Our National Defense: The Patriotism of Peace Part 1

Our National Defense.

by George Hebard Maxwell.

PREFATORY NOTE

_Ammunition_ is necessary to win a battle. Where it is a great _Battle for Peace_, to be fought with pen and voice, the ammunition needed is _facts_.

Whenever the people of the United States know the _facts_ relating to the subject to which this book is devoted, _then what it advocates will be done_. Much fault has been found with Congress because of the country's unpreparedness. Congress is not at fault. "The stream cannot rise higher than the fountain." The will of the people is the law. The people of this nation are unalterably opposed to a big Standing Army. When they know that the safety of the nation can be a.s.sured without either the cost or the menace of militarism, the people will demand that it be done, and Congress will register that popular decree, gladly and willingly. It is not at all surprising that Congress does not yield to the clamor of the militarists when they know the adverse sentiment of the people on that subject.

President Schurman of Cornell recently said:

"It would be self-deception of the grossest character if Americans made their love of peace the criterion of the military policy and preparedness of their country. It would be madness to enfeeble and imperil the United States because we believe peace the chief blessing of the nations."

All that is true. But when the problem is a.n.a.lyzed _there is no other way that can be devised_, except that proposed in this book, that will safeguard the nation against foreign attack or invasion, and do it _adequately_, without incurring stupendous cost or creating a menace to liberty. Americans are a brave people, but they have a hereditary aversion to the clank of a saber in time of peace.

There are a few books that every one who wishes to master the subject should read. First among these is "Fields, Factories and Workshops," by Prince Kropotkin, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. A new edition of this book has been recently issued which costs only seventy-five cents.

"The Iron in the Blood" is a chapter in "The Coming People," by Charles F.

Dole, published by T. Y. Crowell & Co. of New York. A reprint of this book can be had for twenty-five cents from the Rural Settlements a.s.sociation.

"The Secret of Nippon's Power" is another pertinent article, in "The First Book of the Homecrofters." A new and enlarged edition of this book will soon be issued. In the meantime copies of the first edition can be had for twenty-five cents from the Rural Settlements a.s.sociation.

More has been accomplished in Duluth, Minnesota, to prove the benefits of the Homecroft Life than in any other City in the United States. A special publication, descriptive of the Homecroft Work in Duluth, and a pamphlet by George H. Maxwell ent.i.tled, "The Cost of Living," which shows the relation to that subject of the Homecroft System of Education and Life, can be obtained by sending ten cents in stamps to the Rural Settlements a.s.sociation, Cotton Exchange Building, New Orleans, La.

The legislative machinery necessary to inaugurate the plans for work to be done through the Forest Service and the Reclamation Service is all provided for in the Newlands-Broussard River Regulation Bill. That bill provides for river regulation, flood prevention, land reclamation and settlement, and the establishment of forest plantations in all parts of the United States.

It also brings the departments of the national government into coordinating by forming the Board of River Regulation. Through that board, all necessary plans would be worked out for coordinating other departments with the War Department, and completing the organization of the National Construction Reserve and the Homecroft Reserve. When perfected, those plans would be presented to Congress with a recommendation for their enactment.

Those who favor the plan advocated in this book are urged to concentrate their influence first on the pa.s.sage of that bill as the entering-wedge to the ultimate adoption of the entire plan. They are also urged to do all in their power to enlist the active interest of their friends by inducing them to study the subject and _get the facts_.

Copies of the Newlands-Broussard River Regulation Bill and explanatory printed matter may be had without charge by writing to the National Reclamation a.s.sociation, 331 Maryland Building, Washington, D. C.

This book, OUR NATIONAL, DEFENSE--THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE, has been published by the Rural Settlements a.s.sociation. The price of the book is $1.25, including postage, and orders for copies, with remittance for that amount, should be sent to Rural Settlements a.s.sociation, Cotton Exchange Building, New Orleans, La.

GEORGE H. MAXWELL, _Executive Director_, Rural Settlements a.s.sociation, National Reclamation a.s.sociation.

FOREWORD

_Would it interest you to know_ that the people of the United States, having first blindfolded themselves with the self-complacence of ignorance, are walking along the crest of a ridge with a precipice on one side falling sheer into the abyss of devastation by war with an invading foreign power, while on the other side boils the seething crater of a social volcano?

If so, _you will be convinced of that fact_, if you will carefully and thoughtfully read this book through from cover to cover; and _you will also be convinced_ that the only road to safety is that pointed out in this book.

Would you not feel that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

when reflecting on the ease with which any of the Great European Powers could _again_ occupy and burn Washington, as it was burned in 1814, and capture and levy an enormous indemnity upon New York?

Would you contemplate with indifference and equanimity _the annexation of the Pacific Coast of the United States to j.a.pan_?

Has it occurred to you that, unless we wake up, mend our ways and change our national policy, war is ultimately as inevitable between the United States and j.a.pan as it has been for years between France and Germany?

_Would it interest you to know_ that in the event of such a war the j.a.panese would be found fully prepared, while we are utterly unprepared; and that j.a.pan would, within ten days, mobilize an army in California large enough to insure to them its military control; and that within four weeks thereafter they would land an army of 200,000 veteran soldiers on the Pacific coast?

_Would it interest you to know_ that in such an emergency our navy would be impotent to check this occupation and invasion, and that our so-called but now confessedly misnamed coast defenses would be about as much protection as a large load of alfalfa hay; and that as part of this military occupancy by j.a.pan of the territory lying between the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountains and the Pacific Ocean, the j.a.panese would dynamite every tunnel, destroy the Colorado River railroad bridges, and fortify the mountain pa.s.ses; and that the recapture of one pa.s.s by the United States would be a more difficult military undertaking for us than was the capture of Port Arthur or Tsing-Tao by the j.a.panese?

_Would it interest you to know_ that the very real danger that California, Western Oregon, and Western Washington may be annexed to j.a.pan and a thousand miles of deserts and inaccessible mountain ranges, instead of the Pacific Ocean, separate j.a.pan from the United States, is a danger that exists because not one in ten thousand of the people of the United States will give the slightest heed to this question, which overshadows in importance every other question affecting the people of the United States?

_Would it interest you to know_ that there is just as much, and more, danger that the desolating flames of war may sweep over and devastate Southern California as there was that they might sweep over and devastate Belgium? You doubtless will say, "That is impossible!" You would have said the same thing a year ago about Belgium, with much more of a.s.surance and positive conviction.

_Would it interest you to know_ that the doing of the things that would insure peace forever between the United States and j.a.pan, as well as all European nations, would at the same time end all danger from the ravages of destructive floods, stop forest fires, perpetuate our forest resources, preserve the forest and woodland cover on our watersheds, create a great national system of inland waterways, reclaim every reclaimable acre of arid or swamp and overflow land in the United States, and reduce the cost of living by doubling the agricultural production of this country within ten years?

_Would it interest you to know_ that the doing of the same things would end child labor, end woman labor in factories, end unemployment, end the whole mult.i.tude of evil and vicious influences that are degenerating humanity and deteriorating the race in the congested cities of this country, and safeguard the United States against the internal as well as the external dangers that now menace its future welfare?

_Would it interest you to know_ that the doing of those same things would inaugurate an era of business prosperity, based on human welfare and advancement, instead of on human exploitation, and would insure the perpetuity of that prosperity?

_Would it interest you to know_ that the things which it is proposed shall be done by the United States have already been done, practically and successfully, by Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand; and that they can and will be done in this country whenever the people wake up and decide to do something for themselves instead of waiting for somebody else to do it for them.

If you doubt any of the foregoing statements, _read the book_; and you will be convinced of their _absolute truth_ and you will be appalled at the magnitude of the preventable calamity that menaces the people of the United States solely because of their heedlessness, indifference, and refusal to face facts.

OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE

THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE

CHAPTER I

_Shall there be an end of war, and of all danger or possibility of war in the future, not only in this, but in all other countries, and shall we have universal peace on earth through all the coming centuries?_

That is the most momentous question that has ever confronted any nation in the history of the world. The United States of America stands face to face with it to-day, and can answer the question in the affirmative, if the people of this country so determine.

On their decision depends, not only the safety and perpetuity of this nation, and the welfare of our own people, but the welfare of all the other nations and peoples of the earth as well, through all future time.

_The question will have been answered in the affirmative whenever the plan proposed in this book shall have been adopted by the people of the United States._

Its adoption will strengthen every plan that can be devised to prevent war.

It will vitalize the influence of this nation in behalf of peace.