The noise of our jingoes and the alarming articles in some of our newspapers about America's unpreparedness for war is getting to be unbearable. But there is one most gratifying fact that we are glad to notice: We have a man in the White House who knows how to keep cool and calm, and who is wise enough to see, in the artificially muddied waters, who is behind the propaganda which tends to promote the interests of shipbuilding and armament trusts. The whole despicable agitation started with the resolution of Congressman Gardner, from the State of Massachusetts, where the interests of the shipbuilding trust are supreme. The war has shown how useless the German navy, in spite of perfection and speedy actions, has become once Germany's neighbors have learned that it is a tool of imperialistic conquests and have formed an alliance against it. What is more, the U-boats, a comparatively inexpensive weapon, have proved fatal to ten-million-dollar floating fortresses which are powerless as coastel 2defense also. The shipbuilding and steel trust that have been making untold millions on war ships for the United States have well sensed that the recognition of these facts would endanger their profits; hence Gardner's resolution. Many of our dailies, but particularly the Hearst papers, suffer daily attacks of militarist fever, and this artificial excitement which is trying to justify itself by referring to the "stirred-up public" would be incomplete if our well-known big game killer, "Teethadore" Roosevelt, were not joining with them.

For this reason, we welcomed with great joy the words of refusal that the President gave out to our jingoes and militarists in his message to Congress last Tuesday. Said he, among other things:

"We have never had, and we shall never have a big standing army as long as we shall remain true to our principles and ideals. We shall not require our men to spend the best years of their lives in training for the business of war. In the case of any future national emergency we have to depend, as we 3have depended in the past, not on a standing army, but on the citizens."

These are principles fully befitting a modern man. The jingoes would like to make the people believe that they have their welfare at heart, but cannot find for this any better arguments than that which the old Romans so skillfully manipulated: "Si vis pacem para bellum" (Who wants peace should be preparing for war). If we have not made a bit of progress from the time of the Romans, then our whole civilization is not worth a snuff of tobacco. Of course, the Roman Empire, its beautiful slogan notwithstanding, finally became a prey of barbarians whom it had trained in the business of war for the defense of its peace; but that is nothing which our jingoes would find worth consideration. Logic is the last thing that could motivate their argument. If it is really true that preparations for war lead to peace, why is Europe squirming in an ocean of blood today? Why is Germany which was fully prepared for the war up to and including the very last button on the uniform of the very least reserve, being attacked from all sides today, isolated from the rest of the world, with misery at home, the reputation of 4a burglar abroad, and the vision of a terrible catastrophe on the horizon? At the beginning of the war, the United States was swelling considerably with pride over her reputation as the most peaceful country in the world. Now we are getting ready for the role of arbitrator at the expected peace conference, but at the same time attempts are being made to push us on the same inclined plane of militarism on which Europe is skidding into an abyss.

No theory has ever been so completely disproved than that of preserving peace through preparations for war. Europe has given us a lesson we should never forget. Who can deny the glaring truth that Europe could have been spared all the bloodshed, all the murdering and destruction that shakes the very foundations of her civilization, had it not been for her enormous armaments that grew from year to year? What sane person can maintain that the only way to avoid her fate is to follow her footsteps? The idea that the victorious countries could turn against the United States when the war is over, is extremely silly. It is quite clear already that all the warring countries 5both victors and the defeated, will come out of the war in such a weakened condition that they will not even think of getting ready for another conflict, and particularly not another conflict with a country that is not exhausted, and of which not even the most ambitious could believe that it would tolerate permanent occupation of any of its parts.

The jingoes who lament our lack of preparedness seem to either have a poor memory or to be unwilling to remember. For more than one hundred years the United States did not have a single war that was provoked by an attack from another country. Nobody will maintain that we were attacked by Spain. If no country dared try to attack the United States when it was its weakest, that is during the Civil War, how can it be expected that such a plan could be in preparation now? The United States, in spite of its lack of preparedness, is paying a greater ransom to militarism today than any other country. The expenses for pensions and armaments cost now more than six hundred million dollars a year, or about sixty per cent of our government's income. Where would we get with the establishment of a standing army, enlargement of 6reserves, strengthening of our war fleet, and all the other plans of our militarists if these should be adopted? The only result of such arming would be bigger debt with the resulting economic misery, to say nothing of getting into wars with foreign alliances of nations which, seeing our armaments, would needs begin suspecting that we are out for conquests, the same as it happened in Germany.

All this leads to the one inevitable conclusion that the best means for avoiding war is avoiding all preparations for it. A man who wants to prevent fire in his home will not be foolish enough to store there inflammable material. A plan as silly as that we have to chalk up to jingoes. Tbe best defense of the country is millions of citizens who have learned to love it. But they will get no help from those who are trying to bring this country to the brink of an economic chasm by their militaristic craze. It is interesting to note that it was the immigrants who have flooded Washington with their protests against militaristic propaganda, but this is only natural. Those who have come here from Europe had had opportunity to learn about the 7"blessings" of militarism and are therefore entitled to talk about its faults and "advantages". If our Union will remain free of that plague, it will owe thanks to the immigrants. After all, the jingoistic propaganda has had at least one most desirable result. An antimilitaristic association has been founded in Washington which will be prepared to disclose the sources of this despicable movement. Then we shall learn who are the patriots that are trying so unselfishly to save the country from an enemy that does not exist.