_). + +"_Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and +my fingers to fight" (Ps. CXLIV: 1)._ + + * * * * * + +It is evident that the modern Christian misunderstands Christ's true +mission, for he said: + + * * * * * + +"_Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send +peace, but a sword" (Matt. X: 34)._ + +"_I am come to send fire on the earth" (Luke XII: 49)._ + +"_And he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one ... +for the things concerning me have an end" (Luke XXII: 36, 37)._ + + * * * * * + +St. Paul said: + + * * * * * + +"_For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that +which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain; for he +is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth +evil" (Rom. XIII: 4)._ + + * * * * * + +Dr. Lyman Abbott, who is one of the best of America's big men, and one +of the biggest of America's best men, has the following to say about +war: + + * * * * * + +"_I am not, therefore, one of those who think that war is always wrong. +I cannot think that Jesus Christ Himself inculcated the doctrine that +force never could be used--He who, when He saw the traders in the +Temple, did not wait to argue with them nor to appeal to their +conscience, for He knew that they had neither reason nor conscience, but +drove them out with a whip of small cords, driving the cattle before Him +and overturning the tables of the money-changers and letting the money +roll upon the floor. I am not afraid to follow Him with whatsoever force +it may be necessary for righteousness to put on, when unrighteousness +has armed herself to commit wrong. I cannot think all war is wrong. If I +did, I should not want to look upon a Bunker Hill Monument, for it would +be a monument to our shame; I should want never to speak the name of +Gettysburg, for my lips would blister and my cheeks would blush; I +should want to bury in the grave of oblivion the names of Washington and +Grant._" + + * * * * * + +There can be but one interpretation of Christian duty and but one +interpretation of true peace. Without justice, the mere absence of war +does not constitute peace to the Christian. Neither to the Christian is +warfare waged in the interest of justice incompatible with the peace +principles which underlie his religious faith. Therefore, the true +interpretation of peace is absence of war, where justice reigns, and the +true Christian mission is to see that justice be done, for without it +there can be no righteous peace. Such peace as can reign with injustice +becomes the abettor of injustice. + +While I believe in international conciliation and arbitration, peace and +good will, I do not believe in unlimited arbitration. I do not believe +that arbitration can ever be a universal panacea with which all evils +can be cured without resort to firearms. There are times when throats +have to be cut, and when God is on the side of the executioner. + +When a nation persists perennially in war, it can only be brought to +peace by some other nation which will meet it on the battlefield. +Christ established the dictum that they who take the sword shall perish +by the sword. War begets war. The sword brings the sword. As Napoleon +said about sparing murderers and abolishing capital punishment, "_Que +messieurs les assassins commencent_." + +We want to put a stop to wars to save life. I wonder why it is that we +are not equally anxious to prevent loss of life from other causes +besides war. Why are we not equally interested in preventing the +tremendous loss of life from easily preventable railroad disasters? An +international movement for safety equipment and sanitation, with an +enlistment of effort and money equal to that being devoted to this great +peace movement would save many more lives every year than the annual +loss in the Napoleonic wars. + +Dr. Strong, President of the American Institute of Social Service, +stated at a dinner several years ago, that the number of persons killed +and wounded every year in the United States alone by railroad accidents, +steamship accidents, workshop accidents, accidents in the streets, and +other accidents--all very largely due to preventable causes--amounts to +more than 500,000. In the Japanese-Russian war a total of 333,786 men +were killed and wounded on both sides, not counting the losses in naval +battles. During the same period in the United States alone the great +army of American laborers engaged in manufacturing and building +operations suffered a loss of 425,000 killed and injured; 92,000 more +were therefore killed and injured in our industries in one year than +during that entire war. + +I wonder why it is that we are not as enthusiastic in this +social-service work as we are in attacking the problem of war. Is it +that there is more glory and more that appeals to the martial +imagination in attacking war and warriors than there is in the prosaic, +tame, and glamourless enterprise of simply saving human life in peaceful +pursuits for the mere sake of saving it? Is it the old war spirit in the +breasts of the peace men that moves them? Are they fighters, too? In +attacking war, do they feel that they are somehow identified with the +pomp and circumstance of glorious war? + + + + +CHAPTER III + +OUR INCONSISTENT MONROE DOCTRINE + + "If you want war, nourish a doctrine. Doctrines are the most + frightful tyrants to which men ever are subject, because + doctrines get inside of a man's own reason and betray him + against himself." + + _William Graham Sumner_, "_War and Other Essays_." + + +A doctrine is a creed, usually mandatory, framed by one person or set of +persons, for the belief or conduct of another person or set of persons. +A doctrine is not necessarily based upon principles of right, equity, +justice, or even expediency. + +Doctrines are directions written on the guide-boards of fanaticism. An +exact truth is never proclaimed as a doctrine: there is no doctrine of +mathematics. + +The Monroe Doctrine, which pledged the United States to defend American +republican institutions, north and south, against monarchical +encroachments from the Old World, with the dependable support of +England, was proclaimed in 1823, mainly in response to a Continental +doctrine called the Holy Alliance, formed in 1815 by and between +Austria, Russia, Prussia, and France. The Holy Alliance was in effect a +system of mutual political monarchical insurance, under which the +forces of the allied Powers could be used to subdue revolution against +the institution of kingship. + +The French Revolution, followed by the democratic empire of Napoleon, +had severely shaken the old intolerant and intolerable order of things. +The Holy Alliance was an expedient of the old order to insure itself +against democratic institutions. + +A revolution in Spain in 1820 was promptly suppressed by the Holy +Alliance, and the Spanish people, who had raised their heads and begun +to look around for freedom, were again bowed under the yoke of the +detested Bourbons. The Holy Alliance was surely a most unholy alliance. + +Russia, by a ukase in 1821, claimed the right to keep the vessels of all +other Powers out of the North Pacific Ocean. That was a Russian "Monroe +Doctrine" which helped to make Monroe a doctrinaire. + +In 1823 Spain lost, through revolutions, all of her American possessions +except Cuba and Porto Rico, and Portugal had lost Brazil. France had +lost the island of Haiti. + +The United States naturally sympathized with the newly-formed states +built on the ruins of the Spanish and Portuguese empires. They had +mostly adopted republican institutions, becoming sisters of the great +northern republic. + +James Monroe was not the father of the child named for him, for the +actual formulator of the Monroe Doctrine was John Quincy Adams, at that +time Secretary of State, who got the cue from George Canning. + +England wanted unrestricted trade with the Spanish-American countries; +she had no need of additional territory on the American continent, but +she saw danger in its acquisition by other nations. George Canning tried +four times in 1823 to get the United States to join England in her +declaration of the open-door policy. Monroe favored the proposal, but +finally Adams convinced the President that it would be better to avoid +any entangling arrangement with England, and to stand alone. + +On the second of December, 1823, in his annual message to Congress, +President Monroe made the following declaration on behalf of the United +States: + + * * * * * + +"_The American continents, by the free and independent condition which +they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as +subjects for future colonization by European powers.... We should +consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion +of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the +existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not +interfered and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have +declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we +have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we +could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them or +controlling, in any other manner, their destiny, by any European power, +in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly +disposition toward the United States._" + + * * * * * + +Such was the birth of the famous Monroe Doctrine. Its recognition by +England made it effective. The Monroe Doctrine has nothing whatever to +do with international law. It is simply an expression of British +national policy for the United States. + +Our diplomacy, being a branch of our politics, is often inconsistent +with our national policy. American justification for the doctrine +appears to have been mainly dependent upon the fact that we had no +intentions of encroaching upon the spheres of influence of any of the +nations of the Old World, but that we intended to safeguard what we +conceived to be our legitimate sphere of influence. + +The American Republic was very young when the Monroe Doctrine was +proclaimed--a doctrine which, as one writer has said, is "the most +magnificent bluff in all history, and so far the most successful." + +During the American Civil War, France, with the connivance of England, +conceived the plan of establishing in Mexico the empire of Maximilian. +We were too busy at the time, settling some little differences of +opinion within our family of states, to exact recognition of our +protest. After the memorable exchange of compliments and courtesies +between Grant and Lee at Appomattox, however, Uncle Sam indicated to +Napoleon the Little that the Imperialists must be kicked out. Lacking +the support of France, they were kicked out by the Mexicans. + +While through the Monroe Doctrine the United States served notice on the +nations of the Old World to keep hands off the American continent, the +doctrine at the same time constituted an implied promise on our part to +keep hands off any territory beyond the confines of America. So long as +the policies of Great Britain did not run counter to our Monroe +Doctrine, it was destined to be quite effective in preventing +land-grabbing on the American continent by other European Powers. But +the Monroe Doctrine possesses an innate dog-in-the-manger aspect, +certain some day to bring trouble, for the great nations of the world +have far outgrown the expectations of our forefathers; their commerce +has become an inseparable part of the commerce of South American +countries, and their interests in like measure have become identified +with the interests of those countries. Just to the extent that their +welfare and the welfare of the South American republics become mutual +are they likely to be brought into collision with the Monroe Doctrine, +and, when the collision comes, it means war, unless the United States +abandons that doctrine. + +[Illustration: The Vast Territory That Our Inflated Monroe Doctrine +Obligates Us to Defend] + +Our self-assumed protectorate over the South American republics is not +welcomed by those countries. They resent our arrogance. We have never +cultivated trade with them, nor joined them in the development of their +industries, and have never financed their enterprises. Even when an +American citizen has paid a visit to a South American country, he has +first found it necessary to go to England and take ship from there. + +The European countries, on the other hand, have promoted business +relations with the South American republics, have supplied them with +working capital and cultivated their friendship, confidence, and +respect, while we have done nothing of the sort. + +The citizens of the United States whom the South Americans have seen in +their dominions have usually been adventurous, irresponsible +fortune-hunters. Their trouble-breeding propensities have not tended to +foster amicable feeling between the great Republic of the North and her +Southern sisters. + +So long as the Monroe Doctrine did not circumscribe the ambitions of the +United States the institution possessed some semblance of vitality; but, +when the explosion came that blew up the _Maine_, it also exploded the +Monroe Doctrine, for immediately the United States, abandoning its +time-honored policy of keeping within American confines, and out of +entangling alliances and complications with other nations, reached out a +grasping hand and seized upon the Far Pacific possessions of Spain, +right at the door of China and within the legitimate sphere of influence +of Japan. Yet, curiously enough, we still adhere to the old +proclamation, America for the Americans, oblivious of the equal right of +China and Japan to proclaim, Asia for the Asiatics. + +Several years ago, I spoke at a luncheon of the Twentieth Century Club +in Boston. I was seated beside a noted Japanese diplomat. He said, "Mr. +Maxim, you have a Monroe Doctrine--America for the Americans; we also +have a similar doctrine--Asia for the Asiatics; but we are not ready to +enforce ours yet, and you are not ready, and are not likely to be ready, +to enforce yours. A little later, we shall inquire by what logic you can +proclaim America for the Americans, and disclaim our right equally to +proclaim Asia for the Asiatics." + +The Japanese are a far-seeing and a patient people. They know how to +wait, but they know also when to strike, and how to strike with the +force of a Jovian thunderbolt. They are no longer merely a cute little +picture-book people. They have risen with stupendous strides into a very +eminent position as a World-Power, a Power to be reckoned with. They are +different from us, but we have no right to consider them our inferiors. +They may very possibly prove to be our superiors. A government of the +people and for the people is a failure if the government does not take +measures for the adequate defense of the people. Self-preservation is +the first law of nature. Consequently, it is a law which must be +observed as the chief element of greatness. + +I quote the following from "The Valor of Ignorance," by General Homer +Lea: + + * * * * * + +"_How unreasonable is it to expect that the combined nations of Europe, +with all their military strength, shall remain restricted to one-twelfth +of this world's land, burrowed into and hewn over for the last thousand +years, while this Republic, without armies, shall maintain dominion over +one-half the unexploited lands of the world! Or that Japan, possessed of +two-thirds the population of this nation and a military organization +fifty-fold greater, shall continue to exist on her rocky isles that are, +inclusive of Korea, but one-two-hundred-and-fiftieth of the earth's +lands, while an undefended one-half lies under the guns of her +battleships!_ + + * * * * * + +"_The Monroe Doctrine is Promethean in conception, but not so in +execution. It was proclaimed in order to avoid wars; now it invites +them...._ + +"_The Monroe Doctrine, if not supported by naval and military power +sufficient to enforce its observance by all nations, singly and in +coalition, becomes a factor more provocative of war than any other +national policy ever attempted in modern or ancient times.... Societies, +religions, unions, business men, and politicians on the one hand, spare +no effort to debase every militant instinct and military efficiency or +preparation necessary for its enforcement, while, on the other, they +demand that the Chief Executive shall assert to the entire world this +Republic's intention to maintain, by the force of arms if necessary, +this most warlike and encompassing policy ever enunciated by man or +nation._" + + * * * * * + +The Monroe Doctrine did not require that any American possessions of the +European monarchies should be relinquished, but simply that they should +not be extended; and that, if relinquished or lost, they should not be +re-established as monarchical possessions. + +England, being in possession of the vast domain of Canada in North +America, British Honduras and British Guiana in South America, and a +goodly number of the West Indian islands, was in a position to look with +favor on the Monroe Doctrine, because in the event of Great Britain +being defeated in war by any of the Great Powers, her victor or victors +would be unable to seize any of her American possessions, for +automatically the United States would become an ally of Great Britain, +and would, in order to defend the Monroe Doctrine, have to defend these +possessions. + +When Sir Charles Tupper was High Commissioner of Canada, the writer saw +him in London, and suggested to him that it would be a good idea for the +Canadians to buy some automatic guns. He replied that Canada was very +peculiarly situated; that she could not be attacked successfully by any +Power unless the British fleet were first destroyed, which was not +likely, and, in the possible event of that fleet being destroyed, then +the United States would be obliged to defend Canada in order to defend +the Monroe Doctrine. + +The peace sophists often refer to the unfortified border-line between +the United States and Canada as an argument in favor of the abolition of +armaments throughout the world. They fail to perceive that the same +unarmed condition would not work between European countries, as, for +example, between France and Germany. If the people of Canada and the +United States were as different in race, language, ideals, and +ambitions as are the French and Germans; and if, also, the two countries +were as thickly settled and the inhabitants as land-hungry; and if each +had a history as antagonistic as the French and Germans; then +fortifications would be needed on the Canadian border. But the Canadians +and ourselves are of the same race, we speak the same tongue, we have +similar ideals and ambitions, and our history is not antagonistic; on +the contrary, it has been largely a common history--the history of +England, the mother country. + +England and France were obligated to defend Belgium against Germany. +Their defenses consisted mainly in bluff, but they were, nevertheless, +far better prepared to support Belgium than we would be to support any +South American country against German aggression. + +The navy of England is so far superior to ours that should she at any +time care to ignore the Monroe Doctrine and colonize in South America we +should be absolutely unable to prevent her. She would be able to isolate +us from South America and from the rest of the world, within the +continental territory of the forty-eight states. An impenetrable barrier +of British warships would lie between us and the Panama Canal. +Therefore, it will be seen that our Monroe Doctrine is an Anglo-American +compact, an _entente_, which we are obliged to defend if it should be in +the interest of Great Britain, and which Great Britain would not be +obliged to observe in case she might want to ignore it: + +Let us invite Admiral Mahan to conclude this chapter: + + * * * * * + +"_In the Monroe Doctrine, as now understood, and viewed in the light of +the Venezuela incident, with the utterances then made by our statesmen +of all parties, we have on hand one of the biggest contracts any modern +state has undertaken._" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +MODERN METHODS AND MACHINERY OF WAR + + "In the course of time, no one knows when or how soon, the + family of nations may get to playing at cards, and beyond the + sea, perhaps, will be found a 'full hand' against our three + 'aces'--the Navy, Coast Fortifications, and the Militia." + + _Lieut. Gen. Adna R. Chaffee, U.S.A._ + + "Whenever a nation's attitude toward war is evasive, its + conduct indecisive, and its preparation an indifferent, + orderless assembling of forces, it prepares for defeat." + + _Homer Lea._ + + +In the _Sunday American_ of the seventeenth of January of this year, Mr. +Andrew Carnegie gave expression to some opinions that challenge the +attention of all thinking people of our country who, in this trying time +of war, are becoming aroused and are asking themselves the question: Are +we adequately prepared against the dread eventuality of war, and if not +adequately prepared, why not? + +There is no person, of howsoever humble a station, whose opinion has not +some weight. Horace Greeley--or was it Henry Ward Beecher?--once said +that his views upon a very important subject underwent a material change +from conversation with a blacksmith while having his horse shod. + +The opinion of Andrew Carnegie, the greatest steel and iron smith the +world has ever known, is certain to have great weight with a very large +number of persons, whatever the subject may be upon which he expresses +himself. + +The world owes Andrew Carnegie a debt of deep gratitude for many most +munificent and beneficent actions, and our gratitude to him has begotten +love for him, and our gratitude and our love beget our sympathetic +attention whenever he speaks. Consequently, when Mr. Carnegie speaks +upon the subject of our national defense, he is bound to exercise a +tremendous power for good or evil, and this power for good or evil is +directly proportionate to the extent that his opinions are right or +wrong. + +At this time, the question of our national defense is one of so serious +concern that anything a well and favorably known man says may have a +determining effect upon the minds of many persons, and thereby be +fruitful of national good or national harm. + +If Mr. Carnegie is right in his belief that our best defense is in +military defenselessness, then he is doing the country a great service +through the wide publicity given to his opinions. If, on the other hand, +he is in the wrong, he is doing this country a very great injury, and +his words not only help defeat Congressional appropriations for +building more guns, but also help to spike the few guns we have. + +Let us first consider some of the more remarkable and also the more +radical of his statements. He says, to quote: + + * * * * * + +"_Not one of the great nations has the slightest desire to be other than +friendly with the United States. We are a friend to all; an enemy of +none. They could gain nothing by a war with us, nor would we by a war +with them. We have no territorial ambitions, and only desire to be left +alone._ + +"_As for this foolish talk of an invasion, that is an impossible +contingency. Imagine any country being able to successfully bring enough +troops to accomplish anything worth while from a military standpoint +from a point three thousand miles off and attack a hundred millions of +people!_ + +"_I have always said that if at any time any country was foolish enough +to attempt invasion the best possible plan would be to make their +landing as easy as possible, point out to them the best possible roads, +and allow them to go as far as they desired to go inland. Then warn them +to look out, and turn a million of our 16,000,000 of militia loose upon +them. Getting in would be easy, but how to get out would result in +surrender._ + +"_There is no other country in the world so well equipped to repel +invasion or make it so hot for an enemy should he land as to make him +exceedingly sorry he ever tried it._" + + * * * * * + +The foregoing statements of Mr. Carnegie contain in a nutshell the whole +pith and gist of the present anti-armament peace advocacy, backed by the +ten-million-dollar Carnegie foundation, representing an income of half a +million dollars a year. + +Now, if it happens to be a fact that these views of Mr. Carnegie and his +coterie of peace advocates are wrong, and if we need to take immediate +and radical measures for our national defense, then whenever the +Carnegie advocacy prevents a battery of guns being built, the resultant +injury to the country is as great as though a battery of our guns were +to be destroyed, or as though a battery of guns were made for a possible +enemy. + +Truly, as Mr. Carnegie states, we are friendly to other nations, and we +do not want any of their territory, but I do not agree with him that we +have nothing which they might want, for we are both very rich and very +defenseless, and the history of nations has shown that always the rich +and the defenseless sooner or later become the prey of the poor and the +powerful. + +One after another of the surrounding nations will likely be drawn into +the war before it is over. After the present belligerents have settled +their scores with the sword, there will be other scores to be settled +between the victors and the neutral nations. Differences between the +warring and the neutral powers--differences which, in time of peace, +might produce very strained relations or precipitate war--may now be +lightly passed over as mere discourtesies. But, after the war, some of +the acts of the neutrals that at present seem quite insignificant may be +magnified to advantage as _casus belli_. + +It is my opinion that, whichever side wins, the United States will +likely have to fight the winner within a short time after the war is +over, for neither the Germans nor the Allies, in the heat of passion +that now dominates them, will be in a mood to forgive some of the things +that we may feel compelled to do in the maintenance of our neutrality. +In short, the things that we may be led to do to avoid being embroiled +in the present war may serve to embroil us with the victors, unless the +war should end in a draw. + +Mr. Carnegie thinks it would be quite a difficult undertaking for a +foreign nation to land troops enough on our shores successfully to +contend with our people. Our expert army and navy officers, who have +been educated at government expense, and who are supposed to know about +such matters, tell us that it would be impossible for us to mobilize and +bring to the front more than 30,000 of our standing Army during the +first month; and that it would be impossible to mobilize and get our +militia into shape to resist an army of 100,000 of the well-trained and +well-armed troops of one of the Great Powers, inside of a year and a +half. + +Also, our naval and military experts tell us that it would require not +only months, but years, to get our Navy into such efficient fighting +trim as to be able to resist the navy of any one of the leading Great +Powers of the world. They tell us that we are so short of ammunition +that we might easily exhaust the present supply in the first four weeks +of the war, and possibly in the first few days of the war. + +We are in the habit of speaking of our Navy as ranking somewhere second +or third from the top. As a matter of fact, we rank much lower than +that, because of the shortage of our ammunition supply. Just as a +steam-engine cannot be run without fuel, regardless of its size and +power, so a navy cannot be run without gunpowder. + +When the present war broke out, France, Germany, and England each had +ten times as much smokeless powder on hand as we had. We have between +forty and fifty million pounds of smokeless powder at the present time, +whereas we should have 500,000,000 pounds. + +The only difficulty in landing as large an army as an enemy might desire +upon our shore, would be in overcoming our fleet. Once our fleet were +smashed, an enemy could land a hundred thousand men, either on our +Atlantic or on our Pacific seaboard, long before we could mobilize the +troops we have. In fact, a quarter of a million men could be landed +before we could get the troops we have into fighting shape. + +Let us examine for one moment Mr. Carnegie's proposition to welcome an +army of invaders, showing them the best roads to the interior, and then +turning lose on them a million improvised citizen soldiers. Like Pompey, +Mr. Carnegie seems to believe that he can raise an army at will by +stamping his foot upon the ground. + +Not only should we have to raise the million men, but also we should +have to provide small arms, Maxim guns, rapid-fire field-cannon, and +siege howitzers for them. At least four years' instruction and +experience in the use of these weapons would be required; furthermore, +the men would have to be imbued with the courage that veterans have, +which can be acquired only after much experience on the firing-line; +they would have to be officered by men of military education and +training, and lastly, they would need large corps of trained and +experienced engineers, and also a trained commissariat. + +None of these things can be created in a day, or a month, or made +efficient in a year, so that the army of invaders, after it had received +the Carnegie welcome and had taken possession of the country, would have +quietly to wait for us to get ready to swoop down on them, as Mr. +Carnegie suggests. + +When the present war is over, should one of the belligerent nations, +with its veteran fighting blood up, attack us, how are we prepared to +meet that attack? + +Our army and navy men tell us that our position is pathetically +defenseless. They tell us that, should our Navy be destroyed or evaded, +and an army of only a hundred thousand men, equipped with all of the +arms and paraphernalia of modern warfare, be landed on our coast, the +invading army could go anywhere it might see fit, live off the country, +capture our big cities, and hold us up for ransom in spite of all that +we could do. + +What could we do? How could we flee? Where could we flee? We simply +could not flee. Most of us have doubtless thought that if war should be +declared, we would seek safety in the interior. But immediately war is +declared, all the railroads and all automobiles will be commandeered for +military purposes. All banks will close. All securities will be rendered +worthless, and we, reduced to penniless hoboes, will be compelled to +stay right here and face the music. + +Let us assume merely that an invading army of a hundred thousand men +should be landed near New York. Should this army send out detachments to +capture the places where our arms and munitions of war are made, they +would not have far to go. + + +A RICH PRIZE FOR A HOSTILE ARMY + + +They would find the smokeless powder works of the United States Army and +the Picatinny Arsenal, where all the smokeless powder and high +explosives of the United States Army are stored, near Dover, New Jersey, +about thirty-five miles from New York; also they would find there the +big naval depot for ammunition and explosives. + +At Bridgeport, Connecticut, they would find the Union Metallic Cartridge +Works, and the American and British Manufacturing Company's Works for +the manufacture of rapid-fire cannon, and at New Haven they would find +the Winchester Repeating Arms and Cartridge Company's Works and the +Marlin Firearms Works. At Springfield, Massachusetts, they would find +the Smith and Wesson Revolver Works and also the United States Arsenal, +where our rifles are made. At Hartford, Connecticut, they would find the +Colt Patent Firearms, and the Pratt and Whitney Works; at Ilion, New +York, the Remington Small Arms Works, and at Utica, New York, the Savage +Arms Works. + +They would find one of our most important big-gun factories at Troy, New +York, and another at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where also much of our +armor-plate is made. The big Cramp Shipbuilding Works would be found at +Philadelphia. They would find at Groton, Connecticut, the factory where +all the interior parts of the Holland submarine boats are made, and at +Fore River, Massachusetts, the big shipyard where the Holland submarine +and other war vessels are constructed. + +[Illustration: The Heart of America] + +They would find the Lake Submarine Torpedo Boat Works at Bridgeport, the +United States Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island, and one of +our biggest navy yards, together with the E. W. Bliss Torpedo Works, in +Brooklyn. The New York Arsenal they would find unprotected on Governor's +Island. They would find the great duPont Smokeless Powder Works at +Carney's Point, Parlin and Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, and at various +points in New Jersey the largest and most important high-explosives +works in the world. + +Take a map of the United States, and a pair of compasses, and with one +point placed on the Hudson River, at Peekskill, New York, draw a circle +having a radius of a hundred-and-sixty miles. There will be included +within that circle all of the above-mentioned ammunition and armament +works, which constitute nearly all the smokeless powder works, cartridge +works, torpedo-boat works, small-arms works, and big-gun and armor-plate +works in the United States. Also, this circle will include not only New +York and nearby cities, but also Boston, Albany, Syracuse, Philadelphia, +and the most important coal fields of Pennsylvania. + +The conquest of this area would not be a work of months, or of years, +but only of a few days, and the thing would be done before we had time +to mobilize the available fighting forces we have, much less to enlist +and train and arm a citizen soldiery. + +This vital area is the solar plexus of Uncle Sam, and an army of a +hundred thousand trained men, landed on our Atlantic seaboard, would be +able to capture this entire area and subdue the populace as easily as +the police force of New York can subdue a rioting mob. + +While we were arming and training our million men to make the Carnegie +swoop, the army of invaders would be very busy. + +They would commandeer all our above-mentioned factories, and proceed to +operate them with skilled American labor, which they would also +commandeer and force to work, just as the Germans have forced the +Belgians to work for them, and Mr. Carnegie's army of citizen soldiers +would find themselves without means either of arming themselves or of +supplying themselves with ammunition or of getting the skilled labor +necessary to do the work. + +But this is not all that the invaders would be doing while we were +getting our million men together. They would have means of knowing what +we were doing, and they would send out a detachment and defeat our whole +enterprise. They would probably levy on New York City for a billion +dollars, and levy upon all the cities in the captured area for every +dollar that could be squeezed from the inhabitants under threats of +destruction. + +Not only this, but they might take the notion, and probably would take +the notion, to annex the conquered territory, just as Germany has +annexed Belgium, and, as we should then automatically become citizens of +the enemy's country, we should be conscripted and forced to fight our +own people, just as the Belgians, according to report, have been forced +into the ranks of the Germans. + +Such a military measure is not new; it is as old as war itself. +Frederick the Great frequently forced his prisoners to fight in his own +ranks, and Napoleon Bonaparte sometimes gave them the option of joining +his legions or of faring much worse. Attila took with him the entire +male population of the countries through which he passed as additions to +his military host. Those who resisted were immediately killed, and those +he did not need were killed, whether they resisted or not. As to what +may be done in war, there is no arbiter but necessity. + +To receive an invading army is not so pleasant a thing as Mr. Carnegie +assumes. As guests they are just about as lovable and make just about as +good pets in the family as rattlesnakes, cobras, scorpions, and +tarantulas. + +A few Americans who were caught in the war zone when the present war +broke out got some useful knowledge of war's inconveniences and +harassments. What the people for whom there was no escape suffered in +Belgium and Northern France, is beyond our powers of conception. No one +who has not had personal experience can form the least idea of the +barbarous atrocities perpetrated by an invading army on the defenseless +population. + +Invaders always live off the invaded country. It is considered more +important that they should live well than that any one else should live +at all. If, after the invaders' wants are supplied, there is enough left +for the people to live on, well and good; if not, then the people must +starve. The invaders must have food and clothing and the bare +necessaries of life; also, they must have luxuries. They must have +cigars and cigarettes, wine, women, and song. If our country should be +invaded, we should not only have to furnish food, clothing, cigars, +cigarettes, and wine for the armies of the enemy, but also our wives and +our daughters and our sweethearts would be commandeered to supply the +women and song. + +Occasionally, an American citizen, with more manhood than discretion, +would resent a nameless indignity, and kill some military blackguard, +who would immediately be avenged by the burning of the town and the +corralling and shooting of the people with machine-guns. This is not an +overdrawn picture--the thing has actually been done in the present war. + +It is very likely that some of us who look upon this page will be forced +to see wife or daughter or sweetheart namelessly maltreated to gratify +the brutal lust of an invader, and lose our own life for a blow on the +scoundrel's jaw or a stab in his ribs, unless--aye, there's the +rub--unless this whole country awakens to its danger and rises up as one +man and demands prompt and adequate defensive measures for national +protection. As this saving thing is not likely to happen, the entire +country east of the Alleghanies will probably be Belgiumized with fire +and the sword, depredated, degraded, and desolated by an invading army +within a very short time after the European War is over. + +This is an age of mechanics--an age wherein man-made mechanism more and +more replaces hand work. Everywhere in our industries of peace, we have +seen labor-saving machinery replace the labor of human hands. Today all +the men in the world could not do by hand all of the world's ploughing, +sowing, reaping, and carrying of the world's food to market; all the +women in the world could not, today, do the world's sewing without the +sewing-machine; and all the men in the world and all the women in the +world combined could not, today, do a tenth of the world's writing +without the typewriter and type-setting and printing machinery. + +One of the giant dredges that have been ladling out of the Panama Canal +the vast landslides, can do the pick and shovel and wheelbarrow work of +a thousand men. Everywhere, in everything we do, and in everything done +for us, we find human hands now mainly engaged in guiding the work of +labor-saving machinery. + +The people of the United States of America have been able to develop +their enormous resources and to keep abreast of the world's industrial +progress mainly by the invention of labor-saving machinery under the +protection of our patent law. + +In our competition with other nations for the markets of the world, no +one thinks of referring to the prowess of our unskilled citizen soldiers +of industry unsupported by machinery, but all reliance is placed upon +our multiform labor-saving machinery, and our skilled labor behind that +machinery. + +With these pregnant facts before us, it is very strange that it should +not be perfectly plain to every one that what is true of labor-saving +machinery in peace is likewise true in war. It is very strange indeed +that there should be intelligent men and women among us unable to see +and to understand that labor-saving machinery and labor skilled in its +use are as applicable and as indispensable to successful warfare as to +peaceful industry. Furthermore, labor-saving machinery in war is +life-saving machinery. The quick-firing gun is the greatest life-saving +instrument ever invented. These persons do not seem to appreciate that +war is an industry. As a matter of stern fact, war is, and has always +been, the biggest and the most vital industry of mankind, and in no +other industry is labor-saving machinery so important and so vital, and +in no other industry does so much depend upon the skill of the labor +operating the machinery. + +We are the slaves of belief, and we love our chains. Although our faith +may be false, we hate the hand that tries to free us. The people of this +country have a great false faith in the fighting qualities of their +citizen soldiery, improvised in time of war. They point proudly to the +War of the Revolution and the War of the Rebellion to prove how our +volunteer soldiers can fight. They overlook the fact that fighting was +then mostly done by hand; that now it is mostly done by machinery, and +that it is just as foolish and absurd to think of taking untrained men +off the farm to operate the guns and machinery of war as it would be to +try to operate the factories with them where the guns and machinery are +made. It takes as long today to convert a farmer into a skilled soldier +as it does to convert him into a skilled mechanic. + +Battles are no longer decided merely by the patriotism and personal +bravery of the rank and file, nor even by their numbers, but by the +efficiency and sufficiency of machinery and materials of destruction and +the science and scientific experience of the commanding officers. There +is no time to build steam-fire-engines or to train fire brigades after a +conflagration has broken out. + +A citizen soldiery without years of training in the discipline and +weapons and mechanism of modern warfare is only a mob, as easily +scattered by a few real soldiers as chaff by a whirlwind. + +George Washington held the following opinion about the value of militia +in warfare: + + * * * * * + +"_Regular troops alone are equal to the exigencies of modern war, as +well for defense as offense, and when a substitute is attempted it must +prove illusory and ruinous. No militia will ever acquire the habits +necessary to resist a regular force ... the firmness requisite for the +real business of fighting is only to be attained by a constant course of +discipline and service. I have never yet been witness to a single +instance that can justify a different opinion, and it is most earnestly +to be wished that the liberties of America may no longer be trusted, +in any material degree, to so precarious a dependence."--Washington._ + + * * * * * + +If Washington held it a mistake to rely on untrained, undisciplined men +in time of war, who can differ with him today, when not only bravery and +discipline are required, but also a knowledge of the complicated +enginery of warfare? + +It is obvious to any one that ten men armed with the modern magazine +shoulder-rifle, with a range of more than two miles, would easily be +able to defeat a thousand men--a hundred times their number--armed with +slings and bows and arrows, short-swords and spears, as was the army of +Hannibal. Hannibal's famous Balearic slingers were able to hurl a slug +of lead through a man. But ten riflemen would have time to kill a +thousand of them before they could get within sling range. A thousand of +the famous English bowmen who fought at Agincourt could all be destroyed +by our ten riflemen before they could get within bowshot. + +The same thing holds equally true with old short-range and obsolete +firearms, as compared with the longer range and more accurate guns of +the latest pattern. Ten good marksmen, armed with the latest rifles, +could kill a thousand equally skilled marksmen armed with the old +muzzle-loaders of the Civil War, before they could get within range. +These ten men would each be able to fire with ease a carefully aimed +shot every two and a half seconds; the ten men could fire 250 aimed +shots a minute. A thousand men, armed with the old muzzle-loaders, would +surely have to advance at least a mile and a half after coming within +range of the modern rifles before they could get the ten riflemen within +range of their muzzle-loaders. Charging forward on the run, it would +take them at least ten minutes to cover the mile and a half. In that +time the ten riflemen would be able to fire 2,500 carefully-aimed shots. +Such is the difference in the potentiality of troops dependent upon +suitable arms. + +With the modern automatic magazine-rifle a single soldier would be able +to defeat a hundred men armed with the old smooth-bore single-shot +muzzle-loaders of the Civil War; in fact, he would be able to kill or +wound every one of them in an open frontal attack over level ground with +his long-range rapid-fire rifle before they could get near enough even +to reach him with their short-range muskets. One man operating an +automatic machine-gun would be more than a match for a thousand men, +armed with the old Civil War musket in an open-view frontal attack, over +a distance covered by the range of the machine gun. In fact, with this +weapon, firing 600 shots a minute, he could play the gun on their +advancing line with the freedom of a hose pipe, and put them _hors de_ +_combat_ in a few minutes--certainly, before they could get near enough +to reach him with their short-range guns. + +Half a dozen automatic machine-guns supported by a battery of half a +dozen modern rapid-fire field-guns throwing shrapnel shell at the rate +of from thirty to forty a minute, planted on Cemetery Hill, would have +been able to defeat Pickett's charge at Gettysburg more quickly than did +the entire Army of the Potomac. + +It is obvious, therefore, that a nation's war potentiality depends very +largely upon its preparedness to fight by machinery, and that a mere +citizen soldiery, without the machinery of modern warfare, is as +impotent in the face of modern war engines as a swarm of ants in the +face of an anteater. It is obvious that, whereas fighting machinery is +very expensive, modern warfare is a very costly business, and a business +requiring an enormous investment; and also that, whereas a thing is +worth most in war which can, for the least cost, produce the best +results, machinery becomes much more valuable than life. A single +field-piece may be worth more than a hundred men, and at times even more +than a thousand men. + +In modern warfare, the cost in treasure and machinery is of far greater +concern than the loss in blood. Therefore, the efficiency and great cost +of all kinds of modern fighting equipment have served to give the great +nations pause, and to make them consider well the awful risk before +precipitating war. The progress in fighting machinery of every sort has +been so rapid, and the number of wars so few, that until now there has +been no adequate opportunity to test fighting machinery in actual +warfare. + +In direct proportion as warfare becomes more scientific, complicated, +and expensive does it require longer time to prepare for war, both in +the making of the enginery and in the making of the soldiers. + +Time signifies only the measure of change. Consequently, time is merely +a relative term, indicative of the sequence in a series of happenings or +eventuations. If the universe were annihilated, there would be no such +thing as time because nothing would happen. + +Were we to be attacked by any foreign Power, we should be able to rely, +not upon what we might be able to produce three or four years afterward, +but upon what we should be able to put into action at once. Modern +methods and machinery of war cause events to move many times as fast as +in former wars. Three months is a long time after war is declared. A six +months' war today is relatively as long as a six years' war used to be. + +The following extract from Bernhardi's "How Germany Makes War" is +evidence of that expert's opinion of the factor of time: + + * * * * * + +"_If Germany is involved in war, she need not recoil before the +numerical superiority of her enemies. But so far as human nature is able +to tell, she can only rely on being successful if she is resolutely +determined to break the superiority of her enemies by a victory over one +or the other of them before their total strength can come into action, +and if she prepares for war to that effect, and acts at the decisive +moment in that spirit which made Frederick the Great seize the sword +against a world in arms._" + + * * * * * + +Napoleon once said, "The fate of nations often hangs on five minutes," +and, "God fights on the side of the heaviest artillery." Also, he said, +in effect, that the art of winning battles depends upon the +concentration on the chief point of attack of a force superior to the +enemy at that point. + +If we pass our finger down the pages of history, we shall find the above +expression of Napoleon thoroughly substantiated and vindicated. Most +great battles have been won by the concentration of a superior force +upon an inferior force at some vulnerable point, and often quite +irrespective of the sizes of the opposing armies taken as a whole. +Everything depends upon the quickness in concentration of concerted +action. The herculean physique of Goliath did not count for much after +little David hit him with the pebble. He needs be a big man indeed not +to be whipped when even a small antagonist has succeeded in thrusting a +dagger close to the heart. Armies, like individuals, have vital parts, +the penetration of which means defeat. + +Alexander the Great frequently met and annihilated armies many times +larger than his own. He was often weaker than the enemy as a whole, but +at the point of attack he was always vastly the stronger. This enabled +him to crush the enemy in detail. Hannibal, Cæsar, Charles Martel, +Marlborough, Cromwell, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, Grant, Lee, +Stonewall Jackson, Sheridan--all great captains--appreciated and applied +this winning principle: Be able to strike the enemy upon one given point +with greater force than he shall be able to oppose, and strike first; +then follow up the advantage and crush the enemy in detail by +concentrated force always superior at the point of attack, however +inferior to the general force to which it is opposed and through which +it penetrates. + +Broadly speaking, the machinery of modern warfare adds a thousand-fold +to the potentiality of the soldier in battle above his potentiality at +the time of the Civil War. + +Ten thousand men, armed with modern guns and all the paraphernalia of +modern warfare, would on the battle-line be more than a match for a +million men armed with the old smooth-bore guns of the Civil War. As a +matter of fact they could kill all that surrounded them as fast as they +approached from every quarter, and they could advance through the +opposing lines with absolute freedom without the loss of a single man +from the fire of the enemy. + +Let us see for one moment what ten thousand men would be able to do upon +such a host in open frontal attack: Let us assume that the ten thousand +were armed with a thousand automatic guns, and, say, a hundred +rapid-fire field-guns, in addition to the usual magazine shoulder-rifle. +As soon as the enemy came in sight, the ten thousand would open on them +with their hundred field-guns, pouring into their ranks a perfect storm +of shrapnel. The old, smooth-bore field-guns of the enemy would be +completely disabled before they could be brought within cannon-shot of +the ten thousand. As soon as the enemy came within rifle range, the ten +thousand would open on them with their thousand automatic machine-guns +and magazine-rifles. As an automatic machine-gun fires at the rate of +600 shots a minute, a thousand would fire at the rate of 600,000 shots a +minute. The magazine shoulder-rifles would fire aimed shots at the rate +of twenty-five a minute, and the quick-firing field-guns would each fire +shrapnel at the rate of forty a minute. Making every allowance for +stoppages and for variables, dispersion of fire and bad marksmanship, +there would be enough effectual hits with the shrapnel, the automatic +machine-gun fire, and the magazine-rifle fire, to kill or wound every +man of the enemy before that enemy could get near enough to reach the +ten thousand with their old smooth-bore muskets. + +Every automatic gun and every quick-firing field-gun and every magazine +shoulder-rifle puts in the hands of our soldiers the means of avoiding a +corresponding sacrifice of their lives. Not only this, but every +automatic gun that we make and furnish our troops enables one man to do +the work of a hundred men; it enables a hundred men to remain at home +engaged in peaceful pursuits while only one man has to go to the battle +front and fight. + +Then let us realize the fact that every automatic gun saves a hundred +lives from jeopardy. Every magazine-rifle saves ten lives, and every +quick-firing field-cannon saves easily a hundred lives. + +This should make a strong appeal to the professional pacifists who +pretend that they want to save life. Surely, if war cannot be prevented, +and all history, and the present moment as well, prove that it cannot, +then we should make it as merciful as possible, and fight it in a way +that will cause as little sacrifice of life as possible. + +In estimating the cost of war in human lives, we cannot count values +that may be placed upon them by sentiments of humanity, but only such +values as, when destroyed, make the losing nation economically so much +the poorer. + +According to I. S. Bloch, a new-born child of the farming class has a +value of twenty-five dollars. At five years of age, he has a value of +two hundred and fifty dollars; at ten years of age, he is worth about +five hundred dollars; at fifteen, he is worth almost a thousand dollars; +and at twenty, he is worth a little more than a thousand dollars. His +maximum value is at twenty, and he begins to depreciate in value as he +grows older, because of his shortened days of service. + +Therefore, the average economic value of soldiers may, according to Mr. +Bloch, be put at a thousand dollars. + +According to David Starr Jordan, it costs about fifteen thousand dollars +for each soldier killed in battle, so that, according to these two +eminent peace advocates and peace propagandists, when the Germans slay, +say, a thousand of the Allies, the loss to the Allies is the value of +the thousand men, namely, a million dollars, and as it costs the Germans +fifteen times as much to kill them as they are worth, the loss to the +Germans is fifteen million dollars; so that the actual German loss is +fifteen times as great as that of the Allies. But as the Allies are +killing a good many Germans, they are generously sharing with the +Germans a fair proportion of the cost of the war. + +These figures are not far out of the way. The fact is that, in modern +warfare, the actual loss of life for the numbers engaged is +correspondingly less than it used to be, while the cost is +correspondingly greater. In modern warfare, the loss of money is far +greater than the loss of life. It is more the dollar than blood, that is +now shed. + +In ancient times, when men fought hand to hand in compact form, with +short-sword, spear, and battle-axe, they used often to slay half the +numbers engaged--easily ten times as many for the numbers engaged as are +now slain. There are more than ten million Allies now under arms against +more than seven million Germans and Austrians. These numbers have not as +yet all been brought face to face with one another on the line of +battle, owing to modern methods of warfare; but under old-time methods +with old-time arms, they would have been at once brought into collision +in two enormous armies. In ancient times, less mobilization could be +effected in a year than can now be effected in a month, but when the +collision came, the issue of the war was decided on one great field. + +If these great European armies were armed with short-swords, spears, and +battle-axes, as armies used to be, instead of with modern war weapons +and enginery, they would, during the time they have been engaged, very +likely have slain a third of their number--certainly ten times as many +in proportion to the numbers engaged as have actually been killed in the +present war. Even a tenth of their numbers would be a million and a +half. + +Never in all history have such vast numbers of men been drawn up in line +of battle. Never have they been so scientifically armed, and, +consequently, never have they, for the numbers engaged, killed so few. + +Modern machine-guns and quick-firing guns, with bullets and shrapnel and +canister, are so deadly that troops in mass form cannot live for a +minute in front of them, but as opposing armies with modern war +machinery line up at the present greater tactical distances, and throw +out their men in long-extended battle-lines, and spread them over +correspondingly wide areas, the fight becomes one largely of gun against +gun, engine against engine, with the result that not nearly so many +lives are lost as there would be if the fighting were done by hand, and +hand to hand, in close order. The German siege guns smashed the forts of +Liège and Namur from a distance of nine miles. + +As nations are bound to fight, it is far more merciful that they should +be armed to the teeth, but it is vastly more expensive. Can we not +afford, however, to spend dollars instead of men to kill our enemies? + +Therefore, even according to the facts and figures of those two eminent +peace-men, I. S. Bloch and Dr. David Starr Jordan, the money loss today +is a concern fifteen times more serious to the economic welfare of a +nation than is the loss in lives. + +It is a very strange paradox indeed that the professional +peace-propagandists, who claim to be actuated mainly by considerations +of humanity, should advocate disarmament and the inevitable reversion to +the old and more deadly arms and methods of warfare, on account of the +greater expensiveness of warfare conducted with modern scientific arms +and methods. + +By doing away with our present highly scientific and very expensive war +enginery and fighting methods, the nations would be able, in a war like +the present, to kill one another at very much less cost. They would then +be able to kill ten times as many in a given time, while the cost would +be only a small fraction of the present cost. + +It is a matter of solemn certainty that the quick-firing gun is the most +beneficent implement of mercy that has ever been invented, and every +peace advocate in the world and every lover of his kind should +appreciate this fact and use his influence in favor of armaments which +serve to make war expensive, and tend both to prevent war, and to save +life when war comes. + +Let us for a moment suppose that the great European Powers had disarmed +fifteen years ago when the Czar of Russia broached the subject to them. +What would have been the result? This war would have come just the +same, and probably much sooner; and it would have been ten-fold more +bloody, even had the nations flung themselves upon one another armed +with scythes, carving-knives, wood-axes, and common tools of trade, or +even had they fought, as the simple cave men did, with clubs and stones. + +Love of home and country--patriotism--on the one hand, and race hatred +on the other, are far more potent in the human heart than any lately +created sentiments of international brotherhood and humanity. Before +this war came, it was a common preachment of the peace-men and a common +belief of the multitude, that many socialists, members of brotherhoods +of labor and other opponents of war, would refuse to fight, and if +drafted would shoot down their officers from the rear. But nothing of +this kind has happened. When this war broke out, socialist, labor +unionist, and preacher of international brotherhood joined with their +militant fellow-countrymen in singing the "Marseillaise," "Wacht am +Rhein," "Britannia Rules the Waves," and rushed to arms and to war, and +are now fighting like demons, shoulder to shoulder with the imperialist +and the war lord. + +In order that we may be made as right-seeking as possible, God has +ordained the trials of strife and hardship which force us to get busy, +and thereby develop our usefulness. Human duty may be expressed in the +following terms: The best preparation for the attainment of success in +life is the acquisition of a thorough realization of the fact that no +one deserves more from the world than he earns out of it, and that the +bigness or littleness of any one is exactly proportionate to his use to +the world, and that, consequently, actual self-service is impossible +except indirectly through world-service. + +Whatever may be done in the service of an individual to help him attain +success and find comfort, or to lessen his discomfort, may not be best +for the general good, because individual welfare must, in the end of +things, be subservient to the general welfare. + +It sometimes becomes perfectly right and proper that individual life +should be sacrificed for national life, but never national life for +individual life. The nation has, however, its obligations to the +individual, and obligations as exacting as those of the individual to +the nation. If a nation does not exercise due and reasonable diligence +to safeguard its people against war and does not provide itself with the +necessary trained men and machinery to forefend war, then the obligation +of the individual to the nation in the event of war is just so much +lessened. The leading of an untrained and ill-armed, improvised citizen +soldiery against an army of trained veterans, with all of the equipment +of modern warfare, results in useless, senseless slaughter. + +If a nation does not prepare itself to demand and enforce respectful +treatment of its citizens in foreign countries, then its citizens should +have no patriotism, for they are like men and women without a country. +But when a nation is armed with guns, and armed with the purpose to +defend its citizens, wherever they may be, to the last man and last +pinch of gunpowder, and is so adequately prepared with labor-saving, +life-saving machinery that in the event of war the minimum of human +sacrifice shall be made, then it is the duty of every man to place +himself unreservedly at the service of his country. + +If the people of this country could be roused to a realization of what +invasion means, there would be no longer heard any senseless prating +about an unarmed peace, but the whole people would rise in their might +and demand adequate armaments and an adequate army and navy, and the +senseless peace fanatics would be burned in effigy. + +We have for half a century listened with confidence to the assurance +that we are so splendidly isolated by broad seas that we need not fear +invasion. + +Our inadequate Navy is today the only bulwark against invasion, for +modern means of transportation over seas have reduced the ocean to a +ferry. + +Both England and Germany have navies superior to our own, and would be +able to destroy our Navy, and land on our unfortified shores a hundred +thousand men in less than two weeks--half the time that would be +required for us to mobilize our little Army of thirty thousand men. + +Japan is not so far away as she used to be. She has been rapidly +narrowing the Pacific, and she could land a quarter of a million men on +the Pacific coast in less than a month, much quicker than we could get +our thirty thousand regulars there to receive them. + +We are no longer splendidly isolated from other nations. We are isolated +only from ourselves, and we are truly splendidly isolated in that +particular. + +The other nations are isolated only by such time and difficulty as they +would have to encounter in order to bring veteran troops to our shores, +with all the necessary equipment of war, and, as we have seen, this is +an isolation of less than a month, while we are isolated by +unpreparedness by at least fifty months, for it would take more than +four years, if we should start now, to raise, equip, and train an army +that would compare in numbers, equipment, and training with the army +that any one of the Great Powers could place upon our shores in a month. + +In a recent interview, Secretary of War Garrison said: + + * * * * * + +"_If tomorrow any first-class military power should attack the United +States in force and should succeed in getting her warships and +soldier-laden transports past our fleet, landed out of range of our +coast defenses, once fairly ashore she could pulverize our small regular +army and punish us to a humiliating degree, if not actually make us sue +for peace, before we could raise and train a volunteer army adequate to +cope with the invaders. In other words, at present our navy is our only +considerable bulwark against invasion. Even such part of our militia as +we could depend on and the available regular army would make an +extremely small force, our army being in size only a local police force, +well trained and highly efficient indeed, but in numbers little more +than twice the size of the police force of New York City--that is, not +large enough for our great country even as a mere police force._" + + * * * * * + +Let us, for argument's sake, assume for a moment that we were to be +invaded with an army of only a hundred thousand men, trained, equipped, +and supplied with the supreme adequacy with which the troops of the +other Great Powers are trained, equipped, and supplied. + +The enemy would line up in a battle-front three times as long as our +little thirty thousand could be stretched with equal powers of +concentration, or if our thirty thousand were to be stretched out a +hundred miles we should be at least three times as weak as the enemy at +any point of attack, even were our thirty thousand to be as well +equipped and as well supplied as the troops of the enemy. But we should +be without the requisite field artillery, and the artillery that we +should have would be without the requisite training. We should be +without the needed cavalry, and our cavalry would be without proper +organization and experience. We should be without ammunition trains, and +very short of ammunition. Our troops, hustled together, and rushed to +the front for the first time to face a real enemy, would be unprepared +to behave like an army, and, what is very important, they would have no +hope of success. + +Despair would be in the heart of every man. Both officers and men would +know that there were no ready resources, no reserves and reserve +supplies behind them, and no adequate arrangements for providing any. +Every man of the thirty thousand would know that he was being sacrificed +in atonement for national blundering, just as at Balaklava the noble Six +Hundred were by a blunder sacrificed in the charge of the Light Brigade. + + +PREPONDERANCE OF GUN-FIRE + + +It is strange how little the law of battles is understood by most +persons. Most persons imagine that in a fight between our Navy and +another navy, or between our Army and the army of an enemy, although +the enemy might have the advantage in the number of ships and in the +size and range of guns, the advantage would be immaterial and one which +might be balanced by the superiority of our personnel, and that, +although we might be somewhat short of the required field batteries and +ammunition, the superior fighting qualities of our men would render them +more than a match for the enemy, even in the face of superior gun-fire. + +It does not appear to have been fully recognized even by the advocates +of better equipment for the American Army, how vitally important is +length of range in field artillery. + +In the Boer War, the British field batteries found themselves at great +disadvantage in face of the longer French guns of the Boer batteries. + +In the present European war, the great long-range German howitzers, +pummeling forts into heaps of scrap, and their plunging fire blowing +great craters along the battle-front, spread terror in the ranks of the +Allies, similar to the terror that the Romans felt when the fierce +Gothic giants slid down the Alps into the vineyards of Italy. But the +long-range French field-artillery soon restored confidence, for it was +found that the French field batteries could outrange the German +batteries. + +We need field-guns of longer range. We need field-guns that shall not +only equal in range those now in use in Europe, but also we need guns of +even longer range. We should have field-guns of a range sufficient to +command sky-line from opposing sky-line. Here is an opportunity for the +vaunted American genius to assert itself. + +It is necessary that the facts as they actually are should be recognized +and appreciated. + +Victory in a naval battle today depends absolutely upon the weight of +the broadsides and the speed of the vessels, which enables them to +manoeuvre and choose positions of advantage with respect to the enemy; +while victory or defeat in a land fight depends upon the weight of +gun-fire, which can be directed against the positions of an enemy. + +The actual number of infantry engaged is of secondary importance. It is +artillery that is of supreme importance. Should we be involved, our +field artillery must pave the way with the dead bodies of the enemy +before our infantry can advance. Also, the batteries of the enemy must +be silenced by our own batteries before they, with their gun-fire, shall +be able to silence ours. Other things being equal, therefore, it is the +number of field batteries that, more than anything else, turns the tide +of battle for defeat or victory. If the enemy's guns have a longer range +than ours, then they will be able to silence our batteries while far +beyond the range of our guns. They will be able to destroy our +artillery, while we should not be able even to injure theirs. + +[Illustration: Relative Numerical Strength of Field Artillery] + +Let us picture a land fight: + +Our aërial scouts inform us that the enemy is approaching, and that they +have already mounted their long-range field artillery on a convenient +ridge; also that they have placed their big howitzers on an adjoining +lowland under the concealment of a wood, and that this formation is +repeated in similar units from ridge to ridge and hill to hill over a +front a hundred miles in length. + +The enemy has also dug long lines of trenches far in advance of their +artillery. The enemy's position is well beyond the range of our +artillery. We are unable to reach the enemy's position with our guns, +while the enemy, being provided with guns of much longer range, is able +to storm our position along our entire front, and to throw shrapnel +shell into the trenches filled with our men, which stretch along the +lowland in front of our positions. We try to dig additional trenches to +advance our front, but the men sent to do the work are very quickly +killed by the shrapnel fire of the enemy. + +We see with our field-glasses that the enemy has sent out detachments to +advance the line of their trenches. We fire at them, and find that our +shrapnel falls far short. The enemy, seeing this, advances and digs +trenches close up to the limit of the range of our guns. + +All at once, the enemy opens fire with shrapnel upon our entire line of +trenches, and with shrapnel and howitzers upon all our fortified +positions. We return the fire, but without any effect; the range of our +guns being too short to reach the enemy. Many of our guns are quickly +silenced. The perfect hurricane of shrapnel thrown upon our trenches has +killed large numbers of our men and confounded the remainder. + +The infantry of the enemy now advances pell-mell over the intervening +space, still under cover of artillery fire. Field batteries of the enemy +also advance rapidly and take up new positions. + +Finding our positions untenable, our army retreats precipitately, taking +with it a few remaining guns, and our men re-form their batteries on +commanding positions to cover our retreat, but they are soon dislodged +by the long-range guns of the enemy. Finally, our army takes up its +stand far in the rear, forming a new battle-front, which has been +previously fortified. + +The enemy advances, repeats the previous tactics, forming a long +battle-front on commanding positions just beyond the range of our guns, +and again proceeds to dislodge us, and drive us back by their long-range +gun-fire. + +Our loss in men and guns has been enormous. The enemy, on the contrary, +has lost no guns, and but few men. + +It will be seen that the enemy can very easily proceed in this manner +into the interior, and conquer the whole country without suffering very +much discomfiture, unless we have guns of as long or longer range than +the enemy has, and as many of them, also as many skilled troops to +operate them. + +Most persons imagine that infantry, armed with the modern long-range +magazine-rifles, can go into battle, and shoot large numbers of an +enemy, and that, if the infantry is numerous and daring enough and brave +enough, they will be able to whip the enemy without the support of field +artillery. This is a grave error. An army of a million men, consisting +entirely of infantry, armed with modern shoulder-arms, would be +completely over-matched and easily defeated by an army of 25,000 men +amply equipped with modern field artillery. The infantry would be wholly +unable to get within musket-range, because they would all be destroyed +by the shrapnel of the enemy before they could get near enough to fire a +single effective shot. + +A hundred thousand English, Germans, or Japanese, equipped with the +longest and best modern field artillery, with plenty of ammunition and +supply trains, air-scouts and engineer corps, could, in our present +defenseless condition, march through this country as Xenophon's ten +thousand marched through ancient Persia. They could cut their way +through all opposition that we could offer. We have neither the +infantry, nor the artillery, nor the cavalry, to oppose them, and the +artillery we have is of so much shorter range that at no time could we +get near enough to the enemy to reach him with our guns. + +If war comes between us and any of the Great Powers, the splendid young +men of the country--husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, lovers--will have +to go to the front and meet the invaders. + +If they go forward equipped with the necessary arms, ammunition, and +enginery of war, and are well trained and well officered, then they will +be able not only to hold their own against the invaders, with +comparatively little loss of life, but also to repel and drive out the +enemy and save our land from spoliation and our homes from despoliation. + +If, on the other hand, they are to be sent forward without the necessary +arms, ammunition, and enginery, and without training, and incompetently +or incompletely officered, as the pacifist propagandists and other +sentimentalists are advising and planning that they be sent, then they +will go just like lambs to the slaughter. + +The zone of fire in front of the enemy's trenches will be heaped high, +acres wide and miles long, with their dead bodies; and writhing, +groaning, shrieking, agonized forms of the wounded will crawl over and +under the dead toward the hope of safety and mercy. + +Into such a hell are the hyper-sentimental peace sophists planning to +send those you most love, those to whom you most cling, and on whom you +most depend; and you are aiding and abetting the crime if you believe +the words of these false reasoners. + +Every word you aim against necessary preparedness for war may, in the +final reckoning, aim a gun at the heart of him whom you love more than +all the world; and you might be able to say a word that would protect +him with a gun. + +That human attribute which, more than any other, distinguishes man from +the brute, is imagination. Also, it is the attribute which, more than +any other, differentiates the normal man from the criminal. If, in +imagination, a would-be murderer could foresee the distorted face and +the despairing agony of his dying victim, and could foresee the +tear-streaming eyes of those mourning for him, he would, unless brazened +against every feeling of pity, stay his hand. If those who, through +their ignorance, false belief, or hypocrisy and desire for publicity, +are planning to sacrifice the unimaginable thousands of our best young +men in the bloody shambles of war, as an offering to false faith, +vanity, or hypocrisy, could only foresee in imagination the long lines +of manhood swept and annihilated by the withering fire of an enemy, +without guns to return that fire, then possibly they might submerge +personal limelight-lust for considerations of mercy. + +If you believe them, and speak as they are speaking, and advise as they +are advising, against adequate national defense, you should at once +change your belief, and use your voice and every resource at your +command in future to forefend this country and avert the great useless +sacrifice. + +Come, young lady reader, let us, in imagination, stand together on the +firing-line: Those regiments lining up are from New York, New Jersey, +Connecticut, Massachusetts. They are forming for a charge. It is the +only way. Those shells, bursting among them with such deadly effect, are +shrapnel from the quick-firing guns of the enemy placed just over the +crest of yonder distant ridge; and those huge plunging projectiles, +which throw up great inverted cones of earth, with fragments of men, are +from the enemy's big howitzers, located under cover of the wood that +fringes the horizon. + +If we only had the necessary quick-firing field-guns and shrapnel +ammunition, and the necessary field howitzers, we might dislodge or +silence those deadly batteries of the enemy. At any rate, we should be +able to engage them efficiently and cover the charge of our troops. We +should also be able to storm that line of trenches, to the discomfiture +of the enemy hidden there in vast numbers, and thus to prepare for the +onset of our men. But we have neither the guns nor the ammunition. + +See--the order is given. Onward they go. Watch them, the brave fellows! +Why does the front line lie down so suddenly, with a few left standing? +My friend, they are not lying down; they are dead. But they are not all +killed, a large number of them are wounded. They are torn in every +inconceivable, horrible manner of mutilation. And look!--the other lines +go down, too; some lying still, others writhing on the ground. One of +those poor devils, with hands clenched in the grass and gnawing the +earth, is your brother! + +See--a huge howitzer shell explodes right among them. The young man whom +you were to marry on his return from the war was standing on the verge +of the crater when the explosion came, and he is now lying there, with +both eyes blown out by the awful blast and hanging on his cheeks. There +are visions of you in the blasted eyes, and there are thoughts of you in +the dazed brain, and his dying breath is a whisper of your name. + +Will you continue to think thoughts and speak words which may drive him +to that awful death? + +The picture is horrible. That of the blasted eyes is revolting. True, +and for this reason it may not come within the artistic, as outlined in +the philosophy of Longinus; but it is not my purpose here to be +artistic. My very purpose is to visualize the horrible, because the only +way for the people of this country to prevent this on-coming horror is +to make the necessary military preparations for national defense. + +But, young lady, this is not the end of the dreadful picture: Let us +look into your home. The awful news comes--our men are beaten with +enormous slaughter; father, brother, sweetheart--all your home's +defenders--are dead. The invaders who have murdered them are in the +street outside. There comes a summons at the door. A certain number of +the enemy have been billeted to your house, and you must play the genial +hostess. Though they get drunk, and ill-treat you beyond the power of +words to tell, there remains no remedy. Your dear ones, who were your +natural defenders, have been sacrificed on the altar of false faith in +defenselessness as a deterrent of war. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE NEEDS OF OUR ARMY + + + * * * * * + + LETTER FROM GENERAL LEONARD WOOD + + GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, N. Y., + _February 6th, 1915._ + +_Dear Mr. Maxim:_ + +_I am very glad indeed to learn of your interest in military +preparedness. The subject is one which is of vital importance to the +American people. We do not want to establish militarism in this country +in the sense of creating a privileged military class, dominating the +civil element, receiving especial recognition, and exercising perhaps an +undue influence upon the administration of national affairs, but we do +want to build up in every boy a realization of the fact that he is an +integral part of the nation, and that he has a military as well as a +civic responsibility. All this can be done without creating a spirit of +militarism or of aggressiveness. Take Switzerland as an example. Here we +have a country where every boy and young man who is physically sound +receives, largely as a part of his school work, military training to the +extent necessary to make him an efficient soldier. This is a policy +which ought to be followed with our youth. It is not enough that a +man should be willing to be a soldier. He should also be so prepared as +to be an efficient one. This can only be accomplished through training. +Switzerland and Australia have shown that this can be done through the +public-school system, and with a resulting vast improvement in public +morals and the quality of citizenship. The criminal rate in Switzerland +is only a small fraction of ours. Respect for the law and constituted +authorities, the flag of the country, and a high sense of patriotism are +evident on all sides, and yet there is practically no standing army._ + +_We have here a patriotic people, living not with arms in their hands, +or with a large standing army, but trained, equipped, and ready to +efficiently and promptly defend the rights of their country. This I +believe is the ideal we should strive for. We need a standing army big +enough for the peace work of the day, i.e., the garrisoning of our +foreign possessions, the Philippines, the Hawaiian Islands, Panama, the +little garrisons in Porto Rico and Alaska, and a force in the +continental United States adequate for the peace needs of the nation._ + +_We must never again trust ourselves to the emergencies of a great war +without proper preparation. If we do we shall meet with an overwhelming +disaster. Preparedness is really an insurance for peace, and not an +influence for war._ + +[Illustration] + +_To send our men untrained into war to meet equally good men, well +trained and disciplined, was once described by Light Horse Harry Lee, of +Revolutionary fame, as murder. Perhaps this is too strong, but it +certainly is a gross disregard of human life._ + + _Very truly yours,_ + LEONARD WOOD. + + MR. HUDSON MAXIM, + _698 St. Mark's Ave., + Brooklyn, N. Y._ + + * * * * * + +The facts given in this chapter have been gathered from many +authoritative sources. It would be very comforting if these facts were +known only to the American people, but unfortunately they are already +known to the military authorities of all the other nations. Other +nations are all very well aware of our unpreparedness; therefore, I am +giving out no national secrets. English, German, French, Russian, and +Japanese navy and military experts know exactly the men and equipment we +possess. + +It is the American people only who are not aware of the truth about our +unpreparedness. This ignorance is largely due to the beguilers who have +set the face of a great mass of our people against armaments, and have +made them turn deaf ears to every voice that tries to rouse them to +their danger. + +Our ship of state has been drifting down stream like a raft. The only +reason the raft has not been wrecked lies in the fact that we have been +fortunate enough to have a pretty clear stream to ourselves all the +while, with no breakers and no cataracts in sight. But there are +breakers and rapids and cataracts down stream, and we are at last +nearing them rapidly. + +Even as long ago as 1880, General Emory Upton spoke thus prophetically: + + * * * * * + +"_In time of war the civilian as much as the soldier is responsible for +defeat and disaster. Battles are not lost alone on the field; they may +be lost beneath the Dome of the Capitol, they may be lost in the +Cabinet, or they may be lost in the private office of the Secretary of +War. Wherever they may be lost, it is the people who suffer and the +soldiers who die, with the knowledge and the conviction that our +military policy is a crime against life, a crime against property, and a +crime against liberty. The author has availed himself of his privilege +as a citizen to expose to our people a system which, if not abandoned, +may sooner or later prove fatal. The time when some one should do this +has arrived._" + + * * * * * + +In 1912, Admiral Kane said: "They told me in London, 'You are living in +a fool's paradise. Some day you will wake up with a fight on your +hands, and you won't be ready for it.'" + +Not only must the United States solve the great problem of shaping a +military policy that will enable us to establish an adequate force for +national defense in time of war, to build up and man our Navy, construct +and man coast fortifications, and enlist, arm, and train an adequate +army, but also there must be faced the far more difficult problem of +enlisting the co-operation of the American people in the enterprise. + +The fathers of our country, believing that a large standing Army would +be a menace to the liberties of the people, ordained that our Army, in +time of peace, should not exceed twenty-five thousand. Since then, +Congress has several times raised the limit until we now may have an +Army, in time of peace, of not more than a hundred thousand men. As a +matter of fact, we have a regular Army of 93,016, both staff and line. + +As this Army has to be spread out over our entire continental and +outlying possessions, the sight of an American soldier of our regular +Army is about as rare an occurrence as the sight of a sea-serpent. + +Within the actual limits of our forty-eight states we have but 48,428 +regular troops. Of these 17,947 must be kept in our coast +fortifications, even as a pretense of garrisoning them. This leaves only +30,481 mobile troops, including engineers, cavalry, infantry, and field +artillery. We have a militia on paper numbering 127,000, men and +officers. Only 60,000 of these, however, are in readiness for service. + +Therefore, we have in the United States to-day a regular Army of 48,000, +and 60,000 militia ready for duty, or 108,000 men and officers +altogether. In time of war not a man of our militia could well be spared +for military service to repel an invader, for in such troublesome times +they would all be needed for police duty to maintain order and obedience +throughout the country. + +General Wood recently told us that it would take a month to mobilize +even our little Army of thirty thousand men. + +Out of the 127,000 officers and men of the militia which we have on +paper, only 60,000 being available, and only 30,000 of our regulars +being available, we could place on the firing-line only 90,000 men and +officers, and there would be no reserves. + +When Napoleon, the world's greatest military captain, went into battle, +he always kept a large and powerful force in reserve, to give confidence +to those on the firing-line, and to save the day in case of a reverse, +and possibly to turn defeat into victory, and at the worst to cover a +retreat, and save the army from rout. This same need exists with us for +a large national reserve of well-armed and well-trained men, ready to be +called from civil life to refill the depleted ranks of an army at the +front. + +[Illustration: Number of Officers and Enlisted Men of United States +Regular Army] + +Our regular Army is, in men and guns, but a mere nucleus of what we +ought to have, and of what we must have to save this country from defeat +and abject humiliation should war come. + +Not only this--the artillery we have is without adequate field +organization. It would take at least four months to train additional +personnel in order to get our field artillery ready for duty. It would +take us four times as long, therefore, to get our own artillery on the +firing-line, ready for battle, on either our eastern or western +seaboard, as it would for an enemy to get its artillery there. + +It is we ourselves who are handicapped by isolation, not the +enemy--isolation not of space, but of time. + +If it be true that God fights on the side that is the best equipped with +artillery, God could not be expected to fight on the side of our +militia. + +Our militia at the present time has only sixty-five organized batteries, +with four guns each. It is absolutely imperative that we should have +seventy-nine additional batteries, with six guns each, even moderately +to complete our equipment in field artillery. Think of it! Our militia +has less than half the number of field batteries necessary for battle. + +It is also worthy of mention that these batteries are without ammunition +trains, and without officers or men for the new organization, and we +have not the necessary horses to draw the batteries we already have. + +Our militia is entirely without siege artillery, while neither our +militia nor our regular Army is equipped with field mortars or howitzers +of the larger calibers now used abroad, which have been so terribly +effective in the present war. + +Not only are foreign nations far ahead of us in actual existing war +strength in men and guns, but also they have each an efficient system +whereby their present equipment may be rapidly expanded. We have no such +system. + + +OUR FATAL ISOLATION + + +Never yet have we perceived the important truth that in this age of war +machinery, requiring months and years to create, isolation by time is an +equivalent to isolation by distance. Our own isolation in the matter of +the time required for us to raise and train armies and equip them with +shoulder-rifles, automatic guns, quick-firing cannon, siege howitzers, +ammunition supply trains, and to build, man, and equip with guns, +battleships, battle-cruisers, torpedo-boat destroyers, submarines, and, +no less important, to equip flying machines with trained aviators, would +be a far more serious handicap to us than our isolation by the seas +would be to our enemies. + +The _Scientific American_, February 6, 1915, says: + + * * * * * + +"_We could not supply the men for the necessary field-artillery +organization for four months, or the ammunition trains and ammunition +for a year and a half, and not a gun is yet made or appropriated for, +for the volunteers. The militia is short in cavalry and requires over +fifty additional troops of cavalry to provide the divisional cavalry +alone. There is an alarming absence of auxiliary troops. Most of the +militia cavalry is poorly mounted, much of it practically without +mounts, and, with the exception of a few special organizations, has had +little or no field training. It needs months of hard work in camp. +Engineers, signal and medical troops of the militia are as a rule +insufficient in number, deficient in organization, equipment, and +reserve supplies, and very many of them are far below their prescribed +strength and without available personnel to fill them up._" + + * * * * * + +The following is quoted from a statement made before a Congressional +committee in 1912, by General William Crozier, Chief of Ordnance of the +United States Army, and one of the ablest officers that the Army has +ever had: + + * * * * * + +"_So far as transporting troops is concerned, the sea as a highway is +not an obstacle, but a facility. It is very much easier to get any +number of troops across the Atlantic Ocean than it would be to get the +same number over anything like the same distance on land. Marine +transportation is the very best kind you can have; the easiest, least +expensive, and most expeditious, if you are considering large bodies of +troops and large amounts of material. The fuel charge for transportation +in good tramp steamers does not amount to one two-hundred-and-fiftieth +part of a cent per ton per mile. The sea is a splendid means of +transportation. The distance is only ten days for a vessel of very +moderate speed, and you can carry a thousand men on a vessel of 3,000 +tons' capacity without any trouble at all. There are any number of +vessels to be had, and there is no resistance on this side against a +well-equipped force of a hundred thousand men._" + + * * * * * + + +SHORTAGE OF OFFICERS + + +We have in our regular Army to-day about 4,572 officers. The number of +English officers killed, wounded, and missing during the first six +months of the European war was, in round numbers, 5,000, a little more +than the total number of our officers. + +It has been estimated by the most able authorities, among them the +editor of the _Scientific American_, whom I quote, that: "In case of +invasion we would need 380,000 stationary volunteer coast-guard troops +to guard the approaches to our cities and coast-defense works." We +should also require an additional 500,000 men at the very least. To be +rational, we should have a mobile army of a million men. In this +enormous country a standing army of a million men would, comparatively +speaking, be small. It would still be one-fifth the size of the German +army, one-tenth the size of the Russian army, and it would be less than +the available Japanese army. Surely this great Republic can afford to +maintain a standing army equal to that of Japan! + +The number of officers we have at the present time would, of course, be +practically lost in our proposed mobile army of a million men. Radical +and immediate measures should at once be taken to increase tenfold the +officer-making capacity of West Point. Also, any private in the ranks +should, by meritorious conduct manifesting military promise, be open to +promotion to West Point, to complete his education there. This would be +a tremendous stimulus and encouragement to the rank and file. + +The burglar who has begun to plan to rob a house and has commenced +inspection of the locality to keep tab on the movement of the police in +the vicinity, has already declared war on that house. The bank-raider +who has begun to spy on the cashier of a bank and the nocturnal habits +of the people of the town, and has equipped himself with the kit of +tools and the explosives to breach the vault where the cash lies, has +already declared war on that bank. + +In this same sense, and to this same extent, there is more than one +nation that has already declared war on the United States. Their spies +have been working among us for years, and they have the kit of tools and +the explosives all ready to breach our Navy and our coast +fortifications. + +Our lack of field-guns for our artillery and our lack of ammunition are +very clearly put in the _Scientific American_ of February 13, 1915: + + * * * * * + +"_We have in the hands of troops, or stored, 634 completed guns. We have +under manufacture or contract, 226. These guns will probably not be +completed for at least a year and a half. In other words, the number of +completed guns is a little less than half the total number deemed +necessary for the field force of 500,000 men, and provides no guns +whatever for the coastguard troops or new volunteer organizations which +will be required in addition to the 500,000 field force. Of ammunition, +we have, made and under contract, approximately 30 per cent. for the +entire project of guns (1,292). Half of this is under manufacture or +contract, so that there is not more than 15 per cent. actually +completed. For the guns on hand and under manufacture we have, of +ammunition on hand and under manufacture, about 41 per cent.; +actually on hand, approximately, 20.5 per cent. For the guns actually +made (634) we have 27 per cent. of the ammunition necessary. For the +guns now in the hands of the regular army and militia we have about 44 +per cent. of the ammunition necessary. It should be remembered, however, +that the guns in the hands of the regular army and militia at the +present time are less than half the guns required for these forces when +properly equipped with guns, even under our scheme for the assignment of +guns and ammunition, which is in both instances far lower than in any of +the great armies today, and the present war has indicated, in the case +of one great power at least, that the consumption of ammunition has +exceeded twice their maximum estimates, and that the proportion of +artillery will, in future, be increased._ + +[Illustration: Strength of Regular Armies on Peace Footing] + +"_At the rate of even last year's appropriations, which were the largest +made for field-artillery guns and ammunition, it will take between eight +and nine years to complete our present modest estimate for guns and +ammunition, and the necessary equipment in the way of ammunition trains +and other accessories._" + + * * * * * + +We are told in the Report of the Chief of Ordnance, 1914, that no +permanent ammunition trains have been provided. + +The following figures give the personnel of our regular Army, and of +our militia. They are taken from the Report of Major-General +Wotherspoon, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, for the period +from April 22, 1914, to November 14, 1914: + +_Actual strength of the United States Army_, exclusive of Philippine +scouts: + + Officers 4,572 + Men 88,444 + Authorized strength: + Officers 4,726 + Men 95,977 + Hence, shortage: + Officers 154 + Men 7,533 + +Of total enlisted strength, 22.50 per cent., including recruits and +recruiting parties, belong to the non-combatant and non-effective class, +and are not with the colors; 19.45 per cent. are in that branch whose +special function is coast-defense. + +Mobile army (engineers, cavalry, field artillery, and infantry) is 58.05 +per cent. of actual strength, and comprises: + + Officers 2,738 + Men 51,344 +Omitting cooks, musicians, scouts, etc., mobile strength is: + + Officers 2,738 + Men 45,968 + +Mobile strength in continental United States: + + Enlisted men 30,481 + +_Ammunition:_ + + We need 11,790,850 artillery rounds. + We have on hand + and being manufactured 580,000 " " + + We need 646,000,000 rifle cartridges. + We have on hand + and being manufactured 241,000,000 " " + +We need a supply of 9-1/2, 12-1/2, and 16-1/2 howitzers. + +We have only thirty-two 6-inch howitzers and smaller pieces, none +larger. + +_Militia:_ + +Total enlisted men, 119,087, of which only 52.56 per cent. have had any +rifle practice, and only 33.43 per cent. have qualified as second-class +marksmen or better. + +From the Report of the Chief of Staff for the year ending June 30, 1914, +we learn that out of our 120,000 militiamen, 23,000 failed to present +themselves for the annual inspection; 31,000 absented themselves from +the annual encampment; and 44,000 never appeared on the rifle range from +one year's end to the other. + +Congressman Gardner tells us, further, that 60 per cent. of our militia +were unable, in 1913, to qualify even as third-class marksmen, and that +half of that 60 per cent. (30 per cent.) did not even try to qualify. + +For years prior to the breaking out of the great European conflict, Lord +Roberts pleaded with the English people, and prayed that they might hear +his appeal to prepare for war with Germany. Like a voice crying in the +wilderness, he called the British nation to arms. His voice was not +heeded, and the nation did not arm. + +The voice of Lord Roberts sounded harshly on the ears of sensitive +English officialdom. Lord Haldane, to emphasize his attitude, disbanded +80,000 British troops at the very moment when England should have +enlisted and begun to train 800,000. Also, he threatened to abolish Lord +Roberts' pension if he did not keep quiet. The grand old soldier was +spared by a kind Providence to stand on the firing-line when the great +war came which he had foreseen, and there he saw thousands of his +country's dead who had fallen from failure to regard his timely warning. + +We have a Lord Roberts, too. There is a grand old American soldier who +for years has appealed to us to fly to arms with all speed in +preparation against war. He has even greater reason than Lord Roberts +had, because our danger is many times greater than was England's danger. +We are practically defenseless, while England was not. + +I quote the following from the American Lord Roberts, General Leonard +Wood: + + * * * * * + +"_... We have neither guns nor ammunition sufficient to give any general +commanding an army in the field any assurance of success if attacked by +an army of equal size which is supplied with its proper quota of +field-artillery._ + +"_The fire of modern field-artillery is so deadly that troops cannot +advance over terrain swept by these guns without prohibitive losses. It +is therefore necessary to neutralize the fire of hostile guns before our +troops can advance, and the only way to neutralize the fire of this +hostile field-artillery is by field-artillery guns, for troops armed +with the small arms are as effectual against this fire until they arrive +at about 2,000 yards from it as though they were armed with knives. This +field-artillery material and ammunition cannot be quickly obtained. In +fact, the Chief of Ordnance estimates that almost one year would be +required to supply the field-artillery guns needed with one field army +of a little less than 70,000 men. No war within the past 45 years has +lasted for one year, so that after war is declared it would probably be +over before we could manufacture an appreciable number of guns; and the +same applies to ammunition._ + +"_The Ordnance Department states that by running night and day with three +shifts Frankford Arsenal could turn out about 1,600 rounds of ammunition +per day, and that if private manufacturers were given orders to run +under war conditions they could begin deliveries of ammunition in from +three to four months, and after getting under way could turn out about +100,000 or 200,000 rounds per month for two or three months, and after a +total time of six months the production would perhaps equal 250,000 +rounds per month. The best estimates indicate that at the end of the +first six months not to exceed 350,000 rounds could be procured from all +sources, including the Government plant. After this six months there +would be no particular difficulty in securing ammunition as rapidly as +might be needed._ + +"_... It is my belief that ... unless private manufacturers are now +encouraged to manufacture ammunition for our guns after war is declared, +they will not be in any condition to do so until after the war is +finished, and the supply of ammunition during the war will be limited to +what the arsenals can turn out. At present this is about 1,600 rounds +per day, running three shifts, and this ammunition, under ordinary +battle conditions, could be fired by eight guns in one day of battle. If +guns are not supplied on the battlefield with the ammunition which they +can be reasonably expected to use, they are not efficient, and when a +gun has exhausted the ammunition supplied it becomes as perfectly +useless as junk; in fact, it is worse than junk, for it must be +protected by other troops._ + +"_In the Russo-Japanese War the Russians expended during the war, +exclusive of the action around Port Arthur, 954,000 rounds._ + +"_At Mukden in nine days they expended 250,000 rounds._ + +"_One battery of eight guns at Mukden fired 11,159 rounds, or 1,395 +rounds per gun._ + +"_At Liaoyang eight Russian guns fired in three hours 2,500 rounds, or +312 per gun._ + +"_During August 30 and 31 the First and Third Siberians, with 16 +batteries of 8 guns each, fired 108,000 rounds, or 844 rounds per gun._ + +"_At Schaho, in a four-days' fight, the artillery of the First Infantry +Division--48 guns--fired 602 rounds per gun._ + +"_At this same battle in 45 minutes, 20 minutes of which were not +occupied by firing, 42 guns fired 8,000 rounds, or 190 rounds per gun +in 25 minutes of actual firing._ + +"_The War Department believes, after extended study, that in case of war +with a first-class power an army of 500,000 men will be needed to give +this country any chance of success against invasion, and that this force +will be needed at once. To make it efficient it must be given its proper +quota of field-artillery. To do this this artillery must be on hand, for +it cannot be supplied after war is started. A municipality might as well +talk about buying its fire-hose after the conflagration has started. A +fire department without its proper equipment is worthless, irrespective +of the number of men it has; and so would be your armies, unless you +provide in peace the material which will make them effective in +war."--Statement of facts by Major-General Leonard Wood, Hearings on +Fortifications Bill, Dec. 9, 1913._ + + * * * * * + + +IS CONGRESS TO BLAME? + + +The blame for our undefended condition is generally attributed to +Congress. It is true enough that the main blame rests with Congress, but +it must be remembered also that Congress represents the will of the +people. + +Every Congressman goes to Washington in the interest of his +constituents. He goes there to dicker for them and to swap votes with +other Congressmen in exchanging Congressional concession for +Congressional concession. His constituents want a post-office in their +district, or a river deepened, or widened, or want a navy yard in their +state, and he is ready to vote for similar concessions to all other +Congressmen who will vote for the concessions his constituents require. +Every Congressman is mindful of the fact, and every time he returns home +he is reminded of the fact that he has not been sent to Congress for his +health, but for the health of his constituents, and if he hopes to be +returned, he must see to it that he gets what they have sent him after. + +They have not sent him there to support an appropriation bill for a +larger army or a larger navy. The people are imbued with the belief that +the country as a whole is big enough and prosperous enough to be safe. +They know little or nothing, and care less, about national defenses. No +calamity has ever come upon us for lack of defenses. Why should they +worry? Also, they have been assured from the pulpit and the Chautauqua +and by circulars sent out by the peace societies that we not only do not +need more defenses, but, on the contrary, we do not need those we have; +and they are asked to write personal letters to their Congressmen urging +them to vote against any appropriations to increase our national +defenses. + +I am not arguing for a large standing army, but merely for an adequate +army--an army big enough to intercept an invading army that might be +landed on our shores in the event of our Navy being destroyed or evaded. + +The American people are imbued with the idea that a large standing army +is a menace to liberty. Whatever justification there may be for this +attitude, it is certain that, if we are to yield to this point of view, +and get along with a comparatively small effective army, it is +absolutely indispensable that we should have a navy certainly as +powerful as any in the world, with the single possible exception of that +of England. All arguments that may be made against a large standing army +become arguments in favor of a very large navy. + +In view of the comparative weakness of our present Navy, we need an +effective army of at least a million men. If, however, our Navy were to +be brought to first rank and the Swiss system of military training in +public schools were to be adopted, we could get along with a much +smaller army. By the adoption of such a system, we should soon have a +very large trained reserve force in civil life, which could be drawn +upon in case of need. Assuming the adequacy of our Navy and coast +fortifications, General Wood believes that, if the Swiss system of +military training in public schools were to be adopted, we could get +along very well with a standing army of from 200,000 to 225,000 men. + +A navy, however large, could not, by any possible stretch of the +imagination, be termed a menace to our liberties, and, as ex-Secretary +Meyer has said, we are rich enough to match dollars for national defense +with any other nation in the world. + +It is common belief that military training and service in preparation +for national defense menace democratic institutions. + +In the days of her greatest virility and military prowess, Rome was a +republic. But we must not conclude, because a country is governed by a +congress and a president elected by the people, that all its +institutions are more free or less autocratic than the institutions of a +limited monarchy, or even an absolute monarchy. + +We, in the United States, often pass laws that are so arbitrary, +unprecedented, unwarranted, and confiscatory, as to make absolutism +wince. The cities of Germany are governed so wisely and so well that +could we have that system transplanted here, it would be almost worth +our while to invite German conquest of the country. + +No man's patriotism rises higher than his realization of the need that +his country has for him. None of us likes our taxes any too well. +Nevertheless, they bring home to us a better realization of the +interdependence of the government and the individual. + +We love those for whom we make sacrifices, and those to whom we give +favors. Benjamin Franklin desiring the favorable regard of a prominent +person, made it opportune for that eminent person to do Franklin a +favor. + +Conscription, like that enforced in Germany, makes good citizens. It +implants in them a sense of duty and obligation to the government, and +creates a greater respect for ruling power and for law and order. + +In this country, the ideas of the average individual concerning his +obligations to the government and the government's obligations to him +are vague and crude to the last degree. Conscription would largely +remedy this by teaching duty to the government. + +The government has exactly the same right to levy on the individual for +military service as it has to tax him for anything else. Just as the +government has the right to tax the individual for financial support of +the government, so it has the right to tax the individual for military +support of the government. Conscription makes the government and the +individual partners for the common welfare. Few persons in this country +consider themselves partners of the government. + +In ancient Sparta, all individuals were the property of the government; +all children were owned by the state. Consequently, the people owned the +state, and the state owned the people. It is proper that the state and +the individual should own each other, insomuch as their interests are +mutual, just the same as husband and wife own each other. + +Perhaps the best system of preparing the youth and young men of a +country for military service is that practised in Switzerland. +Switzerland is a typical democracy, and yet no country in the world has +a more universal and efficient system of military training for its youth +and young men. + +After the conclusion of the war of 1870, Germany, guided by the iron +will of Bismarck, divulged to Switzerland that the mailed fist had an +itching palm for Swiss territory. Immediately an army of a hundred +thousand Swiss mobilized on the frontier. They were the best-armed, the +best-trained, and altogether the most efficient soldiers in Europe. +Every man of them could shoot to kill. They were the flower of the +mountains. Bismarck concluded that the game was not worth the candle. If +Switzerland had not been armed to the teeth and ready, that country +to-day would be a part of Germany. + +The Swiss have not the remotest idea of making an aggressive move on any +neighboring country, but they hold themselves in perfect readiness to +see to it that no other nation can find it profitable to make an +aggressive move on Switzerland. + +Switzerland makes her military training a part of her school system. The +chubby, rosy-cheeked little Swiss boys are taught to play soldier with +wooden imitation guns, and as they grow, the training later becomes +more comprehensive, more exacting, more scientific, until, finally, the +young men find real guns in their hands, find themselves commanded by, +and receiving instructions from, real officers, and they are taught to +shoot. When their school training is over, their military training and +term of military service also are over. They are ready for civil life, +but, too, they are ready at any moment for the call of their country +from civil life to shoulder rifle and knapsack and go to the front. + +This is the system that we should adopt in our country. It places no +burden upon the schoolboy or the young man; on the contrary, it is a +source of keen enjoyment, like any other manly game. The beneficial +psychological effect is simple: The youth is taught obedience, his +powers of perception are quickened, his alertness increased, his +physique greatly strengthened, his health benefited, and his personal +habits governed by laws of temperance and hygiene, with the result that +his efficiency for usefulness in all the business and affairs of civil +life afterward is greatly enhanced. Thus, in Switzerland, the earning +power of the population is increased out of all proportion to the cost +for the training and maintenance of the entire army. + +Mr. Richard Stockton, Jr., in his book, "Peace Insurance," ably +expresses the value of military training, as follows: + + * * * * * + +"_Military training has an important value entirely apart from its +actual military value. This is conclusively proven in the numerous +military schools of the United States. The majority of these schools +disclaim any attempt to train soldiers, but include military training +merely to make better citizens. They find that the man trained +militarily learns obedience, promptness, cleanliness, orderliness, +coolness, and secures that priceless asset known as executive +ability--the ability to make others obey. Such schools form a stronger +character and make better men._ + +"_If this is true in a military school, it must be equally so with +similar training received elsewhere. If thousands of parents pay from +$500 to $1,500 per year to secure this training for their boys, surely +there is some gain to the nation in the men who receive this training in +the army. The fact is too well attested by educators throughout the +world to admit of serious questioning._" + + * * * * * + +It is possible that German militarism, by becoming absolutism, has grown +from servant to master in Germany. However this may be, one thing is +certain, that German progress in the industrial arts and sciences, in +municipal and general government economics, has made the German people +more efficient and potential per capita than the people of any other +country on earth. Consequently, we must admit either that the Germans +are inherently superior intellectually to the people of other nations, +or that they have acquired their present economic superiority by reason +of some procedure which they have followed, and with which other nations +have not kept pace. + +The natural assumption is that militarism is responsible for the German +culture of efficiency. It is not an unreasonable conclusion, in view of +the evidence, that German militarism is the greatest school of economics +that the world has ever seen. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE NEEDS OF OUR NAVY + + "Look at the accomplished rise of Japan; think of the possible + national awakening of China; and then judge of the vast + problems of the Pacific. Only those Powers who have great + navies will be listened to with respect when the future of the + Pacific comes to be solved." + + _Kaiser Wilhelm II._ + + +A famous English philosopher once took his son to the House of +Parliament, and said to him, "Now, my boy, I want you to witness with +what ignorance and irrationality we are governed." + +Were that same philosopher and his son to witness some of our American +legislative proceedings, he would find still greater ignorance and +inconsistency for the edification of his son. + +The fathers of our country thought it necessary to the security of our +government that all naval and military authority should be subordinate +to the civil authority. Congress is able absolutely to dominate the Army +and Navy. The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy are +generally civilian politicians. It certainly does seem inconsistent to +take a man out of civil life, who, very likely, may be wholly ignorant +of naval and military matters, and, through preconceived prejudice, +unalterably opposed to actual naval and military needs, and place him in +a position seriously to interfere with the work of the officers who have +been educated at government expense at West Point and Annapolis. + +The Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the Navy ought not to be +changed, regardless of merit, or the lack of it, every time we change a +President. Those important offices should be lifted out of politics. A +man's political qualifications for an office usually depend not a whit +upon his being suited to the office by his ability to perform the duties +of the office, but simply upon what he has done for the party to earn +the appointment. + +There is a huge difference between political merit and official merit. +Political merit relates entirely to party service, and may constitute +demerit when squared with the generally accepted moral code and standard +of human behavior. A Secretary of the Army or a Secretary of the Navy +may, by previous training, ignorance, effeminacy, or, even worse, by +pacific bias, be entirely unsuited to such a position and entirely +incapable of broadly perceiving militant duty. + +Such changing of our war and naval secretaries is as harmful as it would +be to change the head of a hospital every month, with the same disregard +of qualifications derived from previous education, training, and +experience. Evidently, it would be disastrous to place in supreme +command of a hospital first an allopath, then change him a month later +for a homeopath, replace the homeopath with an osteopath, followed by a +Christian Science healer, then a spiritualistic clairvoyant, finally a +Hindoo swami. Such a rotation of hospital heads would hit the patients +pretty hard. + +When, however, we get a Secretary of the Navy of the caliber of Theodore +Roosevelt, or of ex-Secretary Meyer, then the Navy profits by having a +civilian for its head, because such men as these, who are natural judges +and masters of men, are able to make use of the greater knowledge and +experience of those under them, and they have the additional advantage +of being _en rapport_ with the civilian's point of view, while from the +fact that they are civilians, they escape the unreasoning prejudice of +the anti-militarists, who believe that all naval and military men are +actuated by ulterior motives and self-interest when trying to get +Congressional support for the Army and Navy. + +A man who, through study and experience, has become a specialist in a +certain line of work, is better qualified to do work in that line and to +know its needs than is a person who has had no such knowledge and no +such experience. In legal matters, we go to a lawyer to get advice, and +we generally take it, and pay for it. There is an old saw that he who +acts as his own lawyer has a fool for a client. + +The American Congress is composed almost entirely of civilians, who are +qualified neither by study nor experience to pass judgment on the needs +of our Army and Navy. They are as unable correctly to diagnose the +condition of our Navy and to prescribe rational remedies as a pastry +cook would be to diagnose and operate for appendicitis, or to prescribe +for the treatment of pneumonia. + +It is hard to understand how there could be any one in the country +unable to perceive this patent truth--that a person educated and trained +to a thing all his life ought to know more about that thing than a +person who has had no such training and no such experience. + +Yet the officers of the Army and Navy are not permitted to give public +expression to their views on naval and military needs. + +I quote from the New York _Times_ the following remarks on a significant +incident: + + * * * * * + +"_Washington, Feb. 17, 1915.--Secretary Garrison to-day instructed +Brigadier-General Scott, chief of staff of the army, to call upon +Captain William Mitchell, of the general staff, to explain published +remarks attributed to him on the unpreparedness of the United States for +war._ + +"_Captain Mitchell was quoted as having said that 'it would take the +United States about three years to put an army of one million trained +men in the field, and in that time an enemy could take and hold our +American seaboards.'_ + +"_Secretary Garrison said he considered such utterances, if made in +public at present, injudicious and improper._" + + * * * * * + +When a hunter goes out with a gun after game, he does not consider it +good sport to shoot a four-footed beast or flying fowl without first +giving the victim a chance for its life, and an opportunity to give the +alarm to its fellows; yet our army and navy men, under the present gag +rule, are not given a sportsman's chance to escape being shot, through +our national unpreparedness, or even to give a cry of warning to their +fellows. Even the murderer is given a chance to present his case before +being executed, but the American soldier is not afforded any such +opportunity. + +Our Congress allows itself to be dominated by impossible pacific ideas, +and consequently neglects to take the necessary sane precautions to +safeguard the country against war, or even to avert disaster in case of +war, and yet, when there arises a _casus belli_, Congress feels no moral +compunction against declaring war and sending its ill-equipped, +thin-ranked, ill-provided Army to the front to face inescapable death. + +If the troops run out of ammunition on the firing-line, they cannot +retire, but must keep their line unbroken, even though they are all +killed. + +At the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, in the Civil War, the +regiment in which my brother Leander served was caught in exactly this +position. They had been drawn up to defend a baggage train. They held +their places, and loaded and fired until their ammunition was exhausted; +and still they held their places under a rain of bullets from the enemy, +until reënforcements came. Of that company, which went into the fight a +hundred strong, eighty-four were killed, among them my brother. + +In war, the lives of a few hundred, or even a few thousand soldiers, +count for nothing, if the position they are holding has a greater +strategic value than their lives. When food runs short, it sometimes +becomes strategically a good bargain to sacrifice the lives of a +thousand men in a forage raid to bring in a thousand sheep. In such a +case, a sheep is worth more than a man, because the sheep can be eaten, +and the man cannot. + +There are some things in this world that we are able to know are +absolutely wrong. Of these, nothing is surer than that it is wrong to +forbid our army and navy officers the public expression of their +opinions, which would give the country the benefit of their knowledge +and experience. Not only this, but it is a great injustice to the +officers of the Army and the Navy, for, if war comes, it is they who +will have to stand on the firing-line--not the individuals of civilian +officialdom. + +When, in the near future, our fleet is sent to intercept the on-coming +superior fleet of an enemy, those officers who must stand on the bridge +and at their posts on the decks--and go down with their ships--are the +very men now gagged by civilian red tape. + +If they could speak, and tell you and me and all of us the truth and the +naked truth, then very likely their lives could be saved, and the +sacrifice of their ships and their crews avoided. + +If the actual truth about our defenselessness were generally +appreciated, our whole people, as Antony said of the stones of Rome, +"would rise and mutiny" against the legislative and bureaucratic +officialdom and the fanatical peace propaganda that are teaching the +people ignorance and folly while muting the tongues of those who should +speak. + +A nation is but a composite individual. Just as the male head of the +family, being the natural protector of the family, has, in all ages, +needed strong arms for the defense of the family, so, in all ages, have +nations needed strong arms for national defense. These are the army and +the navy. When army and navy are weak, then the nation, regardless of +other elements of prowess, is correspondingly weak, and, more than that, +the nation that is not safeguarded by a strong army and a strong navy +is a poor nation, regardless of its resources and visible wealth. For +the value of wealth and resources is very largely dependent upon their +security--upon the power of the army and navy to defend or guarantee the +title to them. + +That man is not a rich man, the title to whose property is questionable +and likely at any time successfully to be disputed. The value of wealth +depends entirely upon the ability of its possessor to control and +utilize it, which includes the ability to defend his title to it. + +The same thing holds true with a nation. The value of its wealth depends +entirely upon its ability to control and utilize it, subject absolutely +to ability to defend it. + +You and I, reader, may count ourselves worth a certain sum. But if our +property is not so safeguarded as to ensure our continued possession and +benefit of it, and to ensure to our children and our children's children +the possession and benefit of it, then we are by no means so rich as we +should be were our title guaranteed by adequate national defenses. + +We are at once the richest country in the world, and, in proportion to +our wealth, the poorest; for, in proportion to our wealth, we are the +most defenseless. By consequence, we are without guaranty of title to +our property, and we may at any time be robbed of it. + +An adequate army and an adequate navy are the only possible means by +which American titles to property can be guaranteed. + +Just as it is worth all it costs, and more, for owners of real estate to +have the title to their property guaranteed by a title-guarantee +company, and just as the property is by such guaranty enhanced in value +more than the cost of the guaranty, so the guaranty of title to American +property dependent upon an adequate army and navy is worth far more than +the entire cost of them, by virtue of enhanced values. + +When a nation, like the United States, has become a World Power, with +outlying possessions in distant seas and within the spheres of influence +of other powerful nations, it assumes obligations just in proportion to +the hazards involved in the maintenance of title. Also, when a nation, +like the United States, has a world-compassing commerce, its obligations +are just as large as its commerce, and its need of a navy adequate to +defend its commerce is, for that purpose alone, exactly as great as its +need of the commerce. But, in addition to this great need, there is the +still greater need of a navy of such magnitude and potentiality as +effectually to safeguard the country against invasion. + +Although we should have an army of sufficient size and possessed of so +efficient equipment as ultimately to repel invasion, still the cost in +life and treasure for repulsion and expulsion would exceed many times +the cost of the warships and naval equipment necessary to prevent +invasion. + +The American people are not all agreed that we should have a navy. There +is a very large percentage of the population who believe that we ought +not to have any at all. But there is one ground, I think, for common +agreement: Admiral Austin M. Knight, President of the Naval War College, +one of the best-informed and ablest officers in the Navy, as well as one +of the most scholarly men in the country, says: + + * * * * * + +"_If we are to have a navy it should be as efficient as it can possibly +be made. And everybody who knows anything about the Navy knows that this +is not its present condition._" + + * * * * * + +I shall quote further from a recent speech of Admiral Knight: + + * * * * * + +"_There is much about the Navy which is splendidly efficient. But as a +whole it is far less efficient than it can and ought to be. Our ships +are fine. Our officers are capable, industrious, and ambitious. Our +enlisted men are the equals of those in other navies. But efficient +ships and officers and men do not alone make an efficient navy. They +must be welded into an efficient whole by a unity of organization and +administration and purpose which coördinates their capabilities and +directs their efforts towards a common end, wisely selected and very +clearly seen. Here is the first point at which we are lacking. We are +lacking also in that harmonious composition of the fleet which is needed +to give to every element of it the support that it needs from other +elements, to make up a symmetrical and well-balanced whole. And we are +lacking to a marked degree in absolutely essential facilities for the +care and preservation of our ships, especially in the matter of +dry-docks._ + +[Illustration] + +"_Finally, we are lacking in efficient organization of the personnel. +Here, so far as officers are concerned, the conditions are altogether +deplorable. In a service like the Navy, where spirit is everything, +where enthusiasm must be the driving power back of every activity, I ask +you to picture the effect of a condition where a young officer, +graduating from the Naval Academy full of spirit and enthusiasm, finds +himself confronted with a prospect of promotion to the grade of +Lieutenant at the age of 52 years._ + +"_If you ask me who is responsible for these conditions, I can only reply +that the responsibility comes home to nearly all of us. Some of it, I am +sure, rests with me;--much of it, I believe, with you. Certainly it +cannot be attributed in excessive measure to any one administration of +the Navy Department, for it has existed for half a century at least. +So let us not cloud the issue by assuming that it is a new condition, +and that all administrations up to some recent date have been models of +wisdom and efficiency, or that Naval Officers themselves have always +been ready with good advice. Speaking as the representative of Naval +Officers as a body, I frankly admit that we have not always seen clearly +what was needed, and have not always worked together even for ends which +we did see clearly. As for the Secretaries of the Navy, it is not +surprising that many of them have failed to realize that their first +duty was to strive, in season and out of season, to promote the War +efficiency of the Navy as a whole. Many of them have not remained in +office long enough to learn this. Some, perhaps, have realized it more +or less clearly but have not found at hand an organization through which +they could produce results. A few have made material contributions +toward improved conditions...._ + +"_A large part of the responsibility, especially that connected with the +small size and the unbalanced composition of the Fleet and the lack of +dry-docks, rests with Congress, which has always approached naval +legislation from the wrong side so far as efficiency is +concerned;--asking, not what do we need for efficiency? but what can we +afford to spend for efficiency? Behind the responsibility of Congress +lies the responsibility of the Country,--and you, gentlemen, represent +the Country--because it has not insisted upon having what was needed, +without reference to cost. It may be that this attitude of both Congress +and the Country is necessary and even inevitable. But I am one of those +who believe that this great Country of ours can afford to have anything +in the way of national defense which it needs, and I assume that all +present here to-night agree that we need a navy, and if a navy, then an +efficient one, and that whatever efficiency costs is the measure of what +we can afford to spend._ + +"_What constitutes an adequate Navy for the United States? The answer +will depend, of course, upon the purpose for which we assume that the +Navy is to be used. We are all agreed, I presume, that it is not to be +used for aggression. Is it, then, to be used solely for defense? If we +answer 'yes,' we ought to do so with a full recognition of what we are +to defend and also of the elementary maxim that the best defense is a +vigorous offense. In other words, no matter how resolute we may be to +use our Navy only for repelling aggression, it does not follow that we +should plan for meeting the aggressor only at our gates. Even if we had +no interests outside our borders and no responsibilities for the defense +of our outlying possessions and dependencies, we should still, as +reasonable beings not wholly ignorant of history, prepare to project our +battle line toward the enemy's coasts and to assume a course which +would throw upon him the burden of replying to our initiative. In this +sense, then, we need a navy for offense; that is to say, for offensive +action with a defensive purpose. In shaping our plans along these lines, +we should not overlook the fact that the policy which dictates the +measure of our defense must take full note of the larger national policy +which it is to enforce;--in relation, for example, to the Monroe +Doctrine, the Panama Canal, the Philippines, and other matters which are +at once of national and of international significance."_ + + * * * * * + +If the United States does not need a navy, then we should dispose of the +fighting ships we have and disband the personnel. If, on the other hand, +we do need a navy, there is one consideration, and one consideration +alone, that can rightfully determine the size and power of that +navy--namely, its adequacy to serve the purpose for which it is +intended. + +A fighting ship is built, equipped with armament, manned, and coaled for +one sole purpose--that of adequacy in a fight. Its success or +failure--in short, its usefulness or uselessness--depends entirely upon +its fighting adequacy against a possible opponent. An ocean-liner is +built, manned, and coaled to fight tempestuous seas, and safely make the +voyage; but unless the ship is built sufficiently staunch, has +sufficiently powerful engines, is well manned, and has coal enough for +the trip, it is in no sense a success, or useful; on the contrary, it is +an utter failure and worse than useless. + +The same thing holds true of a navy: Unless it can defeat the fleet of +an enemy, and return from the voyage, it is a failure, and worse than +useless. + +A naval disaster in our present condition would be likely to be an +irreparable calamity, while a naval victory might likely win the war. It +is for this big difference that we need a navy. Consequently, the entire +use of a navy may be summed up in the one word, _superiority_ over a +possible enemy. + +When two men run for a municipal office all the votes cast for the loser +are of no value to the loser, and all campaign funds spent in getting +them have been wasted; the only votes that are of value to the winner +are those that constitute his majority. Similarly, in a naval battle, it +is the majority of votes cast by the winning guns that secures the +victory, for all of the other votes cast by the guns are balanced by an +equal number of votes cast by the guns of the enemy. + +The total value of a navy may be summed up in the value of one +battleship, which gives a conquering preponderance in gun-fire. + +Admiral Knight recently said: + + * * * * * + +"_The War College considers that every effort of the Fleet, and every +effort of the Department in connection with the Fleet, should have for +its sole aim the war efficiency of the Fleet. Every effort which does +not directly contribute to this end is in itself a wasteful expenditure +of energy, and so far as it is a diversion from this end, is distinctly +harmful._" + + * * * * * + +Among all those who have occupied positions of trust and power, and +whose business it has been to recognize and provide for our naval and +military needs, it is remarkable how few have had the necessary breadth +of view to grasp the strategic situation, and perceive its requirements +without making silly and costly mistakes, like that of the construction +of our first three battleships, the _Oregon_, the _Massachusetts_, and +the _Indiana_, merely for coast-defense purposes. None of these ships +was qualified for service in distant waters. Then, when the war with +Spain came, we held our breath while the _Oregon_ rounded the Horn. +Think of the United States of America being in such straits for fighting +ships as actually to hang national hope on the old _Oregon_. A single +shell from one of the huge guns of an up-to-date British +super-dreadnought has a striking force equal to the energy required to +lift the old battleship _Oregon_ bodily to a height of more than six +feet. + +There is no middle course for the United States. We must play the game +as a World Power, and as other nations are playing the game. To get fair +play we must provide ourselves with the weapons with which they are +providing themselves. If we do not, we shall be brushed aside with a +ruthless hand, and shall find our commerce circumscribed on every side +by inimical spheres of influence--dead lines over which we shall not +dare to pass. + +It is necessary for us not only to fortify the Panama Canal, but also to +maintain a navy of sufficient prowess to enable us to reach that Canal +at all times, and under all conditions, for it is indispensable that we +maintain communication with our defenses there. + +Should we become involved in war with England or Germany, the navy of +either being more powerful than ours, we should be immediately isolated +from the Panama Canal zone. Similarly, Japan could successfully blockade +the Pacific approaches to the Canal. + +We have, at enormous expense, cut a great waterway through the Isthmus, +and established a short route between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The +Canal is our property. Other nations of the world may use it. We +generously built it for the world's welfare. It will, however, be +valuable in time of war for the passage of our warships; in fact, it +will be a vital necessity to us. But our ability to use it for that +purpose will be entirely dependent upon the ability of our Navy to keep +the sea clear of an enemy's ships at either end. + +The war with Spain was very useful, because it brought the truth home to +us that the command of the American seas is absolutely vital to us. +Immediately following the Spanish War, we rapidly built up our Navy, +until it became second only to that of England. But we have, of late +years, been slipping back, until now our Navy occupies third place, with +a likelihood of soon dropping down to fifth place. + +In 1905, England evolved the great modern dreadnought, which was as much +of a revolution over existing types of fighting ships as was Ericsson's +_Monitor_ over the fighting ships of its time. The dreadnought relegated +all existing battleships to the second line. + +The dreadnought was so much superior in size, in speed, in gun-fire, and +in all defensive and offensive qualities, that it took its place at once +as the indispensable first-line battleship. England, Germany, France, +Japan, each recognizing the tremendous superiority of the dreadnought, +enlarged their naval appropriations, and built dreadnoughts. + +The American Congress, however, failed to recognize the serious +character of the crisis. It failed to appreciate the fact that the +dreadnought meant a revolution in battleship construction. Instead of +naval appropriations being increased according to our needs, they were +decreased. As a result, there are now two nations at least that could +whip us off the seas, while the navies both of France and Japan are +likely very soon to rank above us. + +All our illusions about our splendid isolation would vanish with the +destruction of our fleet. A European Power could, in less than two +weeks, land upon our shores an army of from 100,000 to 200,000 men. +Here, the question naturally arises: How would they be able to get past +our coast fortifications? We have spent about $160,000,000 on our coast +fortifications, but they were never intended for the protection of our +entire coast line. They were intended only to defend our important +cities and harbors and naval bases. They actually protect but a very +small fraction of our many thousand miles of shore. + +As the _Scientific American_ has justly stated, our coast fortifications +should not be so named; instead, they should be designated as +city-and-harbor fortifications. + +It would be quite impracticable adequately to defend our long stretch of +seaboard by means of coast fortifications. The only coast fortifications +that can effectually serve us are battleships. It is absolutely +indispensable to our integrity as a nation that we have a fleet +sufficiently powerful to defend our whole coast against invasion. + +These questions present themselves: How are we to ascertain what our +naval needs are? How shall we prepare to meet them? Of whom shall we +seek guidance? + +Several years ago the Navy Department organized the General Board of the +Navy, headed by Admiral Dewey. This Board studied our needs with great +diligence and care, and Congress was advised accordingly. + +All the leading navies of the world have a technical body corresponding +to our General Board, but in other countries that body speaks with +authority, while our General Board may only advise. Congress pays but +little attention to these advisers. It is a principle of our government +that the voice of the greatest number shall rule, and the people of this +country have come to believe that the majority is more likely to be +right than the minority. Many falsely believe that in the matter of +wisdom there is safety in mere numbers; that the opinion of a hundred +men is of more value than the opinion of a single man. + +Multiplying the number of individuals possessing a limited amount of +knowledge and an unlimited amount of ignorance does not raise the +high-water mark of their united wisdom. Wisdom means intellectual +height. Some men are seven feet high intellectually, while others are +not more than a foot high. + +The average of conscientiousness is much higher than the average of +intelligence. A man's sincerity cannot be used as a yard-stick for +measuring his intellectual height. Sincerity and conscientiousness are +sister entities, and are largely a measure of intellectual bias, whose +other name is prejudice. + +[Illustration: Strategic Spheres of Vital Importance in the Pacific] + +We may compare the intellectual height of men with one another in a +manner similar to comparing their physical height, only there is a much +greater disparity in the intellectual than there is in the physical. If +we take a man six feet high, and stand another man beside him of equal +or less height, the height of the two men is no greater than that of the +first man. If we add a hundred men of average height, we shall find that +the average height of the whole line is considerably less than that of +the six-footer with whom we started. + +The same thing holds true with the intellectual height of men. We may +put a man in each chair in the House of Representatives and in the +Senate, and the total height of the voting wisdom of the majority will +be only the average height of that majority, and it will be less than +that of one man who might be selected for his wisdom from their number. + +Any one member of the General Board of the United States Navy is likely +to know much more about the needs of the Navy and what Congress should +do for the Navy than is known by all members of the House and Senate put +together. + +Representative Gardner very possibly knows more about our naval and +military needs and what Congress ought to do for the Army and Navy than +is known by all the other members in Congress. In fact, he may likely +know more about the subject and be able to advise the country with +greater wisdom upon our needs for national defense than a line of +average Congressmen standing shoulder to shoulder in a string that would +girdle the earth. + +Napoleon said, "He goes fast who goes alone." Always, the great national +issues that make history have been decided in each case by one man, and +all great national crises have depended upon the decisive action of one +man. In recognition of this principle, Rome, in times of great peril, +chose a dictator. + +The Medo-Persian empire was the architecture of one man, Cyrus the +Great. The Persian empire was conquered and destroyed by the genius of +one man, Alexander the Great. Rome was brought to her knees by one man, +Hannibal. He ultimately failed, and Carthage was destroyed, because of +one man, an eloquent enemy of Hannibal, Hanno, at home in Carthage, who +was a peace-advocate. Rome was saved from destruction at the hands of +the Teutons and Cimbri solely by the military genius of Marius. Cæsar +walked alone through Gaul, solitary in his height above his whole army; +by comparison, all men of his age were pygmies. Charles Martel alone +saved Europe from the Moors. Peter the Great, the amazing architect of +Russia, was impatient of advice and brooked no interference with his +purpose. Cromwell alone was the governing brain of England. Frederick +the Great was great because he played the game of war lone-handed. +Napoleon Bonaparte was so intellectually tall that he towered over +Europe like a colossus, and he played kings like pawns in the game of +war. Bismarck played a lone hand in the creation of the German empire. +During the entire Civil War, Abraham Lincoln parried with wit the advice +of friends. To his enemies, he masked with mirth an inscrutable purpose, +while he sat solemn and solitary at the helm. + +So, always and always, it has been. Great national games have been games +of solitaire. + +We need a national leader who shall have such size and quality of brain, +and be possessed of such soul, courage, and wisdom as shall qualify him +to use the power of his high office to the full to help save this +country from the dire calamity that is impending. + +Although the General Board knows a thousand times more about our needs +and what we ought to do to provide for them than is known to the entire +American Congress, still Congress, dominated by the pride of ignorance, +believes that it knows best, oblivious to the fact that the voiced +ignorance of a thousand men may have less truth in it than the voiced +wisdom of a single man. + +Members of Congress assume the responsibility of deciding what the +strength of the Navy shall be, and what shall be its composition. +Congress, not the General Board, decides how many battleships, cruisers, +destroyers, and submarines we shall have; how many officers and men they +shall carry. The result is disastrous, for our Navy is inefficient and +ill-balanced. It is dangerously weak where it should be strongest. + +During the administration of Lord Haldane (then Mr. Haldane) the British +Admiralty Board resigned because four battleships had been cut from the +estimates for new construction, which were set at the minimum of +national requirements; and it is due to forcing the matter by this +action that the British have the four big battle-cruisers, of the _Queen +Elizabeth_ type, carrying 15-inch guns, which throw a shell weighing +1,925 pounds, and which out-range all other guns on ships. + +Robert Blatchford, whom Mr. Winston Churchill dubbed a "ridiculous +Jingo," said, in a remarkable series of articles written before the +outbreak of the present war for _The Daily Mail_ in the hope of arousing +the British public to their danger: + + * * * * * + +"_But the British people do not believe it. The British people take +little interest in foreign affairs, and less in military matters. The +British people do not want to bother, they do not want to pay, they do +not want to fight, and they regard as cranks or nuisances all who try +to warn them of their danger._ + +"_The danger is very great, and is very near. It is greater and nearer +than it was when I began to give warning of it, more than five years +ago...._ + +"_The people are conceited, self-indulgent, decadent, and greedy. They +want to keep the Empire without sacrifice or service. They will shout +for the Empire, but they will not pay for the Empire or fight for it. +Germany knows this. The world knows it. The Cabinet Ministers know it. +But no Minister dares to say it. We are in sore need of a man...._ + +"_While the articles have been appearing in The Daily Mail I have +received letters of strong approval from Lord Roberts and Lord Charles +Beresford, and from many officers of the Army and the Navy._ + +"_Are all these men ignorant and stupid, and are political wisdom and +military knowledge confined in these islands to the lawyer who runs our +Army, the lawyer who runs our Navy, and the simpering nonentities who +edit the Nonconformist organs?_ + +"_The Liberal Government made a fatal blunder when they hesitated to lay +down the four extra dreadnoughts. They were trying to economize. They +were hoping for a cheaper way out of the difficulty. They were waiting +for something to turn up. The Germans knew this, and made a tremendous +effort to get ahead of us. It is not safe to trust the tradition of +Micawber against the tradition of blood and iron._ + +"_Had the British Government, instead of trying to save a few millions, +asked the nation boldly for the full amount required, and set about the +necessary work in earnest, the Pan-Germans might have had an unpleasant +time with the German taxpayer._ + +"_It is time our Government and people recognized the facts. Germany has +challenged us. If we show weakness we are lost. We cannot bluff our +enemy. We cannot evade him. We cannot buy safety for an old song. We can +only hold our own against so powerful and resolute an antagonist by +showing an equal power and resolution._ + +"_In the crisis to which I have just referred we took the weak course +when we ought to have taken the strong one. Economy at such a time is +the most profligate extravagance._ + +"_When the Government held the four dreadnoughts back, they should have +been pushing a dozen dreadnoughts forward; when they tried to save a few +millions they should have laid out fifty millions. Instead of reducing +the artillery and pottering about with a handful of Territorials they +should have demanded an Army._ + +"_But the Cabinet were afraid. We want a_ man.... + +"_I do not want war; I want peace. I am not an enemy of the Germans, but +a friend. I like Germany; but I love England, as a man loves his mother, +or his wife, or his comrade, or his home._ + +"_And the Empire is in danger; and we are unready; and we need a_ +man.... + +"_If only we can get the British people to understand in time._" + + * * * * * + +Now, reader, carefully weigh this wonderfully prophetic language, spoken +by an Englishman to the English people, before the great war came, which +is now wringing millions upon millions of pounds sterling from the +English purse, and wringing blood from the veins of thousands upon +thousands of young men gathered from the length and breadth of the whole +empire, and wringing tears from millions of mourning eyes; let us take +this powerful appeal of Blatchford to the English people and conceive it +to be my own appeal now, to you and the whole American people. We are in +the same danger that England was, and unless we prepare as England did +not prepare we shall be wrung even more than England is wrung. + +Our naval officers, who, more than all others, know what we should have +in kinds of ships, in numbers of ships, and in personnel, are ignored. +It is a case of the blind leading those who see clearly. + +After the most careful and thorough, investigation and weighing of our +Navy's actual needs, the General Board of the Navy figures closely, as +near to the danger point as they dare, in order that their +recommendations may stand a better chance of approval by Congress. But +Congress assumes that, being naval men, they have an ax to grind and are +naturally strongly biased in the direction of extravagance, and the +Board's wise recommendations are accordingly discounted. + +We have only 33 battleships less than twenty years old, eleven of which +belong to the second line, with four building and authorized, which will +make 37 in all. The General Board thinks that we should have 48 +battleships less than twenty years old. + +We have but 68 destroyers, while the General Board thinks that we should +have 192 destroyers. + +The General Board thinks that we could squeeze along with a minimum of +71,000 men to man our present fleet, without taking into account +additional trained men needed for signal and tactical work on board +auxiliary vessels, and without any provision for warships now building. +As a bare fact, we have only 52,300 men. Thus we are short 18,000 of the +men needed to man the fleet we have. In addition to this, there is a +shortage in sight of 4,000 men required to man the fighting ships that +will go into commission in 1915 and 1916. + +Our naval experts tell Congress that we shall need 50,000 more men for +the Navy as soon as they can be enlisted and drilled; but the ears of +Congress are deaf to the appeal. Yet a whisper for a new post-office can +be heard by a Congressman from his home district a thousand miles away. + +[Illustration: Battle Ship Strength of the Nations] + +We have only 7,700 men in our naval militia. We have no naval reserve. + +Congressman Gardner informs us, as a result of his investigations, that +it would take five years to get a reserve of 25,000 sailors. + +Our best-informed naval officers recommend for coast defense the +immediate construction of a hundred submarines of the latest and most +successful type. As a matter of fact, this number is far too few. We now +have but 58 submarines, including those built, building, and authorized +to be built. Many of those we have are obsolete and absolutely +worthless. + +The following is an extract from a report by the General Board of the +Navy in 1913, which is very enlightening: + + * * * * * + +"_The absence of any definite naval policy on our part, except in the +General Board, and the failure of the people, Congress, and the +executive government to recognize the necessity for such a policy, has +already placed us in a position of inferiority which may lead to war; +and this inferiority is progressive and will continue to increase until +the necessity for a definite policy is recognized and that policy put +into operation._" + + * * * * * + +A fleet, to be effective, must be so constituted, organized, and trained +as to benefit in the highest degree from team work. It must be able, +like a baseball team, to act with the precision of a machine. + +In addition to battleships, a fleet must have an appropriate number of +battle-cruisers, smaller cruisers, transports, scouts, destroyers, +submarines, colliers, tank-ships, supply ships, repair ships, +mine-laying ships, tenders, and gunboats. Hospital ships should not be +forgotten. + +Admiral Fiske says: + + * * * * * + +"_We have only one mine-layer. We need five additional mine-layers. On +board that one mine-layer are only 336 mines. Germany had 20,000 mines +when the war started_." + + * * * * * + +A fleet without fuel-ships is like a fleet without stokers. A fleet +without scouts is blind. It cannot see the enemy's movements, while its +own movements lie under the eyes of the enemy. The videttes are called +the eyes of an army. Similarly, the scouts of a fleet are the eyes of +the fleet. A fleet without these eyes, when hunted by a fleet that has +them, is in the same position as a hunted ostrich with its head hidden +in the sand. Of these fast scouts, with minimum speed of 25-30 knots an +hour, we have only three; Germany has 14, and Great Britain has 31. + +Two fleets maneuvering for attack--one provided with scouts and the +other without them--are relatively in the position of two men, armed +with revolvers, fighting in a room, one blindfolded and the other with +eyes uncovered. + +As Admiral Knight has observed, battleships alone do not make a fleet, +much less a navy. Our fleet is greatly weakened by our lack of +destroyers. A fleet should always be accompanied by a large number of +these vessels to support the scouts, and also to do scout duty +themselves. They stiffen the screen about the battleships, and, when an +opening is present, they are ready to dash against the enemy. + +In the Civil War and in the Spanish War we were able largely to employ +improvised merchant vessels for fuel-ships and scouts; for the sole +reason that our enemies were even more miserably unprepared than +ourselves. Had we, at the time of the Spanish War, been called upon to +fight a really first-class Power, we should have been swept off the +seas. + +Fuel-ships and scouts cannot be improvised under modern conditions. They +must be ready before war comes. It is just as fallacious to imagine that +we can strengthen our Navy with improvised ships and personnel after war +is declared, and get it in trim to meet a modern fleet in the pink of +condition of preparedness, as it would be for an invalid cripple to +imagine that he could train and get into condition for a victorious +fight with a John L. Sullivan after entering the ring. + +Of all arts and sciences, that of war is the most highly specialized. +The greatest intelligence and skill are called into play to produce +special tools, and to render their use highly efficient. + +The armies and navies of the European nations and of Japan are trained, +just as college athletes are trained for boat-racing, baseball, +football, and competitive contests of the gymnasium. The personnel is +kept in the pink of condition for prompt and decisive individual effort +and also for supreme collective effort in team work. + +A pugilist finds it necessary to train with the most complete +thoroughness to get himself into prime condition for a fight, while his +opponent is training in the same manner. When they meet, it is not the +strength, skill, and endurance of the normal man that counts in the +fight, but it is the supernormal manhood that has been added to the +normal man. An ordinary untrained citizen, although he may possess +undeveloped resources equal to those of the trained pugilist, would have +no chance whatever in a fight with him. + +Similarly, such an army and a navy as we should be able to improvise in +time of war would have no more chance of success against an army and +fleet of a European nation or of Japan than the average citizen would +have with a skilled, toughened, and hardened pugilist. + +There is one source of our naval weakness that of itself alone may bring +disaster. It is incomprehensible that such a condition should be allowed +to exist. When a fleet goes into distant waters, it should have a nearby +base. We have neither the coaling stations nor the dry-docks and harbors +of refuge that are absolutely indispensable to the fleet of a country +with world pretensions. + +It is absolutely vital that we should be able to defend the Panama +Canal, but we have no dry-docks or efficient repair-shops there, and we +have none within a thousand miles of there. + +A couple of million dollars well spent to remedy this defect might, +Admiral Knight declares, very conceivably double the efficiency of the +fleet in a critical emergency by making it possible for every ship to go +out in perfect condition. + +We have capable naval bureaus of Ordnance, Construction, and Repair, and +for the direction of personnel; but these bureaus are not responsible +for the readiness of the fleet for war. Admiral Knight suggests a +remedy. He says: + + * * * * * + +"_This is the last and great defect in the efficiency of the Navy. How +shall it be remedied? The answer is, I think, by the creation in the +Navy Department of a 'Division of Strategy and Operations' preferably +not co-equal with the present Bureaus but superior to them and standing +between them and the Secretary. This arrangement would be a +recognition of the fact that all the activities of the present Bureaus +should lead up to the Secretary through a channel which coördinates them +all and directs them toward war efficiency._ + +"_The title proposed for the new office:_ DIVISION OF STRATEGY AND +OPERATIONS, _covers very completely the ground that I have in mind. As +standing for Strategy this Division would plan what to do; and as +standing for Operations, it would direct the execution of its plans. It +would correspond more or less closely with the General Staff of the Army +and the First Sea Lord of the British Admiralty, whose duties are thus +defined:_ + + "1._ Preparation for war: All large questions of naval policy and + maritime warfare--to advise._ 2. _Fighting and seagoing efficiency of the + fleet, its organization and mobilization, including complements of + ships as affecting total numbers, system of gunnery and torpedo + exercises of the fleet, and tactical employment of air-craft, and all + military questions connected with the foregoing; distribution and + movements of all ships in commission and in reserve._ 3. _Superintendence + of the War Staff and the Hydrographic Department._" + + * * * * * + + +HOW MONEY APPROPRIATED FOR THE NAVY IS WASTED + + +George von Lengerke Meyer, former Secretary of the Navy, has many times +in recent years called attention to the fact that a large proportion of +the money appropriated for the upbuilding and up-keep of our Navy has +been misapplied to the building and up-keep of useless navy yards. + +During the first fifteen years of the present century, we spent +$1,656,000,000 on our Navy, while during the same period Germany spent +$1,137,000,000. + +Notwithstanding the fact that during this period Germany spent 31 per +cent. less money on her navy than we did on ours, she has a more +powerful navy than we have. This difference represents a sum of more +than half a billion of dollars. With that amount of money we could have +built two super-dreadnoughts a year, for the past fifteen years, costing +$15,000,000 each, with $60,000,000 to spare for battle-cruisers, +destroyers, and submarines. In short, had we spent our naval +appropriations as economically as have the Germans during the past +fifteen years, we might have had thirty more battleships than we now +have, all super-dreadnoughts of the _Queen Elizabeth_ type, the latest +and most powerful pattern. This number of up-to-date super-dreadnoughts +would have far more than doubled the battle strength of our Navy. We +should have out-classed England in battleship strength. + +The following facts are so pregnant and so important and so ably +expressed that I can do no better than to give them in Mr. Meyer's own +words: + + * * * * * + +"_Until within a few years no naval appropriation could pass the Senate +which did not meet the sanction of both a Northern and Southern Senator, +each of whom was a member of the Committee on Naval Affairs. It is +interesting, in consequence, to analyze some of the appropriations +between 1895 and 1910._ + +"_In 1899 a site was purchased in Frenchman's Bay, Maine, at a cost of +$24,650--far above the assessed valuation--and later an additional +amount of $600,000 was expended to obtain there an absolutely +unnecessary coaling-station, which has since been dismantled, as it was +practically unused._ + +"_At the Portsmouth Navy Yard, so called, in Kittery, Maine, a dock was +built at an expense of $1,122,800, and later it was found necessary to +blast away rock in the channel in order to reach the dock, at an +additional expense of $745,300._ + +"_Between 1895 and 1910 improvements, machinery, repairs, and +maintenance in the yard amounted to $10,857,693, although there was a +large navy-yard within seventy miles._ + +"_On the other hand, at Port Royal, South Carolina, a dock was built at +the insistence of the Southern Senator, at a cost of $450,000, which +proved useless, and, although the original cost of the site was but +$5,000, it was not abandoned as a naval base until $2,275,000 had been +expended._ + +"_Not the least daunted by this extravagant waste, the same Senator +determined to have a share of the naval melon for his State, so, with +the assistance of the Northern Senator, he obtained the establishment of +another naval station at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1901. There was +no strategic value thus accomplished, nor was it necessary, with the +Norfolk Navy-Yard located at Hampton Roads. The $5,000,000 which has +been squandered at Charleston includes a dry-dock built for battleships, +costing $1,250,000, but which experience shows can only be used by +torpedo-boat destroyers and gunboats. The $5,000,000 could have been +employed to great advantage at the Norfolk Navy-Yard, where the +battleship fleet generally assembles. A portion even could have been +used wisely at Key West, Florida, a supplementary base of real strategic +value for torpedoes and submarines--a protection to the Gulf of Mexico +and the mouth of the Mississippi River, and on account of its +geographical situation, Key West would serve as a base of supplies to +the fleet in the Caribbean Sea._ + +"_The purpose of the navy-yards is to keep the fleet in efficient +condition. Their location should be determined by strategic conditions, +their number by the actual needs of the fleet. The maintenance of +navy-yards which do not contribute to battle efficiency is a great +source of waste._ + +"_The United States has over twice as many first-class navy-yards as +Great Britain, with a navy more than double the size of ours, and more +than three times as many as Germany, whose navy is larger than that of +the United States._ + +"_The total cost of navy-yards up to June 30th, 1910, with land, public +works, improvements, machinery, and maintenance, including repairs, +amounts to $320,600,000._ + +"_Overburdened with a superfluous number of navy-yards distributed along +the Atlantic coast from Maine to Louisiana, in 1910 I recommended that +Congress give up and dispose of naval stations at New Orleans, +Pensacola, San Juan, Port Royal, New London, Sackett's Harbor (New +York), Culebra, and Cavité, none of which was a first-class station. The +average yearly cost of maintaining these stations between 1905 and 1910 +was $1,672,675, and very little useful work had been performed at any of +them. Later, I practically closed them, but could not abolish or dispose +of them, no action having been taken by Congress. Pensacola and New +Orleans have since been reopened by my successor._ + +"_The interests of the country and the interests of the Navy would be +best served by one first-class naval base with sufficient anchorage for +the entire fleet, north of the Delaware, equipped for docking, +repairing, etc., and another station of equal capacity at Norfolk, in +Chesapeake Bay, with Guantanamo, Cuba, to serve as the winter-station +rendezvous._ + +"_On the Pacific coast we are fortunate in having only two naval +stations, one at Bremerton, on Puget Sound, established in 1891, with +ample depth of water, costing to date about $9,000,000; and the other at +Mare Island, established in 1850, some thirty miles from the harbor of +San Francisco, with inadequate depth and width of water along its +water-front. The total costs, with maintenance and repairs, have +amounted to $35,000,000, and, on account of insufficient depth of water, +none of the battleships built in the last eight years could have been +berthed there...._ + +"_Building battleships without an adequate force of men is equal to +wasting money; only ten ships of the first line and eleven of the +second, according to the Navy Department, can be placed in full +commission for service, due to a shortage of men and officers._ + +"_To provide a proper complement for all vessels of the Navy which could +still be made useful would require an additional force of 18,556 men and +933 line officers, according to the testimony of Admiral Badger before +the Naval Committee, December 8, 1914._ + +"_That we have not been getting proper return for money expended in the +Navy is not known to the majority of our people, nor is it realized to +what extent political influences have misdirected the appropriations +during the past twenty-five years. The remedy will only come from +absolute publicity._ + +"_Let a special committee be appointed to investigate the conditions in +the Navy._ + +"_Let a special committee of military experts from the Army and Navy be +appointed to recommend what naval stations shall be abolished and sold +and if any shall be established to take their places._ + +"_Let Congress inaugurate a national council of defense made up of +members of the Cabinet, Senate, and House, with the chiefs of staff from +the Army and Navy, that more efficient co-operation may be obtained +between the executive and legislative branches of the Government in +respect to military requirements._ + +"_Let Congress establish a general staff in the Navy._" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LANGUAGE OF THE BIG GUNS + + +In the present war, the big guns, both on land and sea, have told their +own story, and they have commanded conviction of their usefulness in +proportion to the loudness of their voice. + +Following the introduction of armor-plate by Ericsson's _Monitor_ and +the _Merrimac_, armor-plate was answered by increasing the size of guns +and projectiles. Brown prismatic powder was developed to slow the +burning and lessen the initial pressure, thereby securing a better +maintenance of pressure behind the projectile in its passage along the +bore of the gun. + +Guns weighing more than a hundred tons were built in England for the use +of brown prismatic powder, but it was found that after firing a few +rounds, the guns drooped at the muzzle under the shock of discharge, and +lost their accuracy. + +The invention and development of smokeless gunpowder, mainly during the +ten years between 1887 and 1897, resulted in radical improvements in +guns of all calibers. + +Only about 44 per cent. of the products of combustion of the old black +powder and the brown prismatic powder were gaseous. The balance, about +56 per cent., were solid matter, and produced smoke. It will be seen, at +a glance, that smokeless powder, whose products of combustion are +entirely gaseous, possesses enormous ballistic advantages, quite +independent of its smokelessness. Less than half the products of +combustion of the old smoke-producing powders being gaseous, much energy +was absorbed from the gases, to heat and vaporize the solid products +constituting the smoke. Additional heat was consumed by the work of +expelling the smoke from the gun. + +The products of combustion of smokeless powder are not only practically +all gaseous, but also they are much hotter than the products of +combustion of the old, smoky, black powder. Owing to this fact, +smokeless powder may be considered about four times as powerful as the +old black powder. + +When a projectile is thrown from a gun, although it is not heated +appreciably, yet heat-energy represented by its velocity is absorbed +from the expanding gases of the powder charge. When a 12-inch projectile +weighing a thousand pounds is thrown from one of our long naval guns, it +has a striking energy, fifty feet from the muzzle, of about 50,000 +foot-tons--that is to say, it strikes with a force equal to that of +50,000 tons falling from a height of one foot, or one ton falling from a +height of 50,000 feet. As the 12-inch naval gun weighs about 50 tons, +the energy absorbed from the gases in the shape of velocity of the +projectile is sufficient to lift a thousand 12-inch guns to a height of +one foot. + +As a projectile weighs half a ton, the force of the blow is about the +same as though the projectile were to be dropped from a height of twenty +miles, with no deduction for the resistance of the atmosphere. + +When the projectile is stopped, a quantity of heat is re-developed +exactly equal to that absorbed from the powder gases in giving the +projectile its high velocity; and the quantity of heat absorbed from the +powder gases in throwing a thousand-pound projectile from our big naval +guns is sufficient to melt 750 pounds of cast iron, which is enough to +heat the projectile white hot. + +Obviously, when the projectile strikes armor-plate, either the plate or +the projectile must yield, for the reason that the projectile brings to +bear upon a 12-inch plate an energy sufficient to fuse a hole right +through it, and this is substantially what it does. The hard and +toughened steel of the plate is heated and softened by the force of +impact, and, although the projectile may be cold after it has passed +through, it actually does fuse a hole through the plate, the metal +flowing like wax from its path. + +The introduction of smokeless cannon-powder was followed by a recession +from guns of great weight and caliber, to guns of smaller weight and +smaller caliber, the aim being to make up for the greater smashing power +of huge projectiles, thrown at a lower velocity, with projectiles of +smaller size, thrown at much greater velocity and having a greater power +of penetration of armor-plate, which was constantly being made thicker +and tougher and harder in order to resist the impact of armor-piercing +projectiles. + +As armor-plate continued to increase in thickness and in powers of +resistance, guns of bigger and bigger caliber had to be made, capable of +withstanding the enormous pressure necessary to throw projectiles of +sufficient size and at sufficiently high velocity to penetrate any +armor-plate that could be opposed to them. + +With every improvement in armor-plate, the gun and the projectile have +been improved and enlarged, until now no armor-plate carried by any ship +can withstand the naval guns of largest caliber. In its race with +armor-plate, the gun has thus far been the winner. + +The victory of the _Monitor_ over the _Merrimac_ at Hampton Roads, half +a century ago, was far less decisive than was the victory of armor-plate +over the gun of that time. + +The whole world well remembers the story of how the _Monitor_ arrived in +the nick of time, and saved the Federal fleet from destruction. But the +salvation of the Northern fleet was of little advantage, for the advent +of the _Monitor_ rendered obsolete and useless every warship of every +fleet in the world. + +Great Britain found herself without a navy. There was universal +consternation. It was a world-wonder that no government had before +resorted to so simple an expedient, and one whose utility was so very +evident. + +It must be remembered that the guns of that period were muzzle-loading +smooth-bores, and that the round, solid projectiles thrown by them were +intended merely to knock holes in the sides of wooden warships and to +pound down the walls of brick or stone forts. Bombshells were then thin, +hollow spheres of cast iron, charged with black gunpowder, and they were +not intended for penetration, their destructiveness depending upon the +fragments hurled by their explosion, or upon their ignition of +inflammable material. + +It is a curious phase of human progress that what is old and tried is +venerated and conserved with solicitous regard out of all proportion to +merit. Innovations must not only have evident merit, but their merit +must also be so indubitably proven by application and use as to replace +the old and revered, in spite of the opposition of overzealous +conservatism. The substitution of the sail for the galley-slave was a +very slow process, until it received especial stimulus in the fierce +forays of the marauding Northmen and the raids of the Mediterranean +corsairs. Similarly, did the sail slowly give way to steam. + +A modern wooden steam-launch or a forty-foot motor-boat, with cedar +sides, driven by gasolene-engines and armed with a single +three-and-a-half-inch gun, would be able today to attack and destroy the +famous _Monitor_ of Ericsson, in spite of its armor-plate, for the +reason that the launch or motor-boat would have vastly greater speed, +and also for the reason that its gun would have vastly greater range, +and would be able to penetrate the soft iron armor of the _Monitor_ with +projectiles charged with a high explosive to explode inside. The +motor-boat, lying outside the range of the huge 11-inch guns of the +_Monitor_, could hold a position of perfect safety during the conflict, +and, by consequence, would need no armored protection. + +Thus we see that the sufficiency of armor-plate must, other things being +equal, inevitably depend upon insufficiency in range and penetrating +power of the gun to which it is opposed. An unarmored vessel, with guns +capable of penetrating the armor-plate of an opponent having +shorter-range guns, needs only to have superior speed in order to choose +a position out of range of the armor-clad's guns, and, atmospheric +conditions being favorable, to destroy it without itself being exposed +to any danger whatsoever. + +But there are other conditions which prevent the gun, however long its +range and however great its power of penetration, from being a complete +defense in the absence of armored protection. These conditions are--the +limit of vision due to the rotundity of the earth, even in clear +weather, the limitation of vision, at much nearer distances, in thick or +hazy weather, and, of course, the greatly increased difficulty of +hitting at extreme ranges. Also, it is necessary to be able to observe, +from the fighting-tops, where trial shots strike, in order to get the +correct range, and lay the guns exactly upon the target. + +In the recent North Sea fight, firing began at more than 17,000 yards, +or about ten miles; 12-inch and 13-inch shells from the British ships +struck the _Bluecher_ before more than the upper works of the _Bluecher_ +could be seen from the decks of the British ships. Only by the +fire-control officers, a hundred feet above the decks, could her whole +hull be seen. When the first huge shells came plunging down out of the +sky upon the _Bluecher_, her gunners could not see the ships from which +they came. + +It is true that with much more powerful guns than those of her enemy, an +unarmored vessel would be able to shoot right through any armored +protection opposed to them. But there is the danger that an armored ship +of an enemy may emerge from the fog or haze, or from out of the darkness +at night, and then neither speed nor weight of gun-fire might save the +unarmored ship. The unarmored vessel would not be able with her small +guns, if she carried them, materially to injure her armored enemy, +whereas the enemy, with its secondary batteries, firing with enormous +rapidity and faster than the speed of the heavier guns, would be able to +riddle her in a few moments. Consequently, it is considered wise to +employ sufficient armor to afford protection against the rapid-fire guns +of smaller caliber. Such armor also at longer ranges affords +considerable protection against the big guns, for it must be expected +that not all projectiles will strike the plate at right angles. They +strike at all angles, and sometimes at very sharp angles, and glance +off, in which case armor of moderate thickness may save a ship by +diverting the shots, while, if she were wholly unarmored, she might be +destroyed. + +We may then conclude that an ideal fighting ship would be one having +very great speed, carrying very large and powerful guns, and protected +by armor-plate of but moderate thickness. Actually, such a ship is the +modern battle-cruiser. We have as yet not one of these ships in our +Navy, while the Japanese have two of the most powerful in the world, and +more building; England has eight, and more building; Germany has four, +and more building. + +[Illustration: _How the Fleet of an Enemy with fifteen-inch guns could +Bombard and Destroy Forts hancock, Hamilton and Wadsworth and also all +of Brooklyn and part of Manhattan, from a position beyond the range of +the Guns of those Forts; also showing how, after Fort Hancock is +destroyed, the Fleet could move yet nearer for the Destruction of Forts +Hamilton and Wadsworth, and still be out of range of those Forts, and +finally, after their Destruction, how it could Bombard New York, Jersey +City and Brooklyn at Short Range._] + +The first improvements following the advent of armor-plate were made, +as might be supposed, in the gun and in the projectile. The old +smooth-bore, with spherical projectile, was replaced by the +breech-loading rifle and the conical projectile having a copper driving +ring and gas-check, by which a projectile possessing enormously greater +mass for its caliber could be hurled at much higher velocity and kept +point on. + +Extraordinary improvements have been continuously made in armor-plate, +to harden and toughen it and to give it greater powers of resistance, +while battleships have been made larger and larger to support heavier +and heavier armor-plate. Nevertheless, the first improvement in guns and +projectiles that followed the advent of the armor-clad, gave the gun the +lead, and the gun has kept the lead ever since. + +Today, the long-range, high-power naval gun, charged with smokeless +powder, and throwing a projectile made of tempered steel inconceivably +tough and hard, and charged with high explosive, is the most powerful +dynamic instrument ever produced by man. A 12-inch naval gun throws a +projectile weighing half a ton, at a velocity nearly three times the +speed of sound. A charge of three hundred and seventy-five pounds of +smokeless powder, strong as dynamite, is employed for the projectile's +propulsion. + +It may be safely assumed that at fighting ranges the residual velocity +of a 12-inch, armor-piercing, half-ton projectile, thrown from one of +the most powerful 12-inch naval guns, develops heat enough upon impact +to fuse its way through 12-inch plate. + +When a solid body comes into collision with another solid body, the +energy of motion is instantly converted into heat, except such portion +of it as may be consumed in fragmentation, and retained in the motion of +the flying pieces. If two armor-plates, twelve inches in thickness, +could be brought together face to face, each with a velocity equal to +that of a modern 12-inch projectile, the energy of the impact would be +sufficient to melt both plates. + +New suns are created by the occasional collision of great celestial +bodies in their flight through space. The heat generated by such +collisions is, however, vastly greater than that developed by the +collision of a projectile against armor-plate, for the reason that the +velocity of celestial bodies is so much greater, being commonly from +thirty-five to fifty miles per second, and sometimes as high as two +hundred miles per second, instead of but three-quarters of a mile per +second. The heat developed by the collision of worlds is sufficient not +only to fuse them, but also to gasefy them, and reduce them to their +ultimate elements. All the suns that emblazon the evening sky have been +created in this manner, and the heat generated by their natal impact is +sufficient to maintain their radiant energy for hundreds of millions of +years. Planets are born, some of them to become inhabited worlds, +finally to grow old and die, with the extinguishment of all life upon +them, while their parent sun is still blazing hot. + +The earth is being constantly bombarded with meteorites, usually of very +small size. But the earth is armor-plated with its envelope of air. The +impact of meteorites upon this envelope, at the enormous speed at which +they are traveling through space, is fatal to them, and they are dashed +to pieces and consumed upon it, as though it were a solid shield of +hardest tempered steel. It is seldom, indeed, that a meteorite has +sufficient size and mass to penetrate through the atmosphere to the +earth's surface. Were it not for the protection offered by the earth's +envelope of air, every living thing upon its surface would be very soon +destroyed by the meteoric bombardment from the heavens. A minute +particle of meteoric dust, traveling at celestial velocity, would be +more deadly than a bullet from a shoulder-rifle. + +When a projectile is fired from a gun, it encounters the same +atmospheric resistance, in proportion to its velocity and mass, as is +encountered by a meteorite, the resistance increasing in a ratio +something like the square of the velocity. When a battleship fires a +12-inch shot at another war-vessel ten miles away, the velocity is +greatly reduced during flight, for an enormous amount of energy is +consumed in punching a 12-inch hole ten miles long through the +atmosphere. Gravitation, also, is drawing the projectile toward the +earth with a constant pull of half a ton, to counteract which the +trajectory must be made an upward curve. This makes the path longer, and +consumes additional energy in raising the projectile to the top of the +trajectory. + +If a projectile could be thrown from a gun at a velocity equal to that +of a meteor, it would blaze like the sun during flight, for the metal +upon its surface would be fused and gasefied by the resistance and +friction of the air. It would not make any difference whether it were +made of the toughest, hardest tempered steel, or whether it were made of +soft iron. The velocity would be so great that it would pass through the +heaviest armor-plate without appreciable reduction of speed. If the +projectile were of lead, it would require armor-plate of a greater +thickness to stop it than if it were of steel, for the reason that its +mass or weight for its bulk would be greater. + +Distance and the intervening air are our most efficient protection. No +armored defense now employed is wholly effectual, except the range be +long. By consequence, then, future naval battles will be decided more +and more by speed and size of guns, rather than by armored protection. + +Were two modern dreadnoughts to battle at as close range as did the +_Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_, immediate destruction would be mutual. +They would cripple each other more in four minutes than did the +_Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_ in the four long hours during which they +pounded each other. + +The _Alabama_ and _Kearsarge_ fought for more than an hour, within +bowshot of each other, before the _Alabama_ was destroyed. Were two of +the biggest and most heavily armored battleships in the world to fight +today at as close range, one or the other of them would be destroyed in +a very few minutes. + +The projectiles fired from the monster naval guns now weigh many times +as much as those thrown from the guns of either the _Monitor_ or the +_Merrimac_, and these huge projectiles have also a multiplied velocity. +The total thickness of the armor of the _Monitor's_ turret was ten +inches. An iron wall of the character used in Ericsson's turret, five +feet in thickness, would not afford adequate protection against our +modern, monster guns. + +Of course, the character of armor-plate has been vastly improved since +that time. Instead of being merely soft iron, as was that of the +_Monitor_, armor-plate is now made of the hardest and toughest tempered +steel that science can produce. So, also, is the projectile. The +projectile has far more than held its own. It is necessary, therefore, +that the most heavily armored ships, as well as those unarmored, must +fight today at long range, depending mainly upon skilled marksmanship +and power and range of guns, rather than upon armored protection. A +battle at close range between two huge modern dreadnoughts would be as +deadly to both combatants as a duel between two men standing close +together, face to face, holding pistols at each other's breast. + +When a chemical engineer makes an invention, and needs money for its +exploitation, he first interests capitalists by letting them see the +invention practised on a laboratory scale, embodying essentially the +same conditions as would be involved in the larger commercial +application. Similarly, we may get a very just and dependable idea of +the relative efficiency of guns and armor-plate on a naval-battle scale, +by taking into consideration what would be the result of a lesser +conflict, embodying essentially the same conditions. + +Suppose two men were to fight a duel, one wearing armor capable of +protecting him as efficiently against rifle balls as the heaviest armor +carried by any warship today is capable of protecting it against modern +cannon-fire; the other wearing no armor, and being thereby enabled to +run much faster than his armor-clad opponent. Obviously, if the +unarmored man had a gun of longer range than that carried by the +protected man, he would be able to keep out of range of his enemy's gun, +while still keeping him well within range. Thus he would be able to +continue firing at him until he killed him, without in return being hit +at all. + +At the battle of Santiago, the American fleet made only about two per +cent. of hits with its 12-inch guns. Since that time very great +improvements have been made in fire-control, and the accuracy of +gun-fire. Today, a battle-cruiser, going at the rate of thirty knots, +will hit an object on the sky-line a tenth the size of a battleship with +the accuracy that Buffalo Bill from horse-back would hit a man's hat at +a distance of twenty paces. + +In the naval battle between von Spee and Cradock, off the coast of +Chili, they opened fire on each other with deadly effect at 12,000 +yards. In the running fight off the Falkland Islands, most of the +execution was done at a range of 15,000 yards. + +In the North Sea fight, according to the report of Admiral Beatty, the +British shots began to take effect on the enemy at ten miles, and the +whole battle was fought at a range of over seven miles. The German guns, +being mounted so that they could be elevated much more than the British, +were able to shoot not only as far, but even farther. The British guns, +however, were much more effective, because of the greater weight of +metal thrown. + +When projectiles are increased in size the atmospheric resistance at +equal velocity increases as the square of the diameter, while the mass +increases as the cube of the diameter. Consequently, large projectiles +lose less velocity during flight, in proportion to their weight, due to +the resistance of the air, than do smaller projectiles. + +Only within the last few years has rapid-fire with very large guns +become possible. Now, however, loading machinery has been so perfected +that the limit is no longer that of hand-power. Wherever in nature +forces are opposed, there is a tendency toward an equilibrium. There is +now a tendency toward the establishment of an equilibrium between the +power of offense and the power of defense--between gun-fire and +armor-plate. + +Nevertheless, the mean force of gun-fire remains still far superior to +that of armored resistance. The mean armored resistance is now about on +a par with that of the moderate caliber guns, as, for example, 6-and +8-inch guns. If there were no larger guns than those of 6-and 8-inch +caliber, guns and armor-plate would be about neck and neck in the race. +Consequently, we must look to the winning of naval victories by the +employment of guns of more than 8-inch caliber. + +Speed is of such supreme importance in naval engagements that its value +should be especially emphasized. Superior speed enables the fleet +possessing it to choose its own position, thus determining the range and +the direction from which the attack shall be made. If the fleet happens +to have guns of larger caliber and longer range than the enemy, it may +be important, also, to choose its weather by keeping out of action until +it can fight at the maximum range of its own guns. The slow fleet must +always fight at a disadvantage. + +[Illustration: _Fig. 1.--Two fleets, F and S, go into action in parallel +lines, the range being chosen by the fleet, F, having ships of greatest +speed and guns of longest range._] + +[Illustration: _Fig. 2.--The faster fleet, F, forges ahead, concentrating +the fire of both its front ships on the van ship of the slow fleet, while +the rear ship of flee S is thrown out of range and out of action._] + +[Illustration: _Fig. 3.--The faster fleet, F, bends its course in front +of the slower fleet, S, with increased concentration of fire on the +leading ships of the latter, throwing its two rear ships out of action._] + +[Illustration: _Fig. 4.--The faster fleet, F, doubles around and crumples +the slower fleet, S, and pours into its foremost ships and overwhelming +enfilading fire, while its four rear ships are thrown out of action._] + +[Illustration: _Fig. 5.--The slower fleet, S, is forced into a circular +position and destroyed, while its rear ships are constantly kept out of +action._] + +Let us picture two opposing fleets drawn up for battle. The fleet with +fastest ships and guns of longest range, lining up at the maximum +effective distance for its fire, steams at first in a line parallel with +the enemy and in the same direction that the enemy is steaming. The +faster fleet is soon able to run its van ships forward of the van ships +of the enemy, turning in front of them, thereby bringing the front ship +of the enemy's line under the combined fire of its own two foremost +ships, while the rearmost ship in its line of battle gets out of range +of the rearmost ship of the enemy, placing the latter entirely out of +action. This movement is continued until the enemy's line is encircled, +crumpled up, and destroyed. Therefore, we see that superior speed +enables the fleet possessing it to put a portion of an enemy's fleet +entirely out of action, while at the same time placing the remainder of +the enemy's ships under the combined fire of a superior number. + +In June, 1897, I delivered a lecture before the Royal United Service +Institution of Great Britain, in which I illustrated and recommended the +employment of a gun of very large caliber for use on fighting ships and +in coast fortifications. + +The United States government had, several years previously, adopted the +multi-perforated smokeless cannon-powder invented by me. This form of +grain rendered it possible to use a pure nitro-cellulose smokeless +powder in large guns, because it greatly reduced the initial area of +combustion in proportion to the mass, while as the combustion progressed +this condition was reversed and a very large area was presented to the +flame of combustion in proportion to the mass. Consequently, the initial +pressure in the gun was much reduced, while greater pressure was +maintained behind the projectile in its flight through the gun than +could be obtained by any other form of grain. This made possible the +attainment of a very high velocity, with a comparatively low initial +pressure and, consequently, with comparatively small strain upon the +gun. For this reason, and because of the low heat in the combustion of +pure nitro-cellulose powder, the erosive action upon the gun was reduced +to a minimum. + +I invented another and a special form of multi-perforated grain by means +of which a yet lower initial pressure for a given density of loading was +secured, the rate of combustion being still more highly accelerated. + +Believing that the advantages of projectiles of great size, carrying a +very large bursting charge, could be better illustrated by a gun of +extraordinary caliber, I designed a cannon having a caliber of +twenty-four inches, but having a weight of only 43 tons, the weight and +length of the gun being the same as the British 12-inch 43-ton gun. +This gun was designed to throw a semi-armor-piercing projectile weighing +1,700 pounds, and carrying an explosive charge of 1,000 pounds, the +total weight of the projectile being 2,700 pounds. While the projectile +was not designed to pierce heavy armor, it was capable of penetrating +the decks and sides of light-armored cruisers and deep into earth or +concrete for the destruction of forts. It was a veritable aërial +torpedo. By means of the special form of multi-perforated smokeless +powder designed for this gun, the huge projectile could be thrown to a +distance of nine miles with the gun at maximum elevation, and still with +a comparatively low chamber pressure. + +The projectile was provided with a safety delay-action detonating fuse, +designed to explode it after having penetrated the object struck, +thereby securing the maximum destructive effects. + +It is reported that the Germans have made a huge howitzer weighing 45 +tons, having a caliber of 23-1/2 inches, which also is capable of +throwing a projectile weighing more than a ton to a distance of nine +miles. + +The drawings used in my lecture were published in the _Journal of the +Royal United Service Institution_, April, 1898, and re-published in many +scientific and engineering magazines, and in newspapers both here and +abroad. The descriptions of this gun and projectile were illustrated, as +was the manner of its employment for the destruction of the kinds of +forts destroyed by the Germans at Liège and Namur. + +The use of high explosives in big armor-piercing projectiles is now +universal, but on the publication of my lecture in 1897 I was subjected +to much criticism, especially in some of the London newspapers, whose +editors took issue with me as to the practicability of throwing large +bursting charges of high explosives from high-power guns. Prior to that +time the only success achieved in throwing large charges of high +explosives was by use of the Zalinski pneumatic dynamite gun, a battery +of which had been made and mounted at great expense at Sandy Hook. These +air-guns imparted a maximum velocity of only about 600 feet per second +to the projectile. The maximum charge was 600 pounds of nitro-gelatin. +The projectile had no penetrating power whatsoever, and was designed to +go off on impact. + +My proposition to throw large charges of a high explosive from a big +gun, at high velocity, using a propelling charge of gunpowder, appeared +to many to be a very hare-brained intention indeed, to say nothing of +shooting it through armor and exploding it behind the plate. + +On my return to America in 1898, I laid the matter before General A. R. +Buffington, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, United States Army, and +Admiral Charles O'Neil, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, United States +Navy. General Buffington sent me to Sandy Hook, where my new explosive, +Maximite, was subjected to a very thorough trial. The first 12-inch +projectile charged with it was buried in sand in an armor-cased cellar, +and exploded. More than seven thousand fragments of the projectile were +recovered, being sifted out of the sand. Twelve-inch projectiles charged +with Maximite were repeatedly fired through 12-inch armor-plate without +exploding. Later, similar projectiles, armed with a fuse, were fired +through the same plate and were exploded behind the plate. Although +Maximite was fifty per cent. stronger than ordinary dynamite, yet it was +so insensitive to shock as to be incapable of being exploded without the +use of a very strong detonator. Maximite was the first high explosive +successfully to be fired through heavy armor-plate, and exploded behind +the plate, with a delay-action fuse. The fuse employed at that time was +the invention of an army officer. Later, my fuse was subjected to a very +long series of tests, and it was finally adopted in 1907 as the service +detonating fuse by the United States Navy. + +If Uncle Sam would listen with an understanding mind to the language of +the big guns now speaking on land and sea, he would immediately build a +large number of huge howitzers. He would build a large number of good +roads, capable of standing the tread of these howitzers. He would build +as well a goodly number of battle-cruisers, as big and as fast as any +afloat in foreign seas, and armed with guns ranging as far as the guns +of any foreign power. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AËRIAL WARFARE + + +In the present European War is being tested the enginery of destruction +and slaughter that has been building and accumulating for half a +century. It is the most stupendous experiment that the human race has +ever tried. The magnitude of it confounds the senses; the horror +obsesses the mind and stumps realization. + +The influence of improvements in all kinds of weapons and machinery of +war is further and further to complicate strategics. The more that +invention, science, and discovery are employed in the development and +perfection of implements of war, the more the use of those implements +requires high inventive genius and high scientific skill. + +Before the outbreak of the war there were many military engines awaiting +a practical trial in actual service, among them the dirigible balloon. +During a period of forty years the nations of the world have been +obliged to do a good deal of guessing, in spite of calculations based on +previous experience in wars whose mechanism was very simple and crude as +compared with the present engines of war. But the improvements in +weapons employed on terra firma did not constitute so far a step away +from experience as engines of aërial warfare. Those engines of war which +have been mainly the subjects of guess-work are the aëroplane and that +dreadnought of the air, the Zeppelin, especially the latter. The advent +of the aëroplane introduced an entirely new set of problems. + +Before the advent of the aëroplane, the navigation of the air was +confined to the balloon. Contrary to expectation, the aëroplane, instead +of putting the balloon out of the race, served only to stimulate higher +development of the balloon, with the result that the dirigible balloon +and the aëroplane have been developed side by side. + +From the outset, it was recognized that the chief desideratum in the +development of the aëroplane consisted in greater stability, and +especially in automatic equilibration. + +The first aëroplanes were very imperfect. At the time of the early +exhibitions which I witnessed, it was necessary to plan them to take +place in the calm of the evening, just before sundown. The aëroplane +could not go up in a wind. No aëronaut would have undertaken to go up +except when there was no wind. Even a moderate breeze made them quite +unmanageable. Now, however, the aëroplane can rise in a gale of wind, +and fly right into the teeth of a hurricane. + +The old-style balloon could only go with the wind. It could make no +headway against it, but had to float like a feather on the lightest +breeze. The modern dirigible, however, which has reached its highest +degree of perfection in the Zeppelin, can travel through still air at a +speed of sixty miles an hour, the speed of a gale of wind, and can brave +a fifty-mile gale at a speed of ten miles an hour. This is altogether +remarkable when we take into account the fact that the Zeppelin, with +all its load, must be lighter than air, and therefore, for its size, +lighter than the fluffiest eiderdown. + + +LIMITATIONS OF THE AËRIAL BOMB + + +Aviation makes a strong appeal to the imagination, and this fact, +together with errors and misconceptions in the popular mind concerning +the use and power of high explosives, has led to many strange +predictions and weird conclusions about the destruction which dirigibles +and aëroplanes would be capable of doing by dropping bombs from the sky. + +Since the advent of aviation, many inventors have directed their +energies to aërial bombs and bomb-dropping appliances. There have been, +from time to time, fearful forecasts of the destruction of warships, +coast fortifications, and large cities; for it was claimed that +air-craft would be able to drop explosive bombs capable of wrecking the +heaviest battleship and of blowing up coast fortifications and utterly +laying waste cities and towns. It was predicted that the aëroplane would +be able, with its bombs, to scatter armies like chaff before the +whirlwind. + +The hopes of those who have believed in such dire destructiveness of +bomb-dropping from air-craft have been dashed to the ground, with the +bombs they have dropped. Of course, aviators may drop any form of +infernal machine which, on exploding, will mangle by-standers with +fragments of scrap iron, but the effect must necessarily be very local. + +The most effective use aviators can make of bombs and infernal machines +is to destroy one another in the sky and to attack magazines and +storehouses, wireless stations, hangars, and balloon-sheds within the +enemy's lines, and beyond the reach of other means of attack. Also, in +connection with the attack of advancing troops, aërial bombs dropped +from aëroplanes may be used with effect, especially in disentrenching an +enemy. At sea, too, with the latest types of aëroplane, bombs of +sufficient size and weight and power of penetration may be used +destructively against unarmored or light-armored war-vessels. A more +efficient means, however, than has yet been adopted is needed to secure +the required accuracy. Naturally, such bombs are admirably adapted to +the destruction of dirigible balloons. The swift-winged aviator is able +to manoeuvre at will around and above a huge dirigible and to attack it +from any quarter. + +There is probably no one subject about which there is more popular error +than concerning the use and destructive effects of high explosives. + +An anarchist once attempted to blow up London Bridge with two small +sticks of dynamite, and succeeded merely in getting himself into +trouble. At another time, a dynamiter entered the Houses of Parliament +and exploded ten pounds of dynamite in one of the large corridors, with +the result that it only made a hole in the floor and smashed a few +windows. + +As a matter of fact, airships are capable of working comparatively small +damage by dropping bombs, unless the bombs can be made to hit and +penetrate the object struck before exploding, for the reason that, +unless confined, explosives have but little effect. + +When a mass of high explosive is detonated upon a firm, resisting body, +like the earth, or the deck of a battleship, or armor-plate, the effect +is to rebound from the resisting body with small result. For example, +when a mass of high explosive is set off on the earth's surface, the +ball of incandescent gases bounds upward, spreading out in the form of +an inverted cone. While it will blow a hole of considerable size into +the ground, still the effect in a horizontal plane is practically nil. +The windows of buildings standing in the vicinity of an explosion of +this character are not blown inward, but are blown outward in the +direction of the explosion by atmospheric reaction. + +At Sandy Hook, several years ago, an experiment was tried with two +hundred pounds of guncotton exploded against a twelve-inch plate, +immediately back of which were placed a cage containing a rooster and a +hen, and another cage containing a dog. The guncotton was hung against +the plate and detonated. The effect upon the plate was nil. On +examination, it was found that the dog and the two fowl had been made +rather hard of hearing. That was the only noticeable effect upon the +animals. + +We all remember the test of the big, eighteen-inch Gathmann gun at Sandy +Hook about twelve years ago, which threw a bomb containing six hundred +pounds of compressed guncotton that was exploded against the face of a +twelve-inch Kruppized plate. The first shot produced no visible effect +except a yellow smudge on the face of the plate. It took three shots +even to crack the plate and to shift it in its setting. + +In competition with the Gathmann gun, a twelve-inch army rifle was fired +against another plate of the same size and thickness and mounted in the +same manner. The projectile contained only twenty-three pounds of +Maximite. Yet, as the projectile penetrated the plate before the +Maximite was exploded, a hole was blown through it a yard wide, and it +was broken into several pieces. + +These tests proved the effectiveness of even a small quantity of high +explosive when properly confined, as by explosion after penetration, and +the utter ineffectiveness of a large mass of high explosive when not +confined or when exploded on the outside of a body. + +Bombs carried by an airship and dropped upon the deck of a battleship +may damage the superstructure a little, but they can have no material +effect upon the ship itself, unless they are made heavy enough and +strong enough, with the proper armor-piercing shape, and are dropped +from a sufficient height to pierce the deck. Not unless the bomb can be +made to penetrate an object before exploding can it effect much +destruction. + +At Santiago, the _Vesuvius_, with its pneumatic guns, threw several +six-hundred-pound bombs, and exploded them on the Spanish +fortifications, but the effect was wholly insignificant. + +Several years ago, when the subway was being built, a dynamite magazine +accidentally exploded in front of the Murray Hill Hotel. The magazine +probably contained at least a ton of dynamite. A lot of windows were +broken in the vicinity, some persons were injured, and a multitude +badly scared, but the damage done even to the Murray Hill Hotel was +comparatively small. + +It has been predicted that Germany would send across the Channel a large +fleet of airships and blow up British towns with the bombs that her +great gas-bags might drop out of the heavens. + +Now, at last, the much-vaunted and long-anticipated Zeppelin invasion +has come, and what is the result? Four peaceful citizens killed, and +about ten thousand dollars' worth of property damage. + +Let us suppose that the Germans should send a fleet of a hundred +airships to drop bombs upon the city of London, returning to Germany +each day for a new supply; and let us suppose that each airship should +carry explosives enough to destroy two houses every day, which would be +far more than they could actually average. Yet, if this aërial fleet +should be able to destroy two hundred houses a day, or say, roughly, +sixty thousand houses a year, it would succeed in destroying just about +the annual growth of London, for that city has, during the past ten +years, built sixty thousand new houses every year. + +The dirigible balloon has one signal advantage over the aëroplane in the +matter of bomb-dropping. It can both carry bigger bombs and remain +stationary and hover while it drops them. With the aëroplane, however, +there is necessarily great difficulty in hitting underlying objects, on +account of the high speed at which it must travel to sustain flight. In +order to float, an aëroplane must travel about thirty miles an hour. +Even at this speed, it is moving forward at the rate of forty-four feet +a second, and as a bomb travels at the same speed as the aëroplane, +except for the retardation of the air, it moves forward forty-four feet +the first second, while dropping sixteen feet. The next second the bomb +falls sixty-four feet and moves forward forty-four feet, and so on. + +Sixty miles an hour is a moderate speed for an aëroplane, however, and +at that speed the bomb travels forward eighty-eight feet per second when +it is dropped, so that, during the first second, while it descends but +sixteen feet, it moves forward eighty-eight feet. It falls sixty-four +feet the next second, and moves forward eighty-eight feet, and so on, +descending in a parabolic curve, so that, by the time it strikes the +earth, it may be several hundred feet from the place at which it is +aimed. + +Although the dirigible balloon, a Zeppelin, for example, may hover in a +stationary position at will when dropping bombs, still it constitutes +such an enormous target that it must fly very high in order to keep out +of range of gun-fire. Guns are now made which can reach air-craft at the +height of two miles. At that height, or at half that height, there can +be but little accuracy in bomb-dropping, even from the stationary +Zeppelin. + +The efficiency of a fighting machine is exactly proportionate to the +amount of life and property that it can destroy in a given time with the +minimum exposure of property and life in order to do the work. If a +fleet of a dozen Zeppelins should be able to attack and destroy an +entire British fortified town like Dover, it would be a good investment. +If, however, the loss that it would be able to inflict upon the enemy +were only equal to the loss that the British would inflict upon it, then +it would be a bad investment, or at least, an investment without profit, +for the reason that, in war, it is poor policy to risk the destruction +of a valuable war-engine merely for the destruction of what may be +termed non-belligerent property of an enemy, such as the dwellings of +the inhabitants of a city. + +Suppose, for example, that a couple of Zeppelins should be able to +destroy houses in a British town having a value ten times as great as +the value of one of the Zeppelins, and, in the attack, should lose one +of the Zeppelins, it would not be a profitable raid, for a Zeppelin, +being useful for scouting purposes, is a potential factor in deciding +the issue of the war, whereas the houses have practically no bearing on +the issue of the war. + +It is good policy to use both men and machinery of war only for the +destruction of men and machinery of an enemy, and not for the +destruction of non-combatant inhabitants and property. + +Much has been said about gun-fire from air-craft upon underlying troops. +A man standing on the earth, being seen endwise, presents a much smaller +target to the vertical fire of the air-man than he presents when fired +at horizontally from the earth, because in the one case he is seen +end-to, and in the other case side-to. Besides, several other men may be +exposed to the horizontal fire. The air-man, however, is a conspicuous +target, and if his machine is hit and crippled the result is fatal to +him. + + +AËROPLANE AND DIRIGIBLE COMPARED + + +As I have for many years predicted, the chief use of air-craft, whether +aëroplane or dirigible balloon, is for purposes of reconnaissance. + +This war has amply demonstrated the fact that air-craft are of enormous +value. They have rendered surprises in force practically impossible. +Each side has been able to keep itself fully aware of the numbers and +disposition of opposing troops. + +The aëroplane costs but a fraction of what the Zeppelin costs, while the +Zeppelin presents a target enormously larger. It constitutes a target so +big as to make the broad side of a barn blush with envy. + +As one effective hit will bring down either aëroplane or Zeppelin alike, +obviously, the aëroplane has the advantage over the Zeppelin, as a +target, equal to the difference in size multiplied by the difference in +cost. Furthermore, the aëroplane is far more mobile and more rapid in +flight than the Zeppelin. + +In judging of the value of the Zeppelin for purposes of reconnaissance +on land, as compared with the aëroplane, we must take into account the +fact that a large number of aëroplanes can be built for the cost of a +single Zeppelin, and manned with the crew of a single Zeppelin, and that +these many aëroplanes, operating in concert, will be able to do much +more effective work than one Zeppelin. + +If the Allies would be good enough not to shoot at them, Zeppelins might +be very efficient indeed, hovering along the battle-front. These +dirigibles have been very conspicuous for their absence from the +battle-front in the war. + +The use of the Zeppelin as a troop-ship has yet to be proven, and its +value for the purpose will depend upon how it compares with the +aëroplane for the same purpose. Aëroplanes capable of carrying at least +a dozen soldiers each, with the arms and equipment of a raider's outfit, +can now be built. Obviously, as a large number of such aëroplanes can be +built at the cost of a single Zeppelin, and as the aëroplane can travel +even faster than the Zeppelin, the Zeppelin cannot for one moment +compare with the aëroplane, even for the purpose of carrying troops. + +There is one purpose, however, for which the Zeppelin is admirably +adapted, where it is much superior to the aëroplane, and it is for +reconnaissance over sea. The Zeppelin can hang on the sky and scan the +sea as a hawk scans a field for its prey; and as it can carry a wireless +apparatus capable of transmitting messages to a distance of two hundred +miles or more, it can keep the German fleet constantly informed of the +positions of the British fleet in the near seas. It is thus able to +direct a sortie of ships when the numbers and disposition of the enemy's +ships are such as to insure success. + +The Zeppelin has also a very important use in the detection of +submarines, for the reason that from a vertical position submarines, +under favorable conditions, can easily be seen at considerable depths +below the surface, and the Zeppelin, with its long-range wireless, is +able promptly to report such valuable information. + +I am of the opinion that the Germans have planned and built their +Zeppelins mainly for oversea fighting against England, and for a +prospective invasion of England. I think they must have been +disappointed in the lack of destructiveness that their bombs have had +when dropped from Zeppelins, while the moral effect on England must also +have been disappointing. + +From the point of German advantage, it would be a good plan to frighten +the British if it would take the fight out of them, but it is a very bad +plan to frighten the British if it puts more fight into them. The +Zeppelin raids have certainly had the effect of stimulating the British +fighting spirit. + +It is especially regrettable that the United States Government did not +heartily co-operate with the Wright Brothers to lead the world in the +development of the aëroplane; but nothing of the sort was done. "We +have," as Congressman Gardner says, "been experimenting and expecting +and reporting and contracting and considering--in fact, we have been +doing everything except building aëroplanes." + +The Wright Brothers, however, were received with glad foreign embrace. +They were generously encouraged abroad, both by co-operative and +competitive experiments and by liberal purchases. The result was that, +on the breaking out of the European War, France, for example, had 1,400 +aëroplanes, while the United States had but twenty-three, mostly +obsolete. The United States Government has followed its time-honored +custom of allowing its naval and military inventions to be developed and +perfected abroad before adoption here. + +Prior to the outbreak of the European War, this government ordered from +abroad an up-to-date French aëroplane with two Salmson motors, and one +of the latest German aëroplanes with two Mercedes motors, with the +intention of building a few of these machines. Then came the European +War. The American purchases were commandeered, and we were thereby +prevented from acquiring the much-desired air-craft. + +The de Bange obturator, an indispensable part of the breech mechanism of +all large guns, was originally an American invention, but this +Government allowed it to be developed and perfected abroad and given a +foreign name. + +Ericsson's _Monitor_ was taken up by Europeans, right where its private +builders left it, and it has been developed, mainly in England, into the +modern super-dreadnought. + +The interchangeable system of manufacture of small arms was developed +and perfected in America, but received no encouragement from the +government. This system is now universally employed in the manufacture +of small arms, and also in the manufacture of all kinds of machinery. It +is for this reason that we are able to get a spare part for an +automobile that will fit in place perfectly without having it specially +made. Before the advent of the interchangeable system of manufacture of +firearms, a sportsman in England went to his gunsmith to be measured for +a shotgun just as he went to his tailor to be measured for a suit of +clothes. At that time, no two guns were made exactly alike, and no piece +of one gun would fit any other gun, while now all the parts of one gun +will fit in the places of corresponding parts in every other gun of the +same pattern. + +The year the United States Government adopted multi-perforated smokeless +powder, Congress appropriated only $30,000 for smokeless powder, the +orders to be divided among the different manufacturers. This meant that +inventors, like myself, who had started in a small way, were driven out +of business. I went to England with my multi-perforated smokeless-powder +grain, which had been adopted by the United States Government, but found +it hard to get foreign manufacturers to recognize either the superiority +of the multi-perforated grain or of the pure nitro-cellulose powder. The +excessive erosion, however, of guns used in the present war, due to the +use of powders containing a high percentage of nitroglycerin, is already +making those countries using nitroglycerin powders look longingly to the +superior smokeless powder used in the United States. + +The United States Government has as yet taken no steps worth considering +toward the obtainment of Zeppelins, or any other practical dirigible +balloon. At the present time, there is not one in the American service. + +At the outbreak of hostilities abroad, France had 22 dirigibles and +1,400 aëroplanes; Russia, 18 dirigibles and 800 aëroplanes; Great +Britain, 9 dirigibles and 400 aëroplanes; Belgium, 2 dirigibles and 100 +aëroplanes; Germany, 40 dirigibles and 1,000 aëroplanes; Austria, 8 +dirigibles and 400 aëroplanes; while the United States had, as I have +mentioned, only 23 aëroplanes, mostly obsolete. + +Last year, the Secretary of the Navy appointed a Board to investigate +the subject of aviation for the Navy, and to make recommendations. The +Board recommended the appropriation of $1,300,000 for that year, but +Congress cut off the first left-hand numeral and appropriated the sum of +$350,000 for the purpose. + +The present war has demonstrated that air-craft are the eyes of both +armies and navies. If the Wright Brothers could have come to the +country's aid in the Spanish War, the American fleet would not have +remained in doubt outside Santiago Harbor. Before the advent of +aviation, one of the chief desiderata to a commanding officer was to +find out what the enemy was doing behind the hill. Without the +aëroplane, it is impossible to prevent surprises in force, and to avoid +the deadly ambuscade. The aëroplane is absolutely indispensable for the +location of masked batteries. It is impossible, without aëroplanes, even +to approximate the number and disposition of troops to which an army may +be opposed. It is necessary to have not only a sufficient number of +aëroplanes, especially designed and equipped for this purpose, but also +other aëroplanes, armed and equipped, to co-operate with them, and +defend them against attack from the aëroplanes of the enemy. Just as +dreadnoughts require battle-cruisers, and both require torpedo-boat +destroyers, and all require other scout-ships and submarines, for +co-operation against a fleet of an enemy, so do dirigibles and the +different types of aëroplanes, according to their purpose, require one +another for concert of action. + +What we have already seen of battles fought in the sky leads us to +surmise that aërial battles of the future will be fought on a much +larger scale. It will be found that the commander who expects to conquer +the ground held by an enemy must first conquer the sky. Aviation carries +war into the third dimension. + +Not only must the advance or retirement of troops be supported by +artillery thundering from hill to hill, but also the troops must be +supported and guided by pilots in the sky. + +The last Congress appropriated $1,000,000 for the aviation purposes of +the Navy. It is the same million dollars that was cut from last year's +appropriation, which ought to have been expended for the purpose during +that period. + +It is a strange paradox that America, which has led the world in +discovery and invention as applied to the industrial arts and sciences, +should follow the rest of the world in their adoption by the Army and +Navy. The trouble is not with the bureaus and boards of the Army and +Navy, which have merely the power to recommend such things, but it is +the fault of Congressional false economy. As long as we allow other +nations to lead us, both in the character and quantity of naval and +military equipment, we are destined always to be weaker than other +nations in that equipment; consequently, when war comes, we spend money +with the extravagance of frenzy to remedy the defect. We economized +before the War of 1812, and during that war we wasted ten times as much +as we had saved by our economy. We had disqualified ourselves by our +economies to such an extent before the outbreak of the great Civil War +that this conflict became one of the most deadly and most expensive in +the history of the world. What we saved by our economies, compared to +what we lost by them on that occasion is like a drop of water to a river +of water. But we failed to profit by the experience, and, when the +Spanish War broke out, we spent money with all the lavishness of +prodigal inefficiency. + +If we could only be as wise as we have been lessoned by our sad +experience, we would immediately take adequate measures to forefend +ourselves against a repetition of such experiences; and one of those +measures would be the building of an aërial fleet commensurate with our +large needs. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +OUR ARMAMENTS NOT A BURDEN + + +Life being a reaction between the individual and environing stimuli, it +naturally follows that those stimuli not destructive are necessarily +formative. + +The health and development of nations are governed by the same law that +governs the health and development of individuals. When an individual is +subjected to a burden that does not break him, or to a trial that he is +able to master, he is strengthened, not weakened, by the burden or the +trial. Every individual is constantly being attacked by microbes of +disease. So long as he possesses sufficient powers of resistance to +repel invasion of disease, his ability to resist disease is +strengthened, and his immunity to further attacks is increased. It is +only when disease gets inside a man that it becomes a destroyer. + +It is not a bad thing for a hen, but, on the contrary, it is a very good +thing for a hen to lay eggs and sit on them and hunger for three weeks +in order to hatch the chicks, and then to scratch for them and hunt for +them until they are able to take care of themselves. She is stronger, +healthier, more intelligent, more competent, and altogether a better +hen because of her exertion and her sacrifice. The rearing of her chicks +imposes no burden on the farmer, because she gets the wealth for their +growth out of the ground. + +The human mother who bears and rears sons and daughters is supremely +rewarded for all the pain and the burden. The husband and wife who toil +for each other and their children are able to arrive thereby, and only +thereby, at most complete living and the goal of supreme happiness. +Happiness is our sense of the normal exercise of faculty; consequently +happiness is the feel of normal life; unhappiness the feel of abnormal +life. + +Just as we are strengthened by bearing all burdens that are not so heavy +as to crush us beneath their weight, so the nation is enriched by the +burdens it bears and the expenditures it makes for the general welfare +of its people. We may help our understanding of this matter by +recognizing the truth that everything primarily comes out of the ground, +and that whatever comes out of the ground, whether from agriculture or +mining, is newly-created wealth. Whatever stimulates a more active +development of our natural resources produces accordingly a +proportionate amount of new wealth. + +The people have been taught, until the belief is now well-nigh +universal, that the cost of establishing, equipping, maintaining, and +supporting a standing army, the cost of building, manning, and +supporting a large navy, and the expense of manufacturing and storing +large supplies of ammunition and other war-materials, represent just so +much dead loss to the taxpayers of the country. + +It is necessary to correct this error, and to disseminate the truth that +the building of battleships, the manufacture of arms and ammunition, the +manufacture of supplies of food and clothing, require large numbers of +laborers and skilled artisans, who become a great market for food and +supplies of every description for their convenience and comfort, thereby +giving employment to myriads of others, back to the farmer; while the +money paid for wages and produce is kept constantly in circulation. + +It is the difficulty of paying taxes from the pockets of poverty that +makes taxes burdensome, and not their size. If the ability to pay a +given amount in tax be tripled, the tax itself may be doubled, and the +taxpayers still be the gainers. + +Wealth is what labor gets out of the ground; and whatever stimulates +labor, or creates a demand for labor, is a direct stimulus to +prosperity, by increasing both the number of laborers and the hours of +labor, and by affording a market for the products of labor. + +If all of those thrown out of positions in a panic were to be put to +work by the government in the production of war-materials, there would +result no hard times, and the entire country would be better off. + +The large standing army indispensable to Germany costs vast sums +annually, but the standard of personal efficiency is raised so much by +military training, and industry is so stimulated to meet government +requirements, that the Germans have captured markets all over the world +for the sale of their manufactured products in ever-increasing +quantities. + +According to statistics, we Americans spend every year on sensuous +indulgence, on our hilarities--joy food, joy drink, joy dope, and +night-outings--nine thousand million dollars, which, in gold, would +weigh more than thirteen thousand tons--the weight of a good-sized +battleship. + +The biggest super-dreadnoughts cost $15,000,000 each, built in +pairs; built a hundred at a time, they certainly would not cost +over $12,000,000 each. We could build, for what we spend on +sensuous indulgence, 750 super-dreadnoughts; we could build 160 +super-dreadnoughts a year for what we spend on alcoholic beverages; 83 a +year for what we spend on tobacco; three a year for what we spend on +chewing-gum. + +The total amount that we spend each year on our Army and Navy is about +$250,000,000. Consequently, we spend more than twelve times as much on +alcoholic drinks and tobacco as we do on our Army and Navy. + +I do not mean to preach a temperance sermon, or to advise against the +use of tobacco. Nevertheless, I do think that for every dollar we spend +on indulgence, we might drop a couple of cents into the side-till just +for insurance--for the safety of our country against war, in order that +our joys of living may be continued. + +The small burden of armaments in proportion to the burden of luxuries is +very well stated in the following quotation from "Some Economic Aspects +of War," by Professor C. Emery:-- + + * * * * * + +"_Certainly Bloch is not likely to minimize the extent of such +expenditures, as he has been one of the leading writers to show the +immensity of this burden, and yet he himself states that the military +expenditures of different European countries vary from 2 per cent. to +3.8 per cent. of the total income. Even Germany, with her great +organization, takes less than 3 per cent. of the actual income for its +maintenance, both of army and navy; and when we think of the +expenditures for luxuries, many of them harmful in themselves, the +extent of military expenditures appears even less. In Germany, for +instance, three times as much is spent for intoxicating drinks as for +the support of military and naval establishments. One-third less +consumption of beer and liquor on the part of the German people would +take care of this part of the budget altogether._" + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: Some Annual United States Expenditures] + +There is no branch of insurance so important as insurance against war. +There is no other thing insured, of which the loss is so vital as that +of one's country, and there is no kind of insurance where the cost of +security is so small in comparison with the value of the thing insured. +Mr. Stockton puts this very clearly in his book, "Peace Insurance":-- + + * * * * * + +"_For insurance against loss by burglary, the nation expends $2,850,000 +annually; for insurance against crime in the form of municipal, county, +and state police we expend $110,000,000 annually; making a total of +$112,850,000 expended for premiums on crime insurance alone.... A total +annual amount on fire and crime insurance combined is $594,186,104, or +about 350 million more than for all our military forces. Considering +these figures we may conclude that our military expenditures are by no +means greater than the probable loss by a war; that they are small +compared with the amounts spent for fire and crime insurance, and that +the insurance rate is low compared with that for other kinds of insurance +in effect in the business world._" + + * * * * * + +During periods of peace, there tends to be established an equilibrium of +supply and demand between our developed industries and our undeveloped +resources. Consequently, when war comes and stimulates enormously all +our developed industries--arts, sciences, and manufactures--a +correspondingly greater demand is placed upon our natural resources, and +their development is proportionately increased. + +The result is that the nation as a whole is not impoverished in the +least by the burden of armaments, but is rather benefited by their +support. Also, a nation may likewise be economically benefited by actual +war, so long as it has such resources, number of population, industrial +arts and sciences, and naval and military equipment as to prevent +subjugation and the humiliation and degradation of being forced to pay +ransom or tribute in the shape of a large war indemnity to a foreign +Power. + +The fact that a war indemnity takes gold out of the country, and gives +it to another people, makes the indemnity a national calamity. But when +money is spent within the country, as it is for armaments, the condition +is entirely different. + +The following excerpt from "The Valor of Ignorance," by General Homer +Lea, admirably presents this: + + * * * * * + +"_Budgets are but the sums total of the symbols of wealth. Whether they +are great or small, the wealth of the nation varies not one potato. An +individual measures his wealth by coinage, but a nation only by that +which coinage represents._ + +"_As a man squanders his money, he becomes impoverished; but it is only +when the resources and means of producing that which money represents +are destroyed or diminished that the wealth of a nation is lessened. The +armament of a nation, instead of being indicative of its impoverishment, +is rather an indication of its capacity._" + + * * * * * + +It is a law of psychology that, when we are subjected to a supreme test, +we develop unrealized resources within ourselves; resources that never +would be developed, nor could be, except through such trial. By +consequence, it is evident that supreme trial is an indispensability to +the best development of either individuals or nations. However severe +may be the trial that results in the supreme development of the natural +resources of the nation, and of the dormant resources in its people, it +is essentially beneficial to the nation. + +Herbert Spencer said that, just as it is impossible to get a +five-fingered hand into a three-fingered glove, with a separate finger +in each pocket, so it is impossible to get a complex thought into a mind +not sufficiently complex to receive it. It is doubtless impossible, +therefore, to prove to the pacifist mind that the money spent in +building warships cannot be counted as so much loss to the nation. + +The money spent by the government in building fighting-ships could not +be esteemed so much money lost, even if the ships were useless. The +government taxes the people for the money to build the ships, and then +pays the money back to the people again for the ships. The people get +their money all back, and the government gets the ships. The people lose +nothing, and the government is the gainer to the value of the ships. It +may be argued that the labor of the people is lost, but what of it? +Labor is neither money nor wealth; it merely represents time. It does +not hurt the laborers to do the work; on the contrary, it does them +good. They pay but an infinitesimal part of the tax for building the +ships. Their occupation constitutes them a market for manufactured +articles and farm produce, which pays the manufacturers and the farmers +a profit far in excess of their part of the tax for the ships, since by +the increased demand they both get better prices and sell more goods. +The farmer exerts additional effort to supply the demand, for the +laborers who build the ships, and the manufacturers who supply their +wares, call upon the farmer for greater supplies of produce than they +could call for if the fighting-ships were not built. The farmer, always +glad to get more out of the ground when he can sell to advantage, is +stimulated to extra effort to get the greater profit, and he is made +richer for it. The manufacturer is made richer for it, and the laborer +is helped by higher wages and by more continuous occupation. + +The result is that the fighting-ships have cost nothing. On the +contrary, their production has benefited all. Everybody is made better +and richer through the building of them. + +It is especially significant and pertinent that the added employment of +labor in the construction of armaments adds greatly to the number of +taxpayers. Consequently, the burden of taxation is thereby borne by a +larger number of persons, with a corresponding lessening of the burden +on each individual. This is one of the reasons why poverty is not +increased by increased government expenditures in the employment of +labor. + +The enjoyment of life being derived entirely from exercise of our +faculties, the more useful exercise we get within our strength, the +happier we are. The building of battleships, by putting us more to use, +serves the double purpose of getting more wealth out of the ground and +making us happier. It may be argued that this would not be true if our +economic institutions were not slack, and that, by perfecting these +institutions, every one would receive his due amount of normal stimulus, +and would be getting out of the ground his normal amount of wealth. This +is all very true, but our economic institutions are not yet perfected, +and the cost of building battleships comes out of the slack in our +institutions. The work merely helps take up some of the slack. + +When we have looked upon our Navy, remembering what the pacifists have +told us about its enormous cost, we are strongly impressed with the +colossal expenditure, not realizing that the Navy has actually cost +nothing. Its production has been a source of profit and benefit to the +people. + +That which determines the size of a burden is the ability to bear it. +Our burden of armaments, borne upon the united backs of a hundred +million people, with an aggregate wealth of more than a hundred and +thirty billion dollars, with an annual increase of wealth of over four +billion dollars, becomes insignificant compared with the ability to +support it. Size, like distance and time, has no meaning, except in a +relative sense, for space and time are limitless. As compared with +space, a mustard seed is exactly as large as the sun. + +We hear much about the tremendous burden of the present conflict upon +the warring nations. The pacifists tell us that they are destined so to +exhaust themselves that, when the war is over, we need have no fear of +any one of them, or of a coalition of them, because they will have +neither men nor money with which to fight. + +[Illustration: Enormous Resources of the Warring Nations] + +The first six months of the war cost about six billion dollars. Now, +assuming that the first year of the war should cost even as much as +fifteen billion dollars, this would be only five per cent. of the wealth +of the warring Powers. But, it must be remembered, that the same thing +largely holds true in the case of war that holds true in the case of +armaments in time of peace. The cost comes out of the ground, for the +most part. In short, the wealth created by the added stimulus in great +measure compensates for the loss, especially when the money spent is +chiefly returned to the people themselves. The actual out-of-pocket loss +to the nations in the present war, taking into account its economic +advantages, even during the war, will probably not exceed two and a half +per cent., and I doubt if it will amount to that much. + +The total number of killed and wounded in the European War during the +first six months is estimated at about two million. Most of those +wounded will suffer very little permanent injury. + +The population of the warring nations is more than four hundred +millions, taking into account only such part of the vast Indian +population in proportion to the percentage of troops furnished by them +as compares with the percentage furnished from the United Kingdom to the +number of its inhabitants. Consequently, the total loss in killed and +wounded during the first six months of the war was less than a half of +one per cent. of the population, and as the number of killed does not +exceed ten per cent. of the total number of killed and wounded, the loss +during the first six months was about a tenth of half of one per cent.; +in other words, only about a twentieth of one per cent. + +After the war has run for a year, the total loss in killed and wounded +will not exceed one per cent. of the inhabitants, and the total in +killed will not exceed a tenth of one per cent. + +When the war is over, any one of the warring Powers, unless Germany is +exceedingly humbled, will be in better condition in every way to fight +us than it would have been before the war broke out. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + EGO-FANATIC GOOD INTENTIONS AND + THEIR RELATION TO NATIONAL + DEFENSE + +"If you will study history you will find that freedom, when it has been +destroyed, has always been destroyed by those who shelter themselves +under the cover of its forms, and who speak its language with +unparalleled eloquence and vigor."--_Lord Salisbury._ + +There is a no more consistent thing in its constancy than human +inconsistency. + + +Many of those who are most pretentious about the virtue of a meek and +lowly spirit manifest characteristics the exact opposite of their +self-vaunted pretensions. Often the most enthusiastic and devout workers +for a principle are themselves, when put to trial, most pronounced +violators of that principle. + +Some years ago, while on ship for England, I formed the acquaintance of +Sir William Wyndeer, of Australia. He told me that there was a famous +woman pacifist on board, who wanted to meet me. She was a notorious +militant moral reformer--the Carrie Nation of England. I went with him +to where she was sitting on the deck in a steamerchair, and, on being +introduced, sat down beside her. + +She opened the conversation with the remark: "Do you know that men like +you ought to be hanged; that hanging is too good for you; that men like +you, who invent and make explosives and guns to kill people, ought to be +killed with them yourselves? That would give you a dose of your own +medicine." + +I replied by asking her what she thought of the Armenian atrocities, +which were at that time being perpetrated. + +"What do I think of them?" she answered. "I think just this--that, if I +were the Queen of England, I would put an end to that business pretty +quick." + +"How would you do it?" I asked. + +"Why," she responded, "I would go there with an army, and exterminate +those beastly Turks." + +"If you were to do that," said I, "surely you would need some of the +tools for killing people, like those you blame me for inventing, would +you not?"--She would not speak to me after that. + +In the Dark Ages, they who were responsible for inflicting upon heretics +the most exquisite tortures, were the foremost good-intentionists of +their time. They believed they were following the teachings of Christ, +and applying them in their business and social relations. Their aim was +to practise what they preached: "Love one another," "Love thy neighbor +as thyself," "On earth peace, good will toward men." + +So imbued were they with what they conceived to be divine principles +that it was self-evident to them that there was no excuse for any one +holding any other opinion than theirs, and that any one who held a +different opinion was an enemy of God and man, and should be punished +accordingly. They called difference from their opinion heresy, which was +branded as the most heinous of all crimes. Those good-intentionists of +the Torquemada type racked, flayed, and burned, with a meek and lowly +spirit, for the love of God. The horror of St. Bartholomew was to them +merely a frolic of brotherly love. + +Advocates of disarmament, non-resistance, and the subversion of the +military spirit are themselves most militant creatures. They fail to see +that, if retiring, non-resistant pacifism is the best policy for a +nation to adopt in order to get what it wants, they themselves should +adopt such pacifism to get what they want. While they decry every manner +of aggression, still they undertake to enforce their doctrines by most +aggressive practices. + +Never in all human history has any person or class of persons attempted +to proselyte others to a doctrine of mildness, meekness, self-sacrifice, +and lowly-spiritedness without attempting to enforce the doctrine. In +so doing, the practice has been the exact opposite of the preachment. + +Robespierre and Marat notably exemplified this truth. Before the French +Revolution, Robespierre was noted as a pacifist of the most pretentious +cheek-turning type, and Marat was a pacific moralist dyed in the wool. +When raised to dictatorial power, however, Robespierre became the +wickedest and most venomous of all the fanged monsters of cruelty in the +history of mankind; while bloody Marat, clothed with authority, used +murder as the sole means of reform. The actions of Robespierre and Marat +were the exact opposite of their code for the conduct of others. + +The advocates of non-resistance may be perfectly conscientious. It is +not to be doubted for one moment that the majority of them are actuated +by the best intentions and the kindliest of motives. Torquemada +sincerely hoped to do a great good by torturing heretics in the Spanish +Inquisition. He is notable among those who have paved broad highways of +Hell with good intentions. + +The hyper-sentimental pacifists are today actively engaged in paving a +broad highway through this country, over which the hell of war is +invited by them. + +Devotion to the end justified the means to such a well-meaning fanatic +as Torquemada. The same was doubtless true of Catherine de' Medici, who +mothered the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The bloody Duke of Alva, +Executioner Extraordinary to Philip II of Spain, who undertook the task +of killing the entire population of the Netherlands, because their +religious opinion differed from the Spanish brand, could not have been +so enthusiastically devoted to the monstrous villainy had he not been +inspired by what was to his mind the best of intentions. + +It is remarkable what an influence a very little thing may sometimes +have in shaping the policy of a people or the fate of a nation. +Religious sects have been formed upon the various interpretations of a +single phrase; a difference of opinion about the meaning of a word has +set them at one another's throats. + +Millions upon millions of dollars have been spent in the United States +in peace propagandism, and eloquent lungs have hoarsed themselves to +defeat Congressional appropriations for defense, simply because the +phrase, _preparation for war_, has been used instead of the phrase, +_preparation against war_. + +An organization of American women, under the head, Woman's Peace Party, +has lately been created. The main resolution adopted by the organization +is the following: + + * * * * * + +"_Resolved:_ + +"_That we dencunce with all the earnestness of which we are capable the +concerted attempt now being made to force this country into still +further preparedness for war. We desire to make a solemn appeal to the +higher attributes of our common humanity to help us unmask this menace +to our civilization._" + + * * * * * + +They have made the grave mistake of using the expression for _war_ in +place of the expression _against war_. + +The pacifist propagandists, the army and navy men, and all their friends +and supporters, are alike agreed that it is wise to make efficient +preparations _against_ war. None of us wants war, but when we, who +believe in armaments, speak of them as preparations _for_ war, then the +pacifists are in immediate disagreement with us. Let us, therefore, in +future substitute the phrase _against war_ for the phrase _for war_. + +Among the organizers of this so-called party are women of national +prominence. They are sincere in their purpose, their aim is high. They +are emulating the dictum of Emerson, for they have hitched their wagon +to a star--Dr. David Starr--(never mind the Jordan). They solemnly make +this pledge: + +"_We do hereby band ourselves together to demand that war should be +abolished._" + +It is well to note that they have used the word _should_ instead of +_shall_. + +The greatest difficulty in teaching truth is to remove the bias of false +learning; for a firm conviction, once established in the mind, gives the +mind a fixed set in a certain direction. This is strongly exemplified by +the fact that persons who have been proselyted to a certain religious +creed can seldom be made to change their faith. + +We are what our opinions are. Our opinion shapes our destiny to its own +bent. In short, a man is absolutely at the mercy of his opinion. + +We have very little to do, however, with the shaping of our own opinion. +That is mostly shaped by others. We go to church to have our opinion +bent, or its present bent stiffened. We attend a lecture and get a new +kink put into our opinion; we converse with our friends, and they dent +our opinion; we read books and newspapers, learn something, and are +swerved in the direction of our learning, especially in the direction of +public opinion. Always and always, while we think that we are shaping +our own opinion, we are having it shaped by others. + +The estimable ladies of the Woman's Peace Party are merely parading like +sandwich men, disporting a legend written on a board by the man higher +up, with whom they believe it is most creditable to agree. + +At the present time, the false teachings of the peace-propagandists have +so proselyted public opinion that every public speaker, aspiring to +popular favor, finds it easy, even with a weakling voice and a halting +speech, to get his audience with him, and to win a reputation for +eloquence and wisdom by prating the bromidial spielings of the +peace-propagandists. + +A great many men and women in this country hold the same false opinion +that the ladies of the Woman's Peace Party hold. Possibly something +besides the humiliation of this country by war may lead them into the +light of understanding. War, however, will do it, and by their able +co-operation with the forces of the future enemies of the country, they +are hastening the advent of that war. + +If we were to disarm, as these ladies advise, war would come upon us +with consternate suddenness. Then, when they saw the desolation and the +waste; saw their homes in flames; when they saw innocent citizens +clumped in open spaces and shot down with machine-guns; when they saw +little children, lean as shadows, starving everywhere; when they +encountered insult and maltreatment at every turn; then all their +womanhood would revolt and rise up with an altered mind. + +Like the light that descended from Heaven on Saul of Tarsus, the light +of the truth would descend on those ladies through the smoke of their +burning homes--that armed preparedness against such a dread eventuality +as war is the supreme of virtue, and its neglect the worst of crimes. + +By their help that war is very likely to come, and if it does come, we +shall find them, as the women of England, ministering angels in the +hospitals of the wounded. We shall find them at the recruiting stations, +urging enlistment. We shall find them fitting out their sons, husbands, +and brothers for the front. We shall find them, as in England, training +in the use of arms as a last emergency reserve. We shall find them, as +in England, doing police duty, that the city guardians may go to the +front. As the women of Carthage cut the hair from their heads to make +bow-strings, so these very women of the Peace Party, as the women of +England are doing, as the women of Germany are doing, will sacrifice +their jewelry, and all their most precious possessions, to supply the +sinews of war. + +It is a mistake to suppose that, because men bear arms in war, they are +the chief sufferers in war, or make the chief sacrifices. The sexes +suffer equally, for to win victory they make mutual and equal +sacrifices, and in defeat they suffer mutually every conceivable and +every inconceivable laceration of body, pride, and honor. + +The supposition is erroneous that woman is less brave or less militant +in war than man. In times of peace, when her help is not needed in the +sterner affairs of life, she may be as gentle as a dove and as kind as a +purring kitten; but, when her help is needed in stern affairs, she is +never found wanting. When the cubs are in danger, "the female of the +species is more deadly than the male." + +The abject condition of Belgian women and children since the German +invasion is merely typical of what women and children must inevitably +suffer at the hands of invaders. It matters not whether a country be +invaded by Germans, Frenchmen, or Englishmen, or by Americans. The stern +exigencies of war require that the invaders shall bend every energy and +employ every resource to the attainment of the main purpose--victory. +The invaders themselves are compelled to make extreme sacrifices, and to +bear extreme suffering and privation, and are not in a mood to take on +more burden or to suffer extra privations, and, above all, to risk +success, in order to alleviate the suffering of the enemy's women and +children. Sympathy and mercy, however, do often lead them to be far +kinder than would best suit the demands of stern necessity. + +It was when Sherman found himself compelled to drive out the civil +inhabitants of Atlanta, to prepare for his march to the sea, that in +reply to protests on behalf of the women and children, he made his +world-famous declaration, "War is hell; and we cannot civilize it or +refine it." + +The supreme duty of a nation is to safeguard its people from such a +crisis and such a calamity. It is useless to lament the miseries of our +women and children, after we have, through neglect of national +defenses, brought the calamities of war upon them. + +With strange inconsistency, the women of the Woman's Peace Party, though +they bemoan the lot of the poor women and children of Belgium, are by +their own acts inviting the same calamity to fall upon themselves and on +their children. + +Herbert Spencer observed that individual life is a tendency to establish +an equilibrium between internal and external forces. This observation +applies also to the life of social organizations, except that, when +applied to nations, it should be differently stated, as follows--the +life of a nation is the tendency to establish an equilibrium between +internal forces, and also between those forces and external forces. + +Opposing forces separately tend toward instability of equilibrium, but +collectively, by operating against one another, they tend to the +establishment of an equilibrium. Individual action in a group of +individuals tends to heterogeneity, aggregated action to homogeneity. +One of the mainsprings of progress is the pertinacity of enthusiasts and +faddists. Even the self-appointed ego-fanatic moral reformers are often +useful, because they tend to throw society out of balance. This rouses +the great mass of the people to inquiry and raises them to a broader +understanding, with the result that, in the end, pernicious +propagandists, who have overshot the mark, are brought back nearer the +mark, and the sane mass of the people brought nearer the mark. A fanatic +reformer sometimes injects dynamic force into a static condition. It +seems to be a rational assumption, therefore, that, in all things where +organized feminist fanaticism of both men and women is today working +evil, the great body of sane and normal men and women ought to exert +their united influence to the full as a stabilizer, or equilibrator of +the social organization. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A DANGEROUS CRIMINAL CLASS? + + "Probably the most curious feature of the naval program is the + regularity with which the sky clouds over as the day for the + consideration of naval appropriations approaches. Year after + year, after a long spell of pleasant weather, all at once storm + clouds have drifted across the heavens, international relations + have become suddenly strained, and the whole land has lain in + the shadow of an impending conflict. Fortunately, the storm + blows over as soon as the votes are counted, and in the + beautiful sunlight which follows the storm, workmen are seen + constructing additional battleships. Suspicious persons have + occasionally imagined they saw a connection between the + international weather and the Navy League." + _Dr. Charles E. Jefferson._ + + "It is criminal that we should expend vast sums on warships and + armament on the advice of interested parties alone...." + + "War scares are heard the world over. The world over they are + set going by wicked men for evil purposes." + _Dr. David Starr Jordan, "War and Waste."_ + + +The pacifists have delved out of the infinite latency a very startling +alleged truth, which they are effulging in language of lavish +luminosity, to the effect that it is necessary only for a man to have a +pecuniary interest or personal advantage involved in order to commit any +kind of crime. They have discovered that room for a motive establishes +the motive and proves the crime. They have discovered that those things +which we call integrity and honor and conscience are no deterrents +whatsoever to the commission of the most heinous offense against one's +fellow men, so long as there is profit in it. They believe that, if only +there is money in the game, an inventor or manufacturer or merchant will +scheme for the commission of wholesale poisoning, maiming, and murder. +They believe that the inventors and manufacturers of guns necessarily +foster war in order to promote the sale of their wares. They surmise +that inventors and manufacturers of smokeless powders and high +explosives are capable of standing with the "black hand," capable of +being gladdened at the dynamite outrage, at the street riot, at the +slaughter of song-birds--anything that will consume dynamite or burn +gunpowder. + +According to the pacifists, the principal lay of makers of war-materials +is to connive with the officers of the Army and Navy to stir up +international dissension and foment war, in order to create a demand for +their products. The pacifists believe that army and navy officers are +only too willing to co-operate in the nefarious business, because war +brings higher pay and rapid promotion. They believe that it matters not +to these "interested parties" how many of their countrymen are +sacrificed on the firing line, or how many widows and orphans are made. +The groans of the wounded and dying on the battle-field, and the +lamentations in the desolated home, are music to the ears of those who +supply the war-materials; for, with every shot from a rifle, fifty +grains of gunpowder are burned, while bullets enough miss their mark to +equal the weight of each man they kill. Consequently, there is +substantial profit to the cartridge-maker and the gunpowder-manufacturer +for every man killed with a rifle ball. + +But it is in shrapnel and the ammunition for the big guns that the +greatest profit lies. Field-guns fire away ammunition costing from ten +to twenty dollars a shot, at the rate of from twenty to forty shots a +minute. This costs a lot of money. At the battle of Mukden, in the +Russo-Japanese war, one battery of eight guns fired 11,159 rounds, or +1,395 rounds per gun. Think of the expense of that ammunition, and the +profit to the manufacturers! It is estimated that when the big naval +guns are fired, the cost of the smokeless-powder charge, the projectile +and bursting charge, together with the wear and tear of the gun, amounts +to more than $2,000 a shot, and the damage done to a warship hit may be +many millions. + +Look at it any way you will, war, according to the pacifist notion, is a +real Klondike for manufacturers of war-materials. The peace sophists +have been able to put two and two together, with the conclusions that +such an opportunity for profit is too strong for human nature to +resist, and that, as they have found room for the motive, they have +proved the crime. + +Of course, their accusation is a pretty severe arraignment of human +nature, after all these years of civilization and Christian +enlightenment. + +It is strange how human nature can have improved so much lately, as +claimed by the pacifists, and how the spirit of brotherhood and +good-will can have suddenly become so dominant that the peoples of the +earth now despise war, and are so afflicted with the horrors of it that, +just as soon as the great European War is over, they are not going to +fight any more, while still the makers of war-materials remain in the +primitive savagery of the stone age. It seems to me that, if human +nature has so improved as to be an efficient bar to a nation against +waging war for plunder, regardless of the advantage and the profit, it +ought also to be a similar bar to inventors and manufacturers of +war-materials, and to army and navy officers, against precipitating war +for pecuniary or personal advantage. + +But, according to pacifist reasoning, those "interested parties" are +more endowed with the spirit of the hyena than with the spirit of +brotherhood. Perhaps, however, the manufacturers of war-materials, and +army and navy officers, were not home when the great improvement in +human nature knocked at their door. + +If considerations of mere personal profit are sufficient to make the +best of us foster war, which the peace fanatics esteem wholesale murder, +it is strange that the inventors and manufacturers of drugs and +medicines, the proprietors of drugstores, and the medical profession and +undertakers, do not form a league and co-operate in spreading infectious +diseases, in order to create a greater demand for their wares and for +their services. + +Of course, the reason may be that they have not yet thought of it, and +it may be wrong for me to suggest the thing to them. Still, it is queer +that it has not been suggested to them by what the pacifists have said +concerning the conduct of our army and navy officers and of the +inventors and manufacturers of war-materials. + +Let us see what the facts actually are: + +The inventors and manufacturers of war-materials, and our army and navy +officers, by virtue of the study and experience that qualify them for +their business or profession better than others, are also qualified +better than others to judge what are our actual needs for national +defense. + +If the manufacturers of war-materials, and our army and navy men, are to +be convicted of inciting war on the evidence that by so doing they +create a demand for their services, then necessarily others benefited by +a like demand may be convicted on the same evidence. + +Mr. Andrew Carnegie himself is the greatest of all American armorers. He +it was who introduced the Bessemer steel process into the United States, +from which all our gun-makers and all our armament-makers have greatly +benefited. It is his name and that of Herr Krupp which Neptune reads +graven in the walls of fighting-ships. He still draws an income from his +interests in the great armor-making steel corporation--an annual income +big enough to pay the combined salaries of all the four thousand +officers of the United States Army. + +Truly, if the discovery of room for a motive proves both the motive and +the crime, and is sufficient to convict these four thousand men of being +willing to sell their souls in order to raise their salaries a few +dollars, Mr. Carnegie himself is at least open to suspicion. + +Likewise, the varied and many institutions--incubators of the doves of +peace--born of the great armor-maker's generosity, which continue to be +his beneficiaries, cannot escape the suspicion that taints their +pedigree. + +Even the leading man--the principal star on the stage where _Uncle Sammy +unter Alles_ is being played--Dr. David Starr Jordan, is paid from the +Carnegie Peace Foundation with money equally tainted by the sweaty hands +of the grimy men who are forging armor-plate in the Smoky City. + +But we all know that Mr. Carnegie is above any such suspicion. We know +that the pacifist method of reasoning must be false. + +The education of our army and navy officers teaches them not alone +military science, but also national devotion and personal honor. +Devotion to duty is necessary in order to keep them in the service, +under the altogether inadequate pay they receive. The pay of the +American army and navy officers is smaller, in proportion to their +knowledge and the value of their services, than that of any other class +of men in the country. If every army and navy officer should abandon the +service for a position in civil life when he could get a raise of wages +for so doing, there would not be a corporal's guard left in the service. + +Whenever a public work is placed in charge of an army or navy officer, +there is no _sub-rosa_ rake-off, or divvy with civilian contractors. +There is absolutely no graft of any kind in their service, and the +government is sure of getting the maximum amount of work for the minimum +cost. Not one cent of graft has fallen upon the palms either of Colonel +Goethals or of any other army officer in the whole course of +construction of that mighty work--the Panama Canal. New York City tried +to get Colonel Goethals as Police Commissioner. He has received scores +of offers of positions in civil life at many times his present salary, +because of the military capacity and honor that make the Goethals sort +of service very valuable. + +I know many army and navy men intimately. I have had opportunities of +hearing their off-guard conversations and interchange of ideas on all +manner of subjects, and have thereby been enabled to see their character +revealed to the naked soul, and I have never yet discovered any other +attitude or tendency among them than the emulation of exactly that type +of honor, efficiency, and manhood which is Colonel Goethals'. + +I cannot award this same high praise to the politicians I have known. + +An army or navy officer always drives just as close a bargain as he can +on behalf of the government when doing business with civilians, although +the economics of the transaction is of no personal concern to him. + +When a politician makes a bargain, his first consideration is: "Where do +I come in?" His next consideration is: "Where does the party come in?" +Duty to the government is a minor consideration. + +It is the demand for a thing that leads to its invention, just as it is +the demand for a thing that leads to its manufacture. The demand must +precede the production. + +When the inventor designs a gun, or invents a new explosive, he does not +simultaneously try to invent ways and means of creating a market. He +may, on the contrary, be inspired with a spirit of patriotism, and feel +that in the event of war his work will be of signal service to his +country, both by killing his country's enemies and by saving the lives +of his own people. + +The manufacturers of war-materials are much more likely to be actuated +by honorable motives, and to make large sacrifices from a spirit of +patriotism, than are the manufacturers of soap, agricultural machinery, +or automobiles. + +The builders of Ericsson's _Monitor_ were not able to get the government +either to approve or to back the enterprise. They were, however, +fortunately inspired by a high spirit of patriotism, and by a strong +belief in Ericsson's invention; consequently, they built it at their own +expense. It was completed just in the nick of time. The terrible +_Merrimac_ appeared before the _Monitor_ was quite ready. She could +laugh at forts, and the projectiles from the guns of our wooden navy +glanced off her mailed sides like raindrops off a duck's back. Whether +she would be able to run up the Potomac and bombard Washington, was a +question only of the depth of water. + +The little coterie of bureaucrats in Washington, who had ridiculed the +fantastic innovation of Ericsson, were now on Uneasy Street, and sent +urgent appeals for the _Monitor_ to be made ready and sent to Hampton +Roads with all speed. The peculiar craft did arrive on the morning of +the second day of the naval fight. The result is one of the good +stories of history--a story that has never been quite equaled in +fiction. + +The _Monitor_ had not yet been accepted by the government when she +fought the _Merrimac_; she had not yet received the government's +approval. + +A country Reuben, who saw a giraffe for the first time at a circus, +looked the animal over, and, finding that it did not conform to his +ideas of what an animal ought to be, remarked, "By gum, there ain't no +sich critter!" Likewise, the naval experts at Washington did not believe +that there could be any such fighting-ship. After that fight, however, +the _Monitor_ was quickly purchased, and hurried orders were given for +more _Monitors_. + +The patriotism and pluck of the warship-builders saved the country. + +The pacifists are strongly urging what they term the nationalization of +all manufacture of war-materials; that is to say, that all such +materials should be made at government plants. Their object is to have +the work done by disinterested persons, who will not be tempted to +promote war in order to make a market for those materials. By admirable +inconsistency, the pacifists would, in so doing, place the manufacture +of war-materials in the hands of army and navy officers, whom they +pronounce the most pernicious of all promoters of war. + +Before Congress acts upon the suggestion of the pacifists to +nationalize the manufacture of all war-materials, it would be well to +see what would have happened in the past, had the thing been done +sooner. We can judge from that concerning the advisability of adopting +the measure now. + +If it had been adopted at the time of the Civil War, Ericsson's +_Monitor_ never would have been built, because its building depended +upon private personal patriotism and private enterprise. + +If the measure had been adopted twenty-five years ago, then naturally, +during that period, private invention and private enterprise would have +been eliminated, and the government would not have profited from +civilian genius and energy. Let us see, then, what private invention and +private enterprise have done for the government for the past +quarter-century, since the advent of smokeless powder. + +Colonel E. G. Buckner, vice-president of the du Pont Powder Company, in +an article in _Harper's Weekly_, of June 27, 1914, places the credit for +the four most important inventions in the development of smokeless +powder--first, to Vieille, of France, who produced gun-cotton; second, +to Mendeléeff, of Russia, who told us how to colloid it; third, to +Francis G. du Pont, who eliminated danger in the manufacture; and, +fourth, to Hudson Maxim, who invented the multi-perforated grain that +gave absolute control over the burning. + +It will be seen that two of the most important steps in the development +of smokeless powder were made by American civilian inventors. The +alcohol replacement invention of Francis G. du Pont and my own invention +of the multi-perforated grain, rendered possible the use of a colloid of +pure nitro-cellulose as a smokeless cannon-powder. It would be +absolutely impossible successfully to make a pure nitro-cellulose +cannon-powder without these two inventions. If the manufacture of +smokeless powder had been nationalized twenty-five years ago, this +government would not stand, as it stands today, ahead of all other +governments, in the excellence of its smokeless powder. + +When the government first ordered a pure nitro-cellulose powder, large +quantities of solvents were consumed in its preparation. Private +manufacturers introduced new processes to overcome this difficulty, +resulting in a material reduction in the cost of the powder, which has +already effected a saving to the government of more than $2,000,000. + +It is a peculiarity of smokeless powder that, regardless of however +stable it may be when first made, it gradually begins to decompose after +long standing, which, until recently, necessitated its destruction. +Several years ago, however, Mr. Francis I. du Pont, son of the Francis +G. du Pont above-mentioned, invented a process for the successful +reworking of smokeless powder that has begun to decompose, at a mere +fraction of the original cost, making it just as good as ever. This +invention alone will hereafter save the government more than a million +dollars a year. + +When the new army rifle was developed, it was found that the smokeless +powder then used by the army, containing nitro-glycerin, was so erosive +as to destroy the accuracy of the arm when only 1,600 rounds had been +fired. The government obtained from abroad some smokeless powder, which +enabled 3,000 rounds to be fired before the gun was destroyed, but after +that number of rounds, the rifling was practically obliterated. + +A private manufacturer invented a new smokeless rifle-powder, with +process and apparatus for its manufacture. With this powder, it is now +possible to fire as high as 20,000 rounds before the accuracy of the gun +is destroyed. This invention easily multiplies the life of the army +rifle by six. As the army rifle will now last six times as long by the +use of this powder as it would by the use of any other powder, the value +of the invention to the government is by far the chief value of the gun +itself. Consequently, it is estimated that this invention alone +represents a value for the guns that the government now has on hand of +more than $15,000,000. + +Not only does our small-arms powder effect a great saving in the wear +and tear of our shoulder-rifles, but also our pure nitro-cellulose +cannon-powder effects a similar saving in the life of our big guns. Our +big guns, using pure nitro-cellulose powder, last, with equal accuracy, +more than twice as long as British guns, which use cordite. + +It will be seen from the foregoing considerations and figures that +private genius and private enterprise alone have saved the government +very many millions of dollars. Of course, it may be argued that, since +guns and ammunition and all kinds of military implements and engines +have been perfected, there is not now room for civilian inventors to be +so useful to the government during the next twenty-five years as they +have been in the past twenty-five. + +A similar attitude of the average mind would have existed had the same +question been raised twenty-five years ago. When our Patent Office was +first established, the Commissioner of Patents predicted that within +fifty years everything possible of invention would have been invented +and that then the Patent Office would have to be abolished for lack of +business. The number of inventions received by the Patent Office, +however, has rapidly increased, and is still rapidly increasing. More +inventions are received now each year at the Patent Office than were +received during the first fifty years of its existence. The reason for +this is that every invention, either directly or indirectly, creates a +demand for other inventions. The inventor is still working in virgin +soil, and the room for invention is infinite. + +If the manufacture of war-materials were to be nationalized, not only +would the government rob itself of the aid of large quasi-government +manufactories, but also it would rob itself of the benefits of the +inventive genius of the whole people. The value of that genius may be +approximated by recalling what citizen inventions have done since the +outbreak of the American Civil War. + +Breech-loading guns of all kinds, the percussion cap, cartridges for +small-arms, fixed ammunition for quick-firing guns, the breech mechanism +for all guns, the built-up gun, the great improvements in steel +manufacture, the revolving turret and the _Monitor_ type of +fighting-ship, the steam turbine, the internal-combustion engine, all of +the great inventions in smokeless powders and high explosives, and their +adaptability to use in ordnance, the submarine torpedo-boat, the +self-propelled torpedo, the aëroplane and the dirigible, and any number +of other inventions indispensable to modern warfare, have been the +invention of civilians. Of course, army and navy officers have invented +a great many important things themselves, and have rendered great +service in the development of civilian inventions. But it must be +remembered that army and navy officers constitute but a very small part +of the population. Even were army and navy men ten times more +proficient in the invention of war-materials than civilian inventors, +the number and value of civilian naval and military inventions would +preponderate enormously over those of government officers. + +We have been assured all along by the peace sophists that, if war should +come, the great American genius would rise to the occasion and spring to +our rescue, with all manner of destructive contrivances, capable of +annihilating armies and sweeping fleets of fighting-ships off the seas. + +If the beautiful nationalization plan of the peace sophists, however, +were to be carried out, the great American genius would get no +opportunity to fructify the prophesied militant cataclysmic ogerism to +the discomfiture of our enemies. + +No other government has nationalized the manufacture of armaments and +war-materials to the exclusion of private manufacturers. On the +contrary, other governments strongly encourage private manufacture, for +they realize the vast importance of drawing upon the inventive genius of +the whole people, and of enlisting private energy, private enterprise, +and private capital in government work. + +The French government for more than a hundred years has made all its own +gunpowder, but its chief gun-works are private enterprises. Possibly, if +the French smokeless powder had been perfected by private enterprise to +meet government requirements, those requirements would have been more +exacting with private manufacturers than with government manufacturers, +and the battleships _Jéna_ and _La Liberté_ would not have been blown up +by the spontaneous combustion of bad gunpowder. If this government were +to nationalize the manufacture of its war-materials, we know, by what +has been done in the past, through private enterprise and private +inventive genius, that the government would suffer enormously. + +In this era of Congressional investigations, it would be well to have a +government inquiry made as to whether or not there should be a new +classification of acts of treason. It should be inquired whether or not, +in time of peace, public preachments should be allowed advocating the +disbanding of our Army and the destruction of our Navy--acts which in +time of war might be interpreted as treason, and the offenders backed up +against a wall and shot. It should be inquired whether or not foreign +emissaries, and possibly spies, have not for years been collaborating +with American advocates of disarmament. It should be inquired whether or +not the Washington lobby that has been operating against governmental +appropriations for the Army and Navy, has not received foreign support. +If these things have not been done by representatives of foreign +countries, with such a wide-open opportunity, then the diplomats and +strategists of foreign nations ought to be sent to a kindergarten for +instruction. Could anything be more likely than that foreign Powers +should possess the sagacity to grasp such an opportunity to weaken our +defenses? + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE GOOD AND EVIL OF PEACE AND OF WAR + + "All states are in perpetual war with all. For that which we + call peace is no more than merely a name, whilst in reality + Nature has set all communities in an unproclaimed but + everlasting war against each other." _Plato._ + + +So much has been said based on ignorance and false premise about the +good and evil of war, and the good and evil of peace, that a few cold, +relevant facts will not be out of place here. + +In stating these facts, the writer is standing neither as sponsor for +war nor as sponsor for peace. He is not posing as a judge qualified to +pass sentence on peace or on war, but merely as one who understands the +subject sufficiently to throw some new light upon it. In bearing witness +to the cruelty and mercilessness of Nature, the writer assumes no +responsibility for what Nature has done; he was not consulted. In +bearing witness to the evils and benefits of war, and the evils and +benefits of peace, the writer does not thereby either palliate the +evils, or stand responsible for them; neither does he assume credit for +their benefits and blessings. He realizes, however, that the bearer of +bad tidings is associated with the ill-feeling they inspire, although he +may be wholly innocent of the ill. + +While too much stress cannot be laid upon the horrors of war and the +individual suffering incurred thereby, still it is not just to lay to +the account of war or militarism every ill that flesh is heir to, as is +done by many of the pacifi-maniacs. As a matter of fact, it would be as +justifiable to attack peace because of the evils that develop in times +of peace. We do not, however, on that account conceive peace to be a +misfortune, but a blessing. + +While our pacifists promote war by their teachings, they declaim against +war and picture its horrors and calamitous results. One would naturally +suppose that, appreciating what a terrible thing war is, they would take +the most scientific and dependable means of safeguarding this country +against such a calamity; but, as a matter of fact, they are doing +everything in their power to abolish the one means that can safeguard us +against war. With consistent inconsistency, they place the blame for war +on the advocates of adequate armaments--the true peace-advocates and +peace-makers and enemies of war, who are forefending us against war. The +advocacy of armaments is construed by them as the advocacy of war; +measures for peace are confounded with measures for breaching the peace. + +A curious phase of the matter is that many friends of armaments +themselves make a similar mistake, and think that in defending armaments +they are called upon to defend war also. As a matter of fact, war has no +defense, except as a last resort. But when there is no other way, and +when the maintenance of peace would be a greater calamity than war, then +war is to be recommended as the lesser evil. It is, nevertheless, +undeniably an evil, though a necessary one, just as a surgical operation +is a necessary evil--but one which, if successful, results in such good +as far to outweigh the evil. + +The peace sophists tell us that there has never been a good war or a bad +peace; that always in war the best specimens of manhood have been slain, +leaving the weak and unfit for breeding purposes. They tell us that the +Napoleonic wars lowered the stature of the entire French nation by two +inches. They tell us also that during all past ages war for plunder has +been the principal business of mankind. + +The following arraignment of war by General Hiram M. Chittenden is a +very fair sample of this method of reasoning: + + * * * * * + +"_Both in its restriction upon marriage and in its destruction of life +war thus destroys the most precious seed and leaves the inferior from +which to propagate. In proportion as wars are long continued, and draw +heavily upon the population, these deleterious effects are apparent. The +campaigns of Napoleon were a mighty drain upon the vigor of the French +people. It has been held that the average stature of the French was +thereby diminished by more than an inch. How much their intellectual and +moral stature was shrunken by that debauchery of crime, who can say? The +decadence of the Roman people was due more to the waste of its best +blood in war than to the causes commonly accepted. War reverses the +process of natural selection and, instead of producing the survival of +the fittest, produces the survival of the most unfit._" + + * * * * * + +According to statistics of the pacifists, from the year 1496 B.C. to the +year 1861 A.D.--a period of 3,357 years--there were 227 years of peace +and 3,130 years of war--thirteen years of war for every year of peace. +Now, if what we are told about the degenerative effects of war is true, +since we know that war has been prevalent in all ages, the natural +conclusion is, what a lot of rapscallions we must be! If war, instead of +tending to secure the survival of the fit, secures the survival of the +unfit, then after a thousand centuries of strife we must be signally +unfit. + +The trouble with such statistics is that, instead of leading us toward +the truth, they lead us into error. It may be perfectly true that for +every year of general peace there have been thirteen years when there +was a war somewhere on the earth; but this does not imply in the least +that peace was not more general than was war, even during those thirteen +years when there was a war. We must remember that the history of nations +does not tell us much about the affairs of the people in times of peace; +it is their wars that have made history. + +As we look back through time at the large number of wars, we clump them +together in perspective. We place the wars, as it were, all on the map +at once, instead of placing them years and centuries apart. + +Just as there is always in human life more joy than sorrow, more +pleasure than pain, more good than ill; so, in the history of the world, +there has been more of peace and prosperity than there has been of war +and calamity. + +John Ruskin possessed the rare ability to perceive truth that pointed +one way, while his feelings pointed in the opposite direction. Although +he had an emotional nature and a highly artistic temperament, he was +still a man of so broad views, with so comprehensive a mind at the other +end of the optic nerve, that he could ratiocinate in spite of his +emotions. The following is what he had to say on war: + + * * * * * + +"_All the pure and noble arts of peace are founded on war; no great art +ever rose on earth but among a nation of soldiers. There is no great art +possible to a nation but that which is based on battle. When I tell you +that war is the foundation of all the arts, I mean also that it is the +foundation of all the high virtues and faculties of men. It was very +strange for me to discover this, and very dreadful, but I saw it to be +quite an undeniable fact. The common notion that peace and the virtues +of civil life flourished together I found to be utterly untenable. Peace +and the vices of civil life only flourish together. We talk of peace and +learning, of peace and plenty, of peace and civilization; but I found +that these are not the words that the Muse of History coupled together: +that on her lips the words were peace and sensuality, peace and +selfishness, peace and death. I found in brief that all great nations +learned their truth of word and strength of thought in war; that they +were nourished in war and wasted in peace; taught by war and deceived by +peace; trained by war and betrayed by peace; in a word, that they were +born in war and expired in peace._" + + * * * * * + +We must not conclude, from the above quotation from Ruskin, that he was +an advocate of brutality versus humanity, for he was not. The thought he +meant to convey was simply this--that only a supreme trial, a supreme +responsibility, where country, life itself, and that which is dearer +than life--home--are staked on the issue, can bring out the highest +virtues. The struggle for inalienable human rights, whose observance is +freedom, has been the greatest influence to stimulate the genius and the +virtues of men, and these things have been accomplished, and could only +have been accomplished, by war. + +The humanity of Ruskin is well brought out in the following quotation: + + * * * * * + +"... _Depend upon it, all work must be done at last, not in a +disorderly, scrambling, doggish way, but in an ordered, soldierly, human +way--a lawful or 'loyal' way. Men are enlisted for the labor that +kills--the labor of war: they are counted, trained, fed, dressed, and +praised for that. Teach the plough exercise as carefully as you do the +sword exercise, and let the officers of troops of life be held as much +gentlemen as the officers of troops of death; and all is done: but +neither this, nor any other right thing, can be accomplished--you can't +even see your way to it--unless, first of all, both servant and master +are resolved that, come what will of it, they will do each other +justice._" + + * * * * * + +Ralph Waldo Emerson held the same opinion about war as that held by John +Ruskin. He quoted and approved the old Greek, Heraclitus, who said, +"War is the father of all things." After quoting this expression, +Emerson said, "We of this day can repeat it as a political and social +truth." Also, he said, "War passes the power of all chemical solvents, +breaking up the old cohesions, and allowing the atoms of society to take +a new order." + +As a matter of fact, social order, in time of peace, like a cultivated +field, settles and solidifies, and it must be broken down into subsoil, +to support a new and vigorous growth. The breaking by plough and +dynamite, uprooting and submerging all undesirable growth, is rewarded +by healthy and vigorous crops of a desirable growth. + +The very privations that have to be endured by large numbers of persons +during a great war, stimulate economy, invention, and extraordinary +endeavor, and serve to teach many useful lessons and to impart valuable +experiential knowledge, which is applied both during the war, and, with +greater advantage, when the war is over. When a country is at war, all +its industries are not rendered stagnant or idle, but many of them are +stimulated to extraordinary effort when cut off from import by blockade. + +The legend about the stature of the French nation being lowered two +inches as a result of killing off so many of the best men of France +during the Napoleonic wars, is a very plausible one, and one that has +been made great use of by the pacifists. But no one has thought to +inquire whether or not, during the past century, the average stature of +the Spaniards and the Italians also has been lowered. Perhaps, if we +should inquire, we might learn that the color of the hair and eyes and +skin of the French had somewhat darkened during that period. We might +learn the truth that the effect upon the stature and the color of the +eyes and skin and hair was mainly due to another kind of warfare--that +of the southern blood of the Latin against the blood of the blond +Norseman. We might learn that in Italy, Spain, and France, the posterity +of the Norse giants, who long ago overran and conquered those countries, +did not thrive well there, but slowly died down. We might learn that in +those lands the blood of the blond is gradually overcome by the blood of +the brunette; and that, as the blond races are larger in stature, the +stature of the mixed Latin races is lowered in proportion to the +disappearance of the blond type. The ancient Roman was much shorter in +stature than even the present Italian or Frenchman. + +Warfare has always subjected the weak, the puny, the poor, the ill, the +indigent, and the incompetent to privations, trials, and strains of such +severity that they have died in large numbers. They have not been so +able as normal persons to escape the sword and to resist famine and +disease; consequently, fewer of them have survived than of the more +fit. + +It is, however, argued by the peace sophists, that in modern warfare +only the most able-bodied men are selected for military duty, and also +that the weak and unfit who remain at home are not subjected to the same +exterminating influences as formerly. + +As a matter of fact, comparing the results of war today with those in +former years, we find the percentage of deaths among the incompetent +stay-at-homes far larger than among the soldiers at the front. + +It is true that medical science secures the survival of a much larger +percentage of stay-at-home incompetents than in former years, but +medical science saves also a much larger proportion of those injured in +battle than formerly, so that the ratio of survival between the fit and +the incompetent is today in favor of the fit. The conditions that tend +to secure the survival of the fittest are even more effective today than +they were in old-time wars. + +The unpleasant truth should be realized that invading armies must, with +other luxuries, have women. As a result, they leave a large +progeny--wrens in the nests of the doves of peace. Hence, inasmuch as +soldiers are the pick of the manhood of their country, they are likely +to do about as much toward securing the survival of the fit in an +enemy's country as they would have in their own country. + +There is another very important consideration, which is that war is a +great mixer of races, and that usually mixed types benefit enormously +from their compound blood. + +Furthermore, the mingling of races and peoples has in all times served +greatly to spread knowledge of one another, and they have always +profited largely from the mingled knowledge. Soldiers visiting distant +lands have brought home acquaintance with new arts and sciences and +broader ideas of international usefulness. The soldiers of the North, +who marched with Sherman through Georgia to the sea, returned years +afterward and built cotton mills, iron foundries, and machine-shops all +over the South, and stimulated the South with Northern energy and +Northern capital. + +We know that the inhabitants of the earth are constantly growing more +fit; consequently, we know that they cannot be growing constantly more +unfit, due to the degenerative influence of war. The history of nations +is a history of wars; consequently we know as untrue the contention of +the peace sophists that war secures the survival of the unfit. We know +that exactly the opposite must be true; that war secures the survival of +the fit. + +There is yet another thing of which the peace sophists have never +thought, and could not be expected to think--the tremendous self-saving +potentiality of the race. + +As I have pointed out elsewhere, Nature seems to care little for +individuals, but everything for a race or species; consequently, Nature +has forefended herself by very ample measures to insure the survival of +the fit. + +If every able-bodied man in the world today were to be slain, and only +the weak and puny left, although the injury would be incalculable and +would make the whole race stagger, still the next generation of men +would be almost as able-bodied and as fit as the present generation. Let +us see why: It is because of that great potentiality--atavism. Children +inherit not only directly from their parents, but their inheritance +harks back to grandfather, great-grandfather, and even to remote +ancestry. + +Just as a stream of water burdened with impurities is self-purifying +when it suns itself on the bright pebbles and on grass and moss that web +and tangle it, so life is self-purifying and self-regenerative. Nature +is constantly reaching higher and higher. The acquired characteristics +of parents tend to become instinctive in their children. Instinct is +largely inherited experience. + +Nature strives to protect herself against degeneracy. Though bad conduct +on the part of parents harmfully affects the child, yet such influences +are less potent than those that are regenerative. If this were not +true, Nature's ends would not be so well secured. + +There is in all animal organisms a certain innate power of resistance to +germs of disease, and there is likewise in man a similar power of +resistance to degeneracy. + +The forces that operate to protect the individual operate also to shield +the species by affording protection against evil inheritance. + +Abnormal types are not always representative of diseased or degenerate +conditions; other considerations must be weighed. Even some criminals +may be atavic examples of a class of individuals who were better suited +to live under the savage conditions that existed many generations ago. + +Nature has resources for her protection far beyond our ken. Some of them +have, by our inquiry, been discovered. We have discovered that not only +do we immunize ourselves to withstand repeated attacks from the same +disease, but also our children to some extent inherit that immunity. + +When syphilis, the most abominable disease that ever afflicted mankind, +was brought to Europe by the sailors of Columbus, the Europeans, +possessing no immunity against it, died by hundreds of thousands. It +afflicted equally all classes, from peasant to king. This disease among +the West Indian tribes was slow-moving, and comparatively mild; but it +became exceedingly virulent, rapid, and almost always fatal, in the +blood of the unimmunized people of the Old World. This disease alone has +been more harmful to the human race than all the wars of the world since +the dawn of human history. + +Although today the Old-World races have acquired considerable immunity +to that affliction and although science has discovered a rational and +comparatively successful treatment, it is still the greatest single +degenerative influence with which the race has to contend. Its evil +potency is greatly enhanced by the facility with which it weds +alcoholism, and breeds tuberculosis, cancer, and paranoia. + +The old pioneers sowed the western continent and the islands of the sea +with the germs of smallpox and measles. Smallpox, terrible anywhere, was +tenfold more so with the newly discovered peoples. Measles was more +fatal with the Indians than smallpox with the Europeans. Only recently, +in Alaska, whole communities have been wiped out by the measles. Even +chicken-pox, harmless with us, was nearly always fatal to the +inhabitants of the Pacific Islands. + +The races, however, gradually but surely, developed immunity, and the +great world-scourges are now largely robbed of their terrors. Similarly +has mankind developed powers of recuperation that largely tend to +immunization against such degenerative effects as are of war. + +When a large limb is lopped from a tree, the mother-stem puts out a new +shoot, and grows another strong limb in its place; similarly, when limbs +are lopped from the human family tree, new limbs are stimulated to +growth. This peculiarity of living things is strangely manifested in +certain species, particularly among the lower orders of animals. Certain +animals have no way of seeking self-preservation except by breeding in +such large numbers as to supply the appetites of all enemies, and glut +the demand. A big salmon sometimes lays a gallon of small eggs, often +numbering as high as 27,000,000. Certain species of polyp are provided +no means whatever, either by speed or powers of resistance, to defend +themselves, but they breed so rapidly that they cannot all be eaten. + + * * * * * + +Now that we have defended war against the charge of securing the +survival of the unfit, and have proved that, on the contrary, war has, +during all the ages, been instrumental in securing the survival of the +fit, let us, without presuming against peace, see whether or not peace +has a blameless record. + +The long periods of peace during the past century have allowed the +peoples time and opportunity to acquire wealth and luxury, and to +develop peculiar tastes, especially along emotional lines.... Modern +fiction is a universal love story. Art is largely a portrayal of +sentimentality. + +In olden times, when human suffering in every guise, born of war, was +very common, the appeals of the poor, the weak, and the infirm were not +much heeded, for there were ever present such severe and exacting +concerns as to command the attention and to absorb the resources of the +people. + +In time of peace less rigid economy is practised than in time of war. +Dangers and hardships, which are the concomitants of war, have been +found in all ages better formative influences for making hardy, +successful men than a life of ease, comfort, and luxury. Consequently, +in time of peace there is a far more preponderant tendency toward +degeneracy and national decay than there is in time of war, in spite of +the large numbers of fine specimens of manhood that are killed in war. + +When Cyrus the Great, with his hardy mountaineers, had conquered the +peace-loving, comfort-loving people of the lowlands, he told his +soldiers that they must not make their homes in the lowlands, but must +return to their mountain fastnesses, because if they settled to a life +of ease and luxury, they would become unwarlike, effeminate, and +degenerate, like the lowlanders they had conquered and enslaved, and +later would themselves be conquered and enslaved by other mountaineers +inured to privations and hardships, who would descend upon them. + +Witness the wisdom of Herodotus, who said: + + * * * * * + +"_It is the settled appointment of Nature that soft soils should breed +soft men, and that the same land should never be famous for the +excellence of its fruit and for the vigor of its inhabitants._" + + * * * * * + +Montesquieu said: + + * * * * * + +"_The barrenness of the soil makes men industrious, sober, hard-working, +courageous, and warlike, for they must obtain by their own exertion that +which the earth denies them, whilst the fertility of a country produces +in them love of ease, indolence, and a sense of cautious +self-preservation._" + + * * * * * + +The ancient Spartans in time of peace voluntarily subjected themselves +to every privation and hardship necessary to keep them in prime +condition for instant war. + +Nature is never moved by pity. Nature is not a sentimentalist. The +earthquake shock is no respecter of persons. When a ship founders, the +angry waves of the sea show no mercy to the drowning, and have no pity +for those struggling to survive in the life-boats. The arctic airs of +winter are as savage to those exposed to them as are the teeth of +wolves. All animal life on the earth must constantly contend with both +the devouring elements of Nature and the devouring greed of other animal +life. + +Pity is a child of the imagination, and is, for that reason, a +peculiarly human attribute. It is a very noble trait, and is of material +aid in greatening mutual human usefulness. Nevertheless, no one thinks +for a moment of blaming any of the lower animals for their appetites and +passions; they are understood to be normal and necessary. Similarly, all +our normal appetites and passions are necessary. Considered in the +broad, as natural attributes, there are no such things as bad normal +emotions and passions; it is only when they become perverted by +degeneracy or abuse that they are evil. + +The passion of pity may be perverted and abused just as the sex appetite +or the appetite for food and drink. + +If human pity had dominated the council at the creation of the world, +the result would have been infinite injury, because none of the higher +orders of animals, even man himself, could have been developed. In +short, there would have been no intelligent beings on earth. + +During periods of peace, a large number of persons, moved by pity for +the indigent, the halt, the lame, the blind, extend to them the +alleviating hand of charity. Philanthropy finds favor in the public +eye, and charity becomes a cheap and easy means of courting public +opinion. The philanthropist with means for gratifying his passion of +pity, or the ambitious aspirant for public favor with cash to invest in +public opinion, finds himself soon surrounded with a multitude of +itchy-palmy hands to help him spend his money to buy what he is after, +and at the same time obtain profit for themselves. Consequently, objects +of charity become opportunities to be prized and made the most of. +Charity organizations are supported both by well-meaning sympathetic +persons and by publicity-purchasing persons and their press-agents. + +Many an ambitious politician or social climber finds it profitable to +become a patron of some supposedly deserving charity. Recently, some one +inquired into the methods of a New York charity organization, and found +that the sum paid in salaries to the various officers of the society was +more than twice the amount actually expended in charity. But those who +donated the money got what they paid for; the hangers-on of the society +got what they wanted, and thereby lessened the actual harm that the +money would have done had it all reached its supposed objects. + +While a limited amount of well-directed charitable effort may be for the +general good, still by far the larger part of promiscuous charity does +harm. Broadly speaking, charity of all kinds is wrong in principle, +because the misfortunes of the unfit are a part of natural processes +for their elimination, and anything done by charity to defeat the +decrees of Nature is wrong. + +These are some of the responsibilities for which we friends of peace +must stand, if we succeed in preventing war by preparedness against war. + +Those who are advocating the abolition of armaments, and are thereby +fostering war, have not this responsibility; for, if they are successful +in what they are teaching and doing, the pretty constant warfare that +will prevail among the great nations during the next century will cure +much of the hypersentimentalism that finds expression in large +degenerative charities; and these charities will be swept away under the +tread of marching armies. Whereas, if we succeed, by our advocacy, in +securing adequate armaments, and thereby maintain enduring peace, then +nothing can prevent our great promiscuous charities from continuing to +secure the survival of the unfit with the continuous pollution of the +blood-stream of the race from their degenerate blood through +intermarriage with normal persons. + +The arrestation of the self-purifying processes of Nature which are +intended to clarify the blood of the race, by breeding the unfit and +turning them back upon the race, is like turning the sewage of a city +into its water supply. + +If all incompetents--the hopelessly diseased and degenerate--were to be +exterminated, it would be a very good thing for the race. Such methods +have actually been practised in the past. At one time, when ancient +Babylon was besieged, all the aged and diseased were murdered; and in +ancient Greece, deformed or diseased children were killed at birth. But +the trouble with this method is that no men possessing the human +qualities rendering them worthy of survival could be found among us to +do the wholesale executions. The mere possession of the inhuman +qualities necessary to carry out the wholesale slaughter would elect the +executioners themselves for slaughter. Man cannot be pitiless, like +Nature, without himself becoming unworthy of pity, and, consequently, +unworthy of survival. + +Human survival must be co-operative. Human reproduction depends somewhat +on lovability. According to the law of natural selection, a lovable +person is selected rather than an unlovable person. Neither sex is so +apt to fall in love and mate with a person of the other sex who is +pitiless, as with one possessing pity and sympathy. Pity and sympathy, +just like the love of parenthood, are bonds of the family. A +community--a nation--is only a larger family. + +Charity and sympathy make men gregarious. A world without charity or +sympathy would be most unattractive. Human companionship in its higher +values would not exist. + +Nevertheless, when charity and sympathy build and support large +almshouses, until, as in London, one-third of all the property tax goes +to the poor fund, then charity becomes an institution for breeding +paupers and imbeciles. Such charity is the misuse of a virtue. +Nine-tenths of all the paupers of one generation in England are children +of the paupers of a preceding generation. + +The following is what an eminent Englishman has to say of the condition +of things in his country: + + * * * * * + +"_We have a standing army of 1,200,000 paupers, and our permanent and +occasional paupers number together at least 3,000,000. Our paupers are +maintained at a yearly cost of about £30,000,000 to the community, and +were it not for the Draconic administration of our poor-laws all our +work-houses would be overcrowded by workers who would gladly exchange +freedom and starvation wages for the confinement of the workhouse. No +other nation has an army of paupers similar to that of Great +Britain."--J. Ellis Barker,_ in "_Great and Greater Britain._" + + * * * * * + + +A CAT STORY + + +Once upon a time there was an excellent Queen who ruled over a beautiful +and fruitful island. The island was not large; it had an area of only a +few square miles, and the inhabitants numbered but a thousand. They +lived mainly by fishing and agriculture. + +The Queen loved both her people and her cats. As she would not allow a +kitten killed, cats soon overran the palace. Some of these cats, +dominated by the mousing instinct, took up their habitation in the +fields and woods; for mice, small birds, squirrels, and all manner of +cat-game were plentiful on the island. + +The cats continued to multiply, until they became a great pest to the +farmers, killing their chickens, ducklings, and song-birds. Then the +good Queen divided the island between her people and her cats. She gave +a tenth of the island to the cats. A fence was built between the cats +and the people. + +The cats soon multiplied to the number of 20,000, but there was not +forage enough to feed them through the next winter; consequently, half +of them died during the cold weather. In the autumn of the following +year there were again 20,000 cats on the island, half of which were +doomed to die by starvation during the winter; but the kind-hearted +Queen taxed the people for food sufficient to feed the cats, and to save +as many lives as possible. + +The succeeding summer being long and fruitful, the cats thrived well, +and the next autumn there were 50,000 cats on the island, and as there +was but forage enough to winter 10,000 cats, 40,000 must starve during +the coming winter, unless fed. Again the Queen taxed her people, and the +cats were saved; but, to the amazement of the Queen and her little +people, the next autumn brought 100,000 hungry cats to be fed, and it +had come to a point where either the people or the cats must starve. + +With grief, the Queen decided in favor of the people, for it was evident +that, if the people were allowed to starve to save the cats, the cats +also would starve without the people. That year, 90,000 cats starved to +death on the island. + +Thus, the good Queen's well-meant charity, intended to save 10,000 cats +from starving to death, finally resulted in 90,000 cats starving to +death. Actually, her attempt to lessen cat misery multiplied that misery +nine-fold. + +Now, what was true of those cats applies with exactly equal truth to the +rearing of paupers and incompetents in times of peace. + + * * * * * + +In all the countries of the civilized world today, there are +institutions for rearing and educating idiots. Sometimes, a section of +an idiot's skull is cut out, and the skull trepanned in order to give +his little brain room to expand. In this way, an idiot, incapable of +feeding himself, may develop intelligence enough to vote, under the +instruction of the ward-heeler, or he may even develop into a public +expounder of the beauties of defenselessness as a safeguard against war. + +The most common of all errors of conviction is the belief that knowledge +of right-doing necessarily leads us to do right. But the truth is, that +we are mainly guided by sentiment, even when it is diametrically opposed +to our knowledge of right. No branch of our learning is more strongly +fortified by facts of experience than that thoroughbred animals cannot +be bred from scrub stock; that superior types of dogs cannot be bred +from mongrels; that a fast trotting-horse is never sired by a Mexican +burro or foaled by a heavy draughtmare. + +We know absolutely that identically the same laws govern the breeding +both of human beings and of the lower animals, and that exactly +according to the seed sown will the fruit be. If sentiment leads us to +sow tares among the wheat, we inevitably injure the wheat. No breeder of +the lower animals would, from sentimental considerations, employ +inferior types for his purposes. + +With human growth, just as with the growth of vegetation in forest and +field, there is only a certain limited amount of room in the sun, and a +certain limited amount of nourishment and moisture in the soil. When +charity aids an inferior type to secure a plot of earth and a plot of +sky, it can do so only at the expense of some better type, which would +otherwise have conquered the spaces for itself, had not the inferior +specimen had charity as an ally. + +Apropos of this philosophy, I quote the following from an article in +_Science_ by G. H. Parker, Professor of Zoölogy, of Harvard:-- + + * * * * * + +"_Thus asylums, retreats, hospitals, and so forth, have been established +by private munificence or public grants. More or less under the +protection of these institutions has grown up a body of semi-dependents +and defectives whose increase it is that excites the apprehension of the +eugenists. That in the past such individuals have always formed a part +of our race cannot be doubted, but that they ever showed a tendency to +increase comparable with what seems to be occurring at present is highly +improbable. The occasion of this increase is not, in my opinion, merely +the exigencies of modern civilization; it is at least in part due to the +immense spread of humanitarian activities which have characterized the +last century of our civilization._" + + * * * * * + +If Andrew Carnegie were to give $100,000,000 for the support of paupers +in the United States and Great Britain, and another $100,000,000 for the +saving and kindly treatment and support of imbeciles and incompetents, +more continuous harm to the race would result, by securing the survival +of the unfit, than would result from a perpetual war between any two of +the nations now engaged in the great European conflict. + +As all charities thrive like a green bay tree in times of peace, and are +neglected in times of war, it will be seen that charity alone in times +of peace is more potent in securing the survival of the unfit than war +could possibly be. + +About here, the reader may conclude that I am just as inconsistent in +advocating armaments to preserve peace, which, I hold, tends to foster +degeneracy and decay, as are the pacifists who, by advocating +disarmament, promote war, which, they hold, is most potential in +fostering the same thing. + +But this is not so striking an inconsistency as may first appear, +because, as I have shown, nation-wide military training, such as that +practised in Switzerland, would make for regeneracy and efficiency far +more than all our charities, vices, and profligacy make for degeneracy +and decay. No branch of education--not even all the prevalent +preachments on the subjects of hygiene, moral reform, cleanliness, +temperance, and right living--would be so influential for betterment as +would the introduction of the Swiss system of military training. + +In order to be a good soldier, a man must be fit, just as a college +athlete must be fit; and military training, like the training of the +college athlete, compels him to observe the hygienic laws of right +living. + +We grow upon what we do and what we eat. If we live on an unbalanced +food, which supplies too much of one kind of nourishment and too little +of another, we become unbalanced in body and mind. Similarly, if our +occupation exercises some of our organs and faculties too much and +others not enough, we become unbalanced in body and mind. + +The saying is trite that a sound mind requires a sound body. Likewise, a +balanced mind must have a balanced body. + +The occupations of civil life, if not constantly accompanied by +systematic, scientific mental and physical training throw us out of +balance. The success of Muldoon's famous human repair-shop depends +entirely upon building up by proper food and strenuous exercise +long-neglected organs and faculties. + +The lower branches of a tree, which do not receive the necessary +exercise from the wind, and the necessary vitalizing stimulus of the +sun, gradually atrophy, and wither, die, and drop off; likewise do +unused and unstimulated organs and faculties of the body shrink toward +atrophy and pale toward death. The only part of a tree that is alive is +where the sap runs. All the rest of the tree is dead. Organs and +faculties of the human body not adequately exercised to circulate +through them the required amount of sap, gradually begin to die. + +Lord Kitchener is the Muldoon of the new English army. The raw recruits +are trained for their coming fight in much the same manner that a +pugilist is trained. They are made to take the long walk out and the +sharp run home, carrying weights; they wrestle and spar; perform all +manner of calisthenics and gymnastics; are fed proper food, and are made +properly to bathe. To the great majority of them, this man-making +training is a revelation, but they find themselves so improved in health +and so strengthened in body and mind that, when they return to civil +life, they will still utilize much of the useful knowledge of how to get +fit and keep fit; and just as the hard work imposed upon the soldiers is +made easier by their military training, so, when they return to civil +life, they will find all their tasks much easier of accomplishment. + +The following is quoted from a letter just received by me from a +prominent English clergyman: + + * * * * * + +"_The war is making the Britisher a new man, and he is blissfully +unconscious of the conversion in himself. Every class is feeling the +uplift. He will be stronger in his religion, his politics, and his +commerce. Half the men in Kitchener's Army hate fighting and taking +life. They have enlisted for conscience' sake. Naturally they will make +the finest soldiers._" + + * * * * * + +Soldierly fitness includes not only those sterling qualities of higher +manhood--cleanliness, temperance, efficiency, and moral stamina, raised +from a semi-subconscious latency into conscious action by a military +training--but also it includes that very important attribute--devotion. +A military training develops a vague sense of patriotism whose height is +a hurrah for country, to that height of devotion where one will gladly +die for his country. + +In South America, there is a very potential little republic where +military training produces just such beneficial results in a very high +degree. Chili, perhaps, comes nearer to Germany in economic efficiency +than any other country in the world. + +Nothing could be more absurd than the fear of the American people that a +good-sized standing army of trained soldiers would menace their liberty. +The very preparation, by education and training, necessary to make a +good soldier, being the very best training in the world to make him a +good citizen, would constitute one of the strongest fortifications +possible to defend us against ourselves. It would act as a gyroscopic +stabilizer for our democratic institutions, and an equilibrator for our +vacillating hot-air ship of state. + +One of the very best books that I have yet seen upon the subject of +peace and war is "Peace Insurance," by Richard Stockton, Jr., published +in January, 1915, by A. C. McClurg and Company. It is a book that cannot +fail at this time to do a large amount of good, and I heartily recommend +it to the reader. I quote the following from its pages: + + * * * * * + +"_To avoid exaggeration we shall quote first Mr. Kirkpatrick, who +attempts to show the horrors of war in his book, 'War--What For?' by +extracts from the New York Independent of March 14, 1907_: + +"'_It is the common consensus of opinion among investigators that +industrial casualties in this nation number more than 500,000 yearly. +Dr. Josiah Strong estimates the number at 564,000. As there are 525,600 +minutes in a year, it may readily be seen that every minute (day and +night) our industrial system sends to the graveyard or to the hospital a +human being, the victim of some accident inseparable from his toil. We +cry out against the horrors of war.... But the ravages ... of industrial +warfare are far greater than those of armed conflict. The number of +killed or mortally wounded (including deaths from accidents, suicides, +and murders, but excluding deaths from disease) in the Philippine War +from February 4, 1899, to April 30, 1902, was 1,573. These fatal +casualties were spread over a period of three years and three months. +But one coal mine alone in one year furnishes a mortality more than 38 +per cent. in excess of this._ + +"'_The Japanese War is commonly looked upon as the bloodiest of modern +wars. According to the official statement of the Japanese Government, +46,180 Japanese were killed, and 10,970 died of wounds. Our industrial +war shows a greater mortality year by year._ + +"'_But we are all of us more familiar with the Civil War, and we know +what frightful devastation it caused in households North and South. It +was, however, but a tame conflict compared with that which rages today, +and which we call peace. The slaughter of its greatest battles are +thrown in the shade by the slaughter which particular industries inflict +today. Ask any schoolboy to name three of the bloodiest battles of that +war, and he will probably name Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, and +Chickamauga. The loss on both sides was_: + + Killed Wounded + + _Gettysburg_ _5,662_ _7,203_ + _Chancellorsville_ _3,271_ _18,843_ + _Chickamauga_ _3,924_ _23,362_ + ------ ------ + _Total_ _12,857_ _69,408_ + +"'_But our railroads, state and interstate, and our trolleys in one year +equal this record in the number of killings and double it in the number +of woundings.'_ + +[Illustration: Casualties of Peace and War Compared] + +"_Said Dr. Josiah Strong in the_ North American Review _for November, +1906_: + +"'_We might carry on a half-dozen Philippine wars for three-quarters of +a century with no larger number of total casualties than take place +yearly in our peaceful industries._ + +"'_Taking the lowest of our three estimates of industrial accidents, the +total number of casualties suffered by our industrial army in one year +is equal to the average annual casualties of our Civil War, plus those +of the Philippine War, plus those of the Russian-Japanese War._ + +"'_Think of carrying on three wars at the same time, world without +end._' + +"_Said President Roosevelt in his Annual Message for 1907_: + +"'_Industry in the United States now exacts ... a far heavier toll of +death than all of our wars put together.... The number of deaths in +battle in all the foreign wars put together for the last century and a +quarter, aggregate considerably less than one year's death record for +our industries.'..._ + +"_Glancing over these comparisons between war and peace, we find that +much of the horror of war dwindles away. Comparing those actually killed +in industry and accident with those killed or dying from wounds in +various wars, we find that the annual peace rate is approximately two +and a half times that of the average annual Japanese loss, three times +that of the Union loss in the Civil War, five times the Russian loss in +the Japanese War, six times the Confederate loss in the Civil War, +twenty-eight times the English loss in the Anglo-Boer War, and ninety +times the American loss in the Spanish War. In other words, it would +take the average annual deaths of the English and French in the Crimea, +the Americans in the Mexican War, the North in the Civil War, the +Americans in the Spanish War, the English in the Boer War, and the +Japanese in the Russian War to approach the annual United States peace +rate. Assuming the burden of all these wars, at once, and without +ceasing, would be no more a drain than our peace death rate! Need we say +more as to the cost in lives, as to the sorrowing mother, sweetheart, +and wife? Think of these things. Where now is the bestiality and horror? +Does it belong more to war where comparatively few die for their country +willingly and nobly, or to peace where the multitudes die for sordid +gain--for dollars and cents? Would it not be meet for the pacifists, +assuming that they have the best interest of the country at heart, to +turn first to the horrors of peace, and lastly to the horrors of war?_" + + * * * * * + +It is well to observe that a very large percentage of the injuries and +deaths in the United States in times of peace, noted by Dr. Strong, are +due to preventable causes, and one of the best remedies is a military +training. In Germany, the number of persons per capita of population +killed and injured by accidents in time of peace is not half as great as +it is in the United States. + +These losses are part of the high price that this country pays for +inefficiency. They could be very largely remedied by military training, +which quickens awareness and alertness. Many an accident resulting in +severe wounding or death is due to undeveloped and untrained powers of +mind, and to lack of physical co-ordination. In the works of the +National Cash Register Company, at Dayton, Ohio, where all employees are +given the equivalent of military training in care and efficiency, +personal injury through accidents is almost entirely eliminated. + +A man who has been taught to play football and to box and wrestle in his +youth is not nearly so likely in after years to fall and injure himself, +or to be hit by a trolley car, or automobile, as one who has not had +that training. Similarly, a man who, in his youth, has had his mind +developed to quick alertness, and every muscle of his body brought +under the domination of the will by military training, is far less +likely to be injured by accident than one who has not had a military +training. Consequently, many of the ills of peace may be cured by the +practice of the very medicine that is the best remedy for war. + +William James, in an article entitled, "The Moral Equivalent of War," +starts out with the remark, "The war against war is going to be no +holiday excursion or camping party." He adds that, "There is something +highly paradoxical in the modern man's relation to war." + +He continues: + + * * * * * + +"_Ask all our millions north and south whether they would vote now to +have our war for the Union expunged from history, and the record of a +peaceful transition to the present time substituted for that of its +marches and battles, and, probably hardly a handful of eccentrics would +say yes._ + +"_Yet ask those same people whether they would be willing in cold blood +to stand another civil war now to gain another similar possession, and +not one man or woman would vote for the proposition._" + + * * * * * + +Let us suppose that the same Southern states that then seceded were to +secede again today, capture all the negroes there and all men and women +whose skins are tinted by negro blood, enslave them, and establish anew +the auction block at the slave market: then let us ask the people of the +North Mr. James's second question. + +What defense has the average person against being convinced by such +sophistry, coming from so eminent a psychologist and philosopher as +William James? The conclusion of the average person is: "A great man +like him must know better than I, he having made a study of such +things." This article was given wide circulation by the Association for +International Conciliation. It was also published in _McClure's +Magazine_, and again in the _Popular Science Monthly_. + +Others have said, and are saying, similar silly things about the war +against war, but they are not men of such intellectual eminence as was +William James. It is true that Dr. David Starr Jordan is a very +prominent person, and says things even sillier than anything that +William James said, but exactly there is the saving grace of his +sayings. Some of his conclusions are so utterly irrational and absurd as +to enable a very large number of persons to perceive their falsity, +whereas the error is not so easily perceived in such statements as the +foregoing quoted from Mr. James. + +Let us examine the proposition to make war on war. The only common-sense +way to wage war on war is to war against the evils that produce war. To +wage war on war, which comes like the visitation of a physician, to cure +ills, would be like waging war on the medical profession to cure a +decimating pestilence. To arrest the hand of the surgeon in order to +save bloodshed is to let the patient die of cancer. + +Our Civil War was merely a great surgical operation which removed a +malignant cancer from the breast of Columbia. Mars, the old and +experienced surgeon, made a good job of it. Columbia's ailment was one +that could not be cured by physic, poultice, incantations, or other +quack nostrums, which, Mr. James suggested, might have been tried. The +patient had to be operated on with the sword, so that the question as to +the right or wrong of the Civil War, and as to whether it should have +then been fought, and whether, if it had been delayed till now, it +should now be fought, depends upon a choice of evils--depends entirely +upon whether or not American slavery was a greater evil than the +American Civil War. + +Two of my brothers were killed in the awful struggle to free the slaves +and save the Union. It was worth the price to them, to me, and to the +rest of my family; and I am of the opinion that every other family in +the country who made a like sacrifice would agree with me that to free +four millions of human beings from bondage was worth the price. +Emancipation then not only freed four millions, but it saved, between +that time and now, more than twenty millions from the yoke and the lash. +But, what is still more important, the emancipation of the slaves +emancipated their masters also--emancipated all of us, North and +South--and raised the proclamation of human equality by our country's +fathers from a mockery and a shame to a reality. + +If there were men and women and children bought and sold in this country +today, you and I, reader, would mix up in the infamous business with gun +and sword, and we would not wait long to do much voting about it, +either. "Great national problems," said Bismarck, "are solved not by +speeches and resolutions of majorities, but by blood and iron." + +It is very evident that it would have been wrong in 1860 for some +powerful external force, waging war against war, to have prevented the +Civil War, and thereby have prevented the emancipation of the slaves. + +It is all very well at this time to prate about the possibility of a +peaceful settlement of the differences between the North and South +before the Civil War broke out. That is exactly what was tried. Even +after the war broke out, Lincoln, one of the greatest men that America +ever produced, tried with all his might to do that very thing. War was +the only way. + +A very large percentage of the wars of the world have been waged for +freedom--have been wars for justice, and against tyranny. To war against +such wars would be to war for tyranny, and against freedom and justice. +Actually, those who today are recruiting for the war against war are +asking you to enlist in a campaign to shackle the hands of the oppressed +in future years, and tie them down with ball and chain to prevent them +from striking for liberty. They are to be denied the right of war for +freedom, which was our right in the Revolution. + +Every man exerts a positive influence either for good or for evil. If +the advocates of disarmament and non-resistance are exerting a good +influence, then I am exerting a bad influence, and every advocate of +armed defense is a worker of evil. You, reader, must judge between us. + +If it is wrong to insure with armaments against invasion of this +country, which invasion would mean the violation of our homes, the rape +of our wives and daughters and sisters and sweethearts; if it is right +to invite invasion by non-resistance, and wrong to oppose it with force; +if, when an enemy injures us, it is the correct thing to let him add +insult to the first offense; then it is wrong to be a man, it is wrong +to resent dishonor of the home, and all of us who have any manhood in us +should be emasculated. + +If, when this country is invaded, some militant scoundrel, forcing his +way into your home, should lay the hand of violent lust on trembling +wife or daughter, would you observe the pacifist policy of +non-resistance, or would you kill him right there, even if it cost you +your life? I know your answer. The invading army would be lessened by +one soldier, or there would be one less American. + + + + +CONCLUSION + +WHAT SHALL THE END BE? + + +Is it possible to prescribe a remedy for war? We know that law, +unsupported by force, cannot be substituted for war. We know that war +will obey no law other than that of necessity, and, consequently, that +the settling of national differences at an international court of +conciliatory arbitration is not workable. We know that no nation will +abide by the dictates of any such court when those dictates are opposed +to its interests, unless that court has the power to enforce its +decrees. + +We know, then, that an international court of arbitration can dispense +only such justice as may be consistent with the interests and +necessities of the nations possessing the power to dominate that court; +therefore, we know that the greatest measure of justice and the greatest +security for peace that may be expected are only what may be pledged by +the union of a majority of the great nations in a pool of their national +interests and necessities, to maintain such international order as shall +be consistent with the terms of the pool. All other nations outside of +the pool will then be compelled to observe the law of the pooling +nations, because the necessity of keeping peace with these dominant +Powers will be greater than any other necessity. + +The justice that the weaker nations may expect will depend upon the +degree in which their individual interests are the mutual concern of the +larger interests. + +Armies and navies will then become veritable international police +forces, and the necessity for large competitive armaments will be very +greatly lessened. + +There will then be greater security for peace, although this striving +world is not likely soon to be a safe and quiet nesting place for the +dove of peace; because at any time, when the necessities of the pooling +nations shall put too great a strain on the compact, then the pool will +break and war ensue. The great aim of the peoples of the nations should +not be for a Utopian peace based on merely sentimental grounds, but for +a peace secured by so practicable an _entente_ and pact between the +great Powers as shall, entirely aside from sentiment, work for the best +welfare of the world. + +Russian, Teuton, Frenchman, Anglo-Saxon, when you shall have returned +your blood-wet swords to their scabbards, then join hands over-seas with +us Americans, who are kin to all the blood you have spilled, and let us +take serious counsel of one another. + +But, Americans, though we may turn our face toward the morning that +should come, such posturing cannot, any more than the cock's-crow, bring +the morning; and until the great international compact be made, we shall +be able to find safety only by adequate preparation to stand alone +against the dread eventuality of war. + + + + +INDEX + + + Abbott, Dr. Lyman, opinions of war, 52-53. + Aërial bomb: few advantages, many disadvantages of, 205-11. + Aërial Warfare, Chapter VIII, 203. + Aëronautical Society, first annual banquet of, 16. + Aëroplane, served to stimulate development of balloon, 204; + imperfections of first, 204; + advantages over Zeppelin, 214; + less expensive than Zeppelin, 214; + French and German, ordered by U. S., 216-17; + foreign countries possessing, 218-19; + indispensable for location of masked batteries, 219. + Air-craft, chief use of, 213; + the eyes of both army and navy, 219; + a necessity in present-day warfare, 219-20; + lack of, in America, 220-21. + _Alabama_, the, 193. + Alexander the Great, 90. + Alva, Duke of, undertook to kill entire population of Netherlands, 239. + American and British manufacturing works, 76. + Arbitration, international, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42, 46, 306. + Armaments, a safeguard against war, 6, 7, 8, 9. + a small burden in proportion to burden of luxuries, 226; + benefits of, 228; + added employment of labor in construction of, decreases individual + taxation, 231. + Armor-plate, introduction of, 181; + increase in thickness of, 184; + inferior to the gun, 184; + sufficiency of, dependent upon insufficiency of gun to which it is + opposed, 186; + improvements in, 189. + Army, our, strength of, in numbers, 100, 117, 118; + lack of artillery and training in, 102; + ignorance of people as to proper equipment of, 103, 115; + lack of system in, 120; + shortage of officers of, 122, 123; + personnel of our regular, 126; + total enlisted strength of, 126, 127; + mobile strength of, 127; + injustice done officers of, 146; + a standing, one of the strongest fortifications, 294. + Attila, 79. + Automatic magazine-rifle, its effectiveness over old methods of + warfare, 86, 87. + + + Balaklava, the noble Six Hundred at, 102. + Balloon, developed with aëroplane, 204; + modern, 205; + dirigible, has one advantage over aëroplane, 210. + Battle-cruiser, modern, absence of any in U. S., 188; + adopted by foreign countries, 188. + Beatty, Admiral, reports on North Sea fight, 195. + Belgian women, abject condition of, 244, 245. + Bernhardi, extracts from his "How Germany Makes War," 89. + Bessemer steel process introduced by Carnegie, 252. + Bethlehem Steel Company, manufacture of guns and armor-plate, 9, 10, + 76. + Billings, Josh, on ignorance, 23. + Bismarck, 163. + Blatchford, Robert, writer for _The Daily Mail_, quoted, 164-67; + mentioned, 167. + Bliss, E. W., Torpedo Works, 77. + Bloch, M. de, author of "The Future of War," against possibility of + war, 2; + discussed, 93, 95. + _Bluecher_, the, 187. + Bombshells, 185; + dropped from airship not very effective, 209. + "Britannia Rules the Waves," 97. + Buckner, Colonel E. G., vice-president of du Pont Powder Company, 257. + Buffington, General A. R., 200, 201. + + + Cæsar, massacres by, 40; + mentioned, 90, 162. + Can Law Be Substituted for War? Chapter II, 22. + Canal, Panama, 157, 173. + Canning, George, attempts to join England in her open-door policy, 58. + Cannon designed by Mr. Maxim to illustrate advantages of projectiles + of great size, 198; + description of, 198, 199. + Carlyle, quotations from, 49. + Carnegie, Andrew, 68, 290; + his ideas on military defenselessness, 69; + quotation from, 70-71; + his views discussed, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 78, 80; + greatest American armorer, 252. + Chaffee, Lieut.-Gen. Adna R., quotation from, 68. + Charity, evils of, 283, 284, 285, 289; + J. Ellis Barker on, 286; + cat story illustrating evils of mistaken, 286-88; + thrives in time of peace, forgotten in times of war, 291. + Chittenden, Hiram M., his arraignment of war, 267-68. + _Christian Herald, The_, 46. + Colt Patent Firearms, 76. + Congress, dependent upon will of people, 132-33; + has power to dominate Army and Navy, 141; + not qualified to pass judgment on Army and Navy, 144; + neglects to take necessary precautions against war,145; + decides strength of Navy,164; + and the General Board, 168. + Conscription, values of, 136; + enforced in Germany, 136. + Cradock and von Spee, naval battle between, 195. + Cramb, Professor J. A., quotation from, 41. + Cramp Shipbuilding Works, 77. + Cromwell, 90, 163. + Crozier, General William, statement of, 121-22. + Cyrus the Great, 280. + + + Dangerous Criminal Class, A? Chapter XI, 247. + Dangerous Preachments, Chapter I, 1. + De Bange obturator, an American invention, 217. + Dirigibles, foreign countries possessing, 218-19. + Disarmament, repeatedly a failure, 12, 13. + Diseases, germs of, sown by old pioneers, 278. + Dreadnought, evolved by England, 158; + superiority of, recognized by Germany, France, Japan, 158; + not appreciated by American Congress, 158; + cost of, 225. + Du Pont Company, The, 9, 10, 77. + Du Pont, Francis G., eliminated danger in manufacture of + gun-cotton, 257, 258. + + + Economic Club of Boston, 18. + Ego-Fanatic Good Intentions and Their Relation to National Defense, + Chapter X, 235. + Emerson, Ralph Waldo, his opinion about war, 271-72. + Emery, Professor C., quotation from his "Some Economic Aspects of + War," 226. + European War, predicted, 13, 14, 15, 16. + + + Falkland Islands, running fight off, 195. + Fiske, Admiral, quoted, 170. + Formative strife, man as a master, 27, 28, 29. + Franklin, Benjamin, 135-36. + Frederick the Great, 79, 90. + French batteries outrange German, 103. + French Government, maker of its own gunpowder, 262. + Fuel-ships, 170, 171. + "Future of War, The," by M. de Bloch, an argument against + possibility of war, 2. + + + Gardner, Congressman, 128, 161, 169, 216. + Garrison, Secretary of War, interviewed, 100, 101. + Gathmann gun, 208. + General Board of Navy, organized, 160; + headed by General Dewey, 160, 163, 164. + and Congress, 168; + report of, 169. + Germany, government of, 135; + militarism of, 139; + progress in industrial arts and sciences, 139; + superiority of, intellectually, 140; + fight of, with England at North Sea, 195; + standing army of, 225. + Goethals, Colonel, character of, 253-54. + Good and Evil of Peace and of War, The, Chapter XII, 265. + Grant, 90. + Great Powers, 101, 108. + Gun, increase in size and strength, 184; + dependence of, upon armored protection, 187; + high-power naval, most powerful dynamic instrument, 189. + Gunpowder, smokeless, invention and development of, 181; + four times as powerful as black powder, 182. + Guns, field, necessity for, 103, 104; + helplessness of infantry without, 107; + superiority over armor-plate, 196. + + + Haeckel, Ernst, 22. + Hague Congresses, 35. + Haldane, Lord, 128, 164. + Hannibal, 90, 162. + Hannibal's Balearic slingers, 85. + Hanno, 162. + Herodotus, quoted, 281. + Herr Krupp, 252. + Holland submarine boats, 77. + Holy Alliance, formed 1815, 56; + purpose of, 56, 57; + actions of, 57. + Howitzers, German use of, 103; + governmental need of, 201-2; + Germans reported makers of huge, 199. + Huns and Vandals of present day, 31. + + + _Indiana_, the, 156. + Indulgence, statistics of U. S., 225-26. + International Tribunal, 39. + Inventions: + gun-cotton, 257; + multi-perforated grain, 257, 258; + process for successful reworking of smokeless powder, 259; + army rifle, 259; + smokeless rifle-powder, 259; + value to government, 259-60. + breech-loading guns, steam turbine, submarine torpedo boat, + etc., 261. + Isolation, fatal, of U. S., 120. + + + James, William, attitude toward war, 300; + discussed, 301. + Japan, strength increasing, 100. + Japanese, a far-seeing people, 62, 63; + possessors of two powerful + battle-cruisers, 188. + Jefferson, Charles Edward, advocates peace, 19, 20, 247. + _Jéna_, battleship, 263. + Jordan Dr. David Starr, believes in disarmament, 7; + says war materials should be made by government, 7, 9; + opposes war, 11; + quotations from his "War and Waste," 1, 17, 18, 247; + discussed, 93, 95, 240, 301; + paid from Carnegie Peace Foundation, 252. + _Journal of the Royal United Service Institution_, drawings of Mr. + Maxim published in, 199. + + + Kaiser Wilhelm II, quoted, 141. + Kane, Admiral, quoted, 116. + _Kearsarge_, the, 193. + Kitchener, Lord, Muldoon of new English army, 293. + Knight, Admiral Austin M., quoted, 150-54, 155, 171, 173-74. + + + Lake Submarine Torpedo Boat Works, 77. + _La Liberté_, battleship, 263. + Language of the Big Guns, Chapter VII, 181. + Law, substitution of, for War, 31-32; + inadequacy of, 34; + must be backed by force, 36. + Lea, General Homer, quotations from, 33, 63, 64, 68, 228-29. + Lee, 90. + Lincoln, Abraham, 163. + Lowell, James Russell, quotation from his poem, 44, 45. + + + Machinery, modern, labor-saving, 81, 82, 83; + a strong factor in a nation's preparedness for war, 87; + expense of, 87, 96; + a means of shortening length of war, 88; + assists the soldier in battle, 90; + saves human life, 92. + Mahan, Admiral, 46; + quoted, 67. + Manufactories of munitions of war, unprotected, 77, 78. + Marat, a pacific moralist, 238. + Marius, military genius of, 162. + Marlborough, 90. + Marlin Firearms Works, 76. + "Marseillaise," 97. + Martel, Charles, 90, 162. + _Massachusetts_, the, 156. + Maxim, Hudson, his proposition of throwing large charges of explosives + from big guns criticised, 200; + inventor of multi-perforated grain, 257, 258. + Maximite, first trial of, 201; + first explosive successfully fired through armor-plate, 201. + Medici, Catherine de', 238. + Mendeléeff, told how to colloid gun-cotton, 257. + _Merrimac_, the, 181, 184, 185, 192, 193. + Meyer, G. von L., ex-Secretary of Navy, 135, 143, 175; + quoted, 176-80. + Militia, lack of batteries in, 119; + lack of officers in, 120; + actual strength of, 127. + Modern Methods and Machinery of War, Chapter IV, 68. + _Monitor_, Ericsson's, 158, 181, 192, 193; + victory over _Merrimac_, 184, 185; + inferior to modern battleships, 193; + developed into super-dreadnought by Europeans, 217; + builders of, inspired by spirit of patriotism, 255; + tardy acceptance of, by government, 256. + Monroe Doctrine, proclaimed, 56; + actual formulator of, John Quincy Adams, 58; + inconsistencies of, 60, 62; + General Lea on, 63-4; + England's attitude toward, 65; + an Anglo-American compact, 66. + Monroe, President, declaration of, 58-9. + Montesquieu, quoted, 281. + Mukden, battle of, 249. + Müller, Max, 41. + Multi-perforated grain, invented by Mr. Maxim, 198. + Murray Hill Hotel, explosion in front of, 209-10. + + + Napoleon, 40, 45, 57, 79, 89, 118, 162, 163; + his "_Que messieurs les assassins commencent_," 54. + Navy, U. S., Admiral Knight on the, 150-54; + necessity for superiority in, 155; + gradually slipping back, 158; + inadequate, 99, 100; + constituents for a proper, 170, 171. + waste of money appropriated for, 175. + Needs of Our Army, The, Chapter V, 113. + Needs of Our Navy, The, Chapter VI, 141. + New York Arsenal, 77. + New York _Times_, quoted, 144-45. + + + O'Neil, Admiral Charles, 200. + _Oregon_, the, 156. + Our Armaments Not a Burden, Chapter IX, 222. + Our Inconsistent Monroe Doctrine, Chapter III, 56. + + + Parker, Professor G. H., quoted, 290. + Patent Office, inventions received by, increasing, 260. + Peace, conference, 18; + praters, advocates, and prophets of, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 108, 247; + falseness of position of pacifiers toward, 109, 110, 235, 236, + 237, 241, 242, 248, 249, 250, 253, 256, 257, 266; + Bible and, 49, 50; + sophists, 109, 262, 267, 274, 275; + tends more to degeneracy and national decay than war, 280. + Peter the Great, architect of Russia, 163. + Picatinny Arsenal, 76. + Plato, on war, 265. + Pratt and Whitney Works, 76. + Projectiles, power and weight of, 183; + improvements in, 188-89; + distance most efficient protection from, 192; + larger ones lose less velocity than smaller, 195-96. + + + _Queen Elizabeth_, the, latest and most powerful type of dreadnought, + 175. + + + Remington Small Arms Works, 76. + Report of the Chief of Ordnance, 1914, 125. + Report of the Chief of Staff, 128. + Roberts, Lord, 128, 129. + Robespierre, a noted pacifist, 238. + Roosevelt, Theodore, quotations from, 3, 5, 43; + caliber of, 143. + Royal United Service Institution of Great Britain, 197. + Ruskin, John, on war, 269-71. + Russia, Czar of, 96. + Russian "Monroe Doctrine," 57. + Russo-Japanese War, predicted, 13. + + + Salisbury, Lord, quoted, 235. + Santiago, battle of, 195. + Savage Arms Works, 76. + _Scientific American_, quoted, 121; 124-25; + mentioned, 159. + Scriptures, quotations from, 49, 50, 51, 52. + Secretary of Army and Secretary of Navy, 141, 142; + should not be treated politically, 142. + Secretary of War, 141. + Sheridan, 90. + Sherman, his famous declaration about war, 244. + Smith and Wesson Revolver Works, 76. + Smokeless cannon-powder, invented by Mr. Maxim, 197-98. + Smokeless multi-perforated powder, adopted by U. S. Government, 218. + Socialists take part in war, 97. + South American republics and the United States, 60, 61. + Sparta, ancient, power of government in, 136. + Speed, of supreme importance in naval engagements, 196-97. + Spencer, Herbert, philosopher, 19, 23, 30, 229, 245. + Spottsylvania Court House, battle of, 146. + Stead, William T., recommends that British Parliament build two + battleships to every one built by Germany, 18. + Steel Trust, 10. + Stockton, Mr. Richard, Jr., quoted, 139, 227; + his book on "Peace Insurance," quotations from, 295-99. + Strong, Dr., President of American Institute of Social Service, 54, + 299. + Sullivan, John L., fighter, 19, 172. + Sumner, William Graham, quotation from, 56. + Swiss system of military training, 134, 137, 138, 291. + + + Talmage, Rev. T. de Witt, 47. + Tennyson, 31. + Torquemada, 238. + Tupper, Sir Charles, 65. + Twain, Mark, 24. + + + Union Metallic Cartridge Works, 76. + United States Army, powder works of, 76. + United States Arsenal, 76. + United States Naval Torpedo Station, 77. + United States Steel Corporation, 9. + United States, a world-power, 149, 157. + Upton, General Emory, prophetic speech of, 116. + + + _Vesuvius_, the, 209. + Victory, naval, dependent upon weight of broadsides, 104; + land, upon weight of gun-fire, 104. + Vieille, producer of gun-cotton, 257. + + + "Wacht am Rhein," 97. + War, ex-President Taft's views on, 16; + China's, 16; + Italian, with Tripoli, 16; + Balkan, 16; + Mexican, 17; + European, 17, 103, 232, 233; + Dr. Jordan's views on, 17-18; + when justifiable, 42, 43, 45; + and Christianity, 46-55; + Civil, 85, 86, 87, 90, 302, 305; + Boer, 103; + Spanish, 158, 221; + as an art, 172; + of 1812, 221; + advantages of, 270, 271, 272, 273; + survival of fittest in, 274; + mixer of races, 274; + remedy for? 306-308. + War materials, manufacture of, by government and private + individuals, 9, 10, 251, 252; + manufacturers of, actuated by honorable principles, 255. + Washington, George, opinion of war, 84, 85. + Winchester Repeating Arms and Cartridge Works, 76. + Woman's Peace Party, resolutions of, 239-40; + mistaken ideas of, 241, 242; + bravery of, if war should come, 242, 243, 244; + inconsistency of, 244. + Wood, General Leonard, 118, 134. + letter from, 113-15; + quotation from, 129, 130, 131, 132. + Wright Brothers, encouraged abroad, 216; + Wright Brothers, mentioned, 219. + Wyndeer, Sir William, 235. + + + Zalinski pneumatic gun, 200. + Zeppelin, subject of guess-work, 204; + speed of, 205; + little accuracy in bomb-dropping from, 211; + an enormous target, 211; + more expensive than aëroplane, 213; + use as troop-ship yet to be proven, 214; + advantages over aëroplane, 215; + important use in detection of submarines, 215; + not one in U. S., 218. + + + + +PRAISE FROM PATRIOTS + +Extracts From a Few of Hundreds of Letters Praising HUDSON MAXIM'S +DEFENSELESS AMERICA + + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT: + + "'Defenseless America' is a capital book. I hope it will have + the widest possible circulation throughout our country. The + prime duty for this nation is to prepare itself so that it can + protect itself; and this is the duty that you are preaching in + your admirable volume." + + OSCAR S. STRAUS: + + "'Defenseless America', coming from an expert, will awaken + interest in the most practical method of securing peace by + safeguarding our national existence. I am in fullest accord + with your Conclusion--an international compact with adequate + international force to maintain it, and give adequate guarantee + to enforce its decrees." + + S. S. MCCLURE: + + "A most convincing book on an extraordinarily important + subject, done in a manner not only convincing but irrefutable." + + REAR-ADMIRAL CHARLES D. SIGSBEE: + + "I should not have said that the subject could be treated in a + way to make it fascinating to the popular reader, yet I now + think that is precisely what you have done. May the book bear + good fruit!" + + GARRETT P. SERVISS: + + "'Defenseless America' ought to go into the hands of ten + million American citizens before another month passes. You have + done a magnificent thing for your country! In God's name, may + she turn from the silly twaddle of the pacifist wiseacres, and + save herself, even on the crumbling verge!" + + GEORGE VON LENGERKE MEYER: + + "It will go a great ways toward aiding the people of this + country to realize the necessity of a proper national defense + and a preparedness against war." + + MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN: + + "I wish that every official in the land could read it." + + DR. ORISON SWETT MARDEN: + + "A colossal, monumental treatment of the subject." + + FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT: + + "You have brought the whole question of National Defense to a + basis which can be readily understood by the average layman." + + LIEUT. BARON HROLF VON DEWITZ: + + "In 'Defenseless America' you explode a crater of information + on the subject such as has never been detonated before." + + COL. BEVERLEY W. DUNN: + + "I wish to congratulate you on the conspicuous and valuable + service that you have rendered the people of the United States + in writing this book." + + DR. E. C. BECK: + + "I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this + masterpiece of revelation on your part, this opus which I look + upon in the nature of an historical event. May the Lord use + your book to pound a little sense into our fellow citizens." + + REV. J. F. STILLEMANS: + + "I am only one of thousands who would welcome an edition as + cheap as possible of 'Defenseless America' so that we could + distribute it freely." + + CLEVELAND MOFFETT: + + "'Defenseless America' is great stuff and ought to be read by + every loyal American." + + W. SIDNEY JOPSON: + + "The direct results of reading 'Defenseless America' were that + I went to Plattsburg and applied for admission in our National + Guard." + + + + +PRAISE FROM EDITORS + +No Serious Book Has Ever Been More Highly Praised by the Leading +Newspapers of America. + + + PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC LEDGER: + + "A book by an expert in modern armament who writes with graphic + power what he knows better than anyone in this country--a + solemn warning." + + NEW YORK AMERICAN: + + "No book issued on the subject marshals with equal skill so + great an array of facts as Mr. Maxim's volume. In the present + state of national thought upon our military and naval needs + this book is most valuable." + + WASHINGTON STAR: + + "In origin and treatment this is a surpassing study whose sheer + information, apart from its personal conclusions, is worth the + serious attention, not only of the legislator, but of the plain + man behind the lawmaker." + + DETROIT FREE PRESS: + + "Hudson Maxim makes a call to arms against war. Here is an + argument for proper armament from a man who not only foretold + the Japanese war and named the victor, but also prophesied the + present conflict and by knowledge and study of world's + conditions knows what he is talking about and makes his warning + timely." + + LOS ANGELES TIMES: + + "A powerful book on an imminent and national problem that every + thinking citizen should read with care." + + BOSTON TRANSCRIPT: + + "Shows how it is safer for a country like the United States + with so large a territory to defend, to prepare, so that no + foreign nation will be anxious to try a struggle with us. The + peace of the United States will then rest on a firm + foundation." + + BALTIMORE SUN: + + "The book is brilliantly written, with the severity of one who + intensely desires to drive a truth home and with the assurance + of one who feels his statistics unassailable and his arguments + unanswerable. He is supported by many witnesses whose knowledge + must be respected. There is no smallness in the writer's + attitude. He appears to feel intensely his mission as prophet + and patriot." + + CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER: + + "Here is a man, frankly interested in war, who seems utterly + honest in his beliefs. The book contains an expert elucidation + of the weaknesses of the American army and navy. It has + practical suggestions for improvement. It is, in fact, a + complete text book for the student of American preparedness or + unpreparedness, written, of course, in a sincerely ex parte + manner." + + BROOKLYN CITIZEN: + + "The book should be read and studied carefully by every lover + of his country." + + LEWISTON JOURNAL: + + "'Defenseless America' is a ringing and insistent call, + calculated to startle the average American out of his peaceful + and complacent sense of security." + + NEW YORK PRESS: + + "The book is interesting--as interesting as a well-written and + absorbing novel, only it deals with vital facts that have a + bearing on the lives and fortunes of every one in this + country." + + THE OUTLOOK: + + "We wish that we could think that those who are opposed to any + preparation against war by this country would read and consider + this book of Mr. Hudson Maxim." + + LIFE, N. Y.: + + "One of the early lumber-camp tales ended with a stirring scene + in which a big, sandy-haired hero, caught in the path of a + bursting log jam, hurls his cap defiantly into the advancing + wall of destruction, just before it whelms him. Such a gesture, + futile yet magnificent, is suggested by Hudson Maxim's fiery + appeal to the sleeping intelligence and lulled self-interest of + his countrymen, 'Defenseless America.' The book contains a + remorseless marshaling of stern facts, fused into prophecy by a + sort of incandescent logic. It is the first bold proclaiming of + the bitter 'civilization' truths revealed by the vast + disillusionment of the war. And these are here flung, as the + author feels, into the face of approaching national disaster." + + THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: + + "The scope of 'Defenseless America' is so all-embracing, that the + author has given a veritable mine of information upon the subject + of war and war material. Mr. Maxim is well qualified by his long + and successful association, as a practical and successful inventor, + with the production of the implements of war, to write upon the + technical side of the question; and this he does with a + characteristic force and lucidity which will render the subject + perfectly understandable and full of fascinating interest for the + average layman." + + REVIEW OF REVIEWS: + + "A graphic and effective presentation of facts revealing the + defenseless condition of this country and indicating what must be + done to avert national humiliation." + + + "THIS POWERFUL BOOK HAS JARRED + AMERICAN COMPLACENCY AS NO + OTHER BOOK HAS + EVER DONE" + + From The New York American + +One of the most remarkable men of our time has written a book--and the +book is probably the most startling document ever placed before the +American people. Its author is Hudson Maxim, world-famous inventor, +writer on many topics of public interest, member of the Naval Advisory +Board--and an American patriot. + +His book, called "Defenseless America," has fallen among the complacent, +the self-satisfied, the careless and the indifferent like a +seventeen-inch shell. + +It is a pitiless book--pitiless in its facts, pitiless in its logic, +pitiless in its conclusions. + +Mr. Maxim knows what he is writing about; he is one of the greatest +authorities on military affairs in the world. His book has the cold +steel precision of truth. + +He shows that all wars have economic causes, no matter how they are +painted over with sentiment. And he demonstrates that one of the most +urgent economic incentives to war that has ever existed will be the +relative condition of Europe and the United States at the close of the +Great War. + +Imagine the victors of this gigantic conflict--Allies or +Teutons--impoverished in money and resources, with the most colossal +public debt in the world's history hanging over them, but possessing an +enormous army of trained veterans and a world-beating navy. + +Then, on this side of the Atlantic, a nation that thinks it "can whip +all creation," and acts on that principle--a hundred million over-fed, +money-making people, nine-tenths of whom could not load a modern +infantry rifle if they should ever happen to see one; a country of +countless dollars protected by obsolete battleships and submarines that +can neither float nor sink; a nation rich but undefended, confident but +weak, dictatorial in manner but powerless in action. + +America sits on an open powder barrel. Will the Victors of the Great War +apply the match? + +Get this stirring and tremendous book, and read what will happen--in Mr. +Maxim's own words. He will tell you where the match will be applied, +what points in controversy will bring on the collision--and then what +will take place with startling swiftness. + +And-- + +He tells what may be done, even at this late day, for effective defense. + + * * * * * + +As Mr. Maxim has cut out all royalty, publishers are thereby enabled to +furnish a special edition of the book, of which this volume is a sample, +at only fifty cents a copy. + +The book may be obtained of or ordered through any bookstore, or the +publishers, Hearst's International Library Company, 119 West 40th +Street, New York, will send it postage-paid to any address for sixty +cents, or ten copies in a single package for five dollars--fifty cents a +copy. The library edition, superior paper and binding, may still be had +at two dollars a copy. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Defenseless America, by Hudson Maxim + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEFENSELESS AMERICA *** + +***** This file should be named 39893-8.txt or 39893-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/8/9/39893/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Katie Hernandez and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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