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Editorial Section. Hearsfs Sunday American, Atlanta, June 13, 1915
Copyright. 1915, by 8tar Company. Great
Britain Rights Reserved.
OOK at this picture, please, and
think for a while about your
own country.
John Wesley, looking at the
drunkard in the' gutter, said:
“But for the grace of God,
there lies John Wesley.”
Any one of us Americans might look at this
picture of the Chinese giant handcuffed by the
dwarf and say: ‘ ‘ But for the grace of God, there
sits Uncle Sam handcuffed.”
The war in Europe has taught us at least not
to sneer at war or the dangers of war.
We know what has happened to nations that
were unprepared, or too weak to prepare.
We see, across the Pacific Ocean, what hap
pened to the greatest nation of Asia, the biggest
nation on the earth, counting biggness by popu
lation.
China obeys the orders of little Japan because
the Japanese, watching, studying and CAPABLE
OF LEARNING A LESSON, have kept them
selves prepared and ready.
Little by little, Japan takes what she wants
from China.
If she has not yet taken ALL, and made the
huge helpless empire absolutely a slave, it is be
cause Japan as yet fears public opinion in other
countries.
China facing Japan is as helpless as would be
a ONE THOUSAND pound cow with both hind
legs broken facing a panther weighing NINETY
pounds. The BIGNESS of the cow doesn’t save
it, with its bulk and its broken legs. And the
littleness of the panther does not interfere with
absolute victory.
# * *
This nation is cursed with conceit and with the
foolish, weak-minded notion, “everything will
be all right.” And therein lies the nation’s dan-
ger.
For instance, one of the leading newspapers of
the United States says: “One fairly good argu
ment for peace with this country is its last cen
sus report.”
In what way. we ask, is a big census report any
“good argument for peace?”
It is as easy for a hostile fleet to approach an
unprotected coast inhabited by one hundred mil
lions as it is to approach an unprotected coast
inhabited by one orphan.
It is as easy for well armed, well trained
troops with repeating rifles and rapid fire guns to
march through ten million unarmed men as it is
to march through fifty.
To say that this nation will be let alone by the
others and remain at peace because of its BIG
CENSUS is as wise as it would be for some self-
satisfied shoat to say: “The wolf will never dare
touch me when he sees how fat I am.”
Big population, great wealth, have nothing
whatever to do with safety.
China has population—infinitely more than
we have. But her “big census” doesn’t seem to
have been much of a guarantee of peace. There
she sits as you see her in this picture, handcuffed
by the little dwarf nation that had the brains to
be prepared and ready.
Our big population, our “last census” would
mean nothing whatever to a nation planning an
attack upon us.
Big population in our case means wealth,
crowds of unarmed people, easily disposed of.
The BIGGER the wealth and the bigger the
census, the greater the temptation to attack when
a nation is unprepared.
* * *
Certain citizens, certain public officials will
resent the intimation that any danger threatens
this country or could threaten it.
Many will drift along placidly, as the quiet,
peaceful, helpless'crowds of China drifted—until
the day of trouble came.
But SOME of the inhabitasts of this country
have learned a lesson taught by Europe, and un
derstand the meaning of this picture.
Those who realize what has happened to China,
and the long line of dead nations that let them
selves drift defenceless, realize what might hap
pen to THIS country, and they will continue to
emphasize truths, and the needs of our nation.
* * #
A nation unprepared, unarmed, is defenceless
Rgainst an infinitely smaller nation that is ready.
The bigger and richer the nation, the greater the
temptation to attack.
The oceans on both sides of us, do not and will
not protect us, unless WE ARE ABLE TO PRO
TECT OURSELVES ON THE OCEAN.
There is no law of decency, right or justice,
that has any meaning, once war begins—Europe
lias taught us that. ^
The money saved now by a narrow policy of
foolishness, weakness, and false security, is as
nothing compared with the vast sums that would
be recklessly squandered and boldly stolen from
the country, if once war threatened.
Moderate expenditure NOW, the building of a
great fighting navy that would make attack ridi
culous, a*uJ. the building of a great government
Reprinted from tbe Columbus Evening Disp atch.
Pity Also Your Own Nation, the United States. What the Japanese Dwarf Has Done
to the Chinese Giant, an Enemy Equally Well Prepared Might Do to the UNPREPARED
Lmited States of America.
No Matter How Big You May Be, or Powerful, the Right Kind of Handcuffs Will
Hold You Tight.
China Is BIG Enough to Swallow Japan, the Foolish Would Say. But Japan Is
INTELLIGENT Enough to Be READY, So Huge China Is Her Slave. And the Little
Brown Dwarf Rules the Great Helpless Empire.
Our Compliments to the Editor and the Artist of the Columbus Evening Dispatch for
Their Idea and Their Picture, Reproduced Here. We Are Glad to Give Them Credit. We
Render a Public Service in Republishing in Two Million Copies of the Hearst Sunday
Newspapers This Excellent and Much Needed Cartoon.
owned COMMERCIAL navy, that would be self
supporting and overwhelmingly powerful, would
cost a small sum—compared with the useless waste
that would follow the first hint of serious war.
Our financiers tell Us that we have ill the
United States just now a surplus capital of
THREE THOUSAND MILLIONS.
For the moment we are at peace, because thou
sands of miles of water separate us from those
that are fighting and from those that might at
tack us.
Perhaps you will say that Europe never
WOULD unite against us. You may say that
after this war European nations will be so weak
ened as to want peace. Or you wall say that there
is no chance that any one nation in Europe will
come out victorious and powerful enough to con
template attacking us.
You may be wrong, and you may be right
about Europe—you are probably wrong.
* * *
BUT WHAT ABOUT ASIA?
You observe in this picture what the Japanese
dwarf is doing, while the nations that might regu
late him are fighting, and while we sit idle.
He is making himself lord of Asia—and that
is a big country.
He is making himself supreme ruler of hun
dreds of millions of Chinese and other Asiatic
peoples—and that is a big crowd.
He will know how to arm and use the Chinese
millions that are now helpless, because UN
ARMED.
He will know how to organize and use for
ships, the vast, half developed Asiatic wealth.
Did you observe the very small cable dispatch
in the newspapers the other day saying that while
Europe is fighting, and America selling war
material, “JAPAN IS FEVERISHLY ENGAGED
IN SHIP BUILDING, AND HAS NOW UNDER
WAY 168,000 TONS OF SHIPPING?”
The Japanese are not building ships for
AMUSEMENT, or because they are fond of salt
air. The same desperate energy that the little
people has always shown is at work now.
At the San Francisco Exposition you may see
the wonderful ships moved by hand power that
the Japanese nobles built for battle years ago,
before they knew anything about Europe, before
they had heard of steam.
All the bottled up energy of centuries now let
loose in Japan goes now into steamship building,
army drilling, preparing for war, subduing China,
making one great JAPANESE RULED empire of
Asia, its wealth and its millions.
Why do you think Japan works in this way?
♦ * *
We Americans feel safe, peaceful and con
ceited, as we sell to Europe tools with which they
murder each other, and as we say to ourselves,
“We are too big to be in danger.”
We would feel differently if we knew that
Japan, representing all Asia, all the yellow people,
«
had decided that the moment had arrived to make
the attack, to make both sides of the Pacific
Japanese.
Do you say that she could not land? Indeed,
she MIGHT.
At present she has a treaty of friendship with
England, and fighting Germany in the East, look
ing after Germans there, she has earned English
gratitude.
Suppose that England should come out of this
great war victorious, tired and, naturally enough,
coldly indifferent to the United States? In her
heart she feels that we ought to have been fight
ing with her, and resents our neutrality
Suppose England and her Allies were vic
torious in Europe, suppose that little Japan, ruling
and using China, should say to the English, “We
helped YOU. The least you can do is sit still
while we go over and take the conceit out of
Uncle Sam.”
Do you think the English would offer any
great opposition to that suggestion?
Do you think the English would be any more
worried by news of what tbe Japanese were
planning, or doing, to us. than we have been
worried about the attacks upon England?
Could we blame the English if they said, “We
are sorry, but we must remain severely neutral,
as you did?”
Could we expect, could we be quite sure that
the English would use all their energies to keep
the Japanese from attacking us across the Cana
dian border?
And have we any reason to believe that the
Japanese, “feverishly building ships,” would have
much trouble persuading the Mexicans to let them
land and attack us on the MEXICAN border?
* * *
We don’t war with ANYBODY.
And we NEED not have war with anybody, if
we do not WILL to have it.
ALL THAT WE NEED IS TO BE PRE
PARED?
China is ten times the size of Japan, but there
was never any danger of China attacking Japan,
was there?
JAPAN WAS READY.
This nation in wealth, in size (and in intelli
gence, when it takes the trouble to think), ii
big enough to take care of itself, if it will taka
the trouble to BE READY.
But we must have a great commercial navy,
huge freight ships, fast mail and passenger ships
on the inland waters.
This great commercial navy, carrying our
trade, making us independent of the world, unit
ing the peoples of North and South America,
MUST BE OWNED BY THE GOVERNMENT,
BY THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY.
President Wilson has said in a message, which
is welcome, although not very emphatic, that if
private enterprises does NOT attend to the sup
plying of a commercial navy for this country the
Government must do it.
“Private enterprise” is INCAPABLE of at
tending to the work.
Private enterprise could not build a Panama
Canal, private enterprise could not run the post
office of this nation. PRIVATE ENTERPRISE
COULD NEVER SUPPLY US WITH THE SHIPS
THAT WE WANT, COMMERCIAL OR OTHER
WISE.
We ought to have a thousand huge Govern
ment owned ships, and then another thousand
carrying all our freight coastwise and across the
ocean.
We need this great government-owned com
mercial navy to be manned by Government offi
cers, by seamen well paid and well trained and
interested in their country. We need also a great
FIGHTING NAVY, in which the officers 'of the
commercial navy will be trained and the men, the
gunners, taught the art of warfare and well paid
for learning it.
Our Government-owned commercial navy
would pay for itself, pay easily the interest that
the Government pays for borrowed money, and
enough more to meet the cost of the fighting navy.
« « «
The great fighting navy that we need, a navy
that should not be “ALMOST equal to ENG
LAND’S,” but GREATER THAN ANY ON
EARTH, could well be paid for with a fraotion
of the money that would immediately be squan
dered, spent in foolish panio, and stolen by cun
ning “statesmen” if we were near war.
Can you imagine the orgy of extravagance
and expenditure that would come if war from
United Asia, or war from an all oonquering power
of Europe threatened us to-day?
How long would it take for honest, panio-
stricken fools in public office, and DISHONEST
cunning rascals in office to squander that “three
thousand millions of national surplus cash?”
We’d soon spend that and borrow three thou
sand millions more.
How bitterly should we regTet our stupidity
in drifting into the situation of this miserable
Chinese giant in the picture.
Mr. Patrick Gallagher, editor of the Far East
ern Bureau, sent to us an extremely interesting
cartoon, cut from a Chinese paper of Shanghai,
the Eastern Times.
The Chinese characters on the cartoon, which
shows a defenseless land and a rising sun, read
as follows:
“The ‘Rising Sun’ is three rods above the
horizon. Yet, still the people sleep behind their
closed doors. Patriots 1 Heroes! Wake up I
Wake up!”
China now calls upon patriots and heroes to
wake up. But it is too late. THE HANDCUFFS
ARE ALREADY ON THE GIANT.
Common sense calls to the people of the
United States to wake up, to make themselves
ready, to learn the lesson of Europe.
May we not imitate the Chinese in dull stupid
ity. as well as in population and size, and wait
until it is too late?
A GREAT COMMERCIAL NAVY OWNED
BY THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY.
THE GREATEST FIGHTING NAVY IN
THE WORLD—give those things to the United
States, and we can go about our business, grow
ing in prosperity, working for the final peace
among the nations that is bound to come, INFLU
ENTIAL BECAUSE WE HAVE POWER, and
are really secure.