Читать книгу Our National Defense: The Patriotism of Peace - George Hebard Maxwell - Страница 3

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

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

Would you not feel that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" when reflecting on the ease with which any of the Great European Powers could again occupy and burn Washington, as it was burned in 1814, and capture and levy an enormous indemnity upon New York?

Would you contemplate with indifference and equanimity the annexation of the Pacific Coast of the United States to Japan?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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