Agitation over Preparedness by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 23, 1916

Agitation over Preparedness

By F. M. W.

One by one all the nations of earth are succumbing to the demand for largely increasing their military and naval equipment. From the standpoint of the statesman, this is deemed an imperative necessity. He feels that, in the growing antagonism among the nations and in the strife for commercial supremacy, if his nation would hold its own, it must do so by a diplomacy which has behind it the power to enforce its demands.

During the last few decades, since the United States has emerged from its practical isolation and has taken a larger hand in world affairs, this sentiment for a stronger army and greatly increased naval armament has been steadily gaining ground. This conviction of course has deepened and broadened since the outbreak of the war in Europe. Perhaps the leading question of legislation in the present Congress is that relating to national defense.

As showing the sentiment of the country at large, the nation-wide press-poll recently taken by the Literary Digest is of interest. This journal wrote to five hundred of the leading editors in the United States, representing every State in the Union, inquiring their sentiments regarding the following questions: How large an army should we have? How large a navy? Is there reason to fear the peril of militarism in increasing both branches of our defense? The response to these inquiries of course covered a wide range of opinions. “The vote as a whole across the country shows the average estimate for the regular army to be 285,078, and for the reserve 1,215,359. As to the navy, forty per cent of our replies on this point favored a navy second only to Great Britain’s, while sixty per cent favored a navy as large as any in the world.” The large majority of the editors had no fear of militarism in consequence of these army and navy increases.

Unquestionably the prevailing sentiment of the people of this country is for a program of preparedness on a large and increasing scale. In this the United States is only doing that which the nations of Europe have long since done. As to the merits or demerits of the proposed program of preparedness, we are not competent to speak, and from the political standpoint its discussion is not appropriate for the columns of this journal. We can, however, recognize the present situation as an additional sign of the times in which we are living. One by one the nations of earth are preparing to take part in the last great conflict of this earth’s history.

Let us be careful that we do not permit this spirit to enter into our lives. If the God of nations were to speak to his erring children today, he would say to them, in the words of the Great Teacher, “One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” And this is the viewpoint which the evangel of the cross must ever keep in mind. The ambassador of Christ’s kingdom can know no race prejudice. His mission is to all men of every race and of every color.

One of the greatest triumphs of the cross of Christ is to take poor, weak humanity, divided socially into caste and clique, politically into state and nation, geographically by climate and color, and weld them into one united whole in Christ Jesus. Let us seek in our lives and in our relation to our fellows the generosity of heart, the breadth of character, the freedom from racial and social and religious prejudice, which prompted the Lord Jesus Christ in his ministry of love to a lost world. F. M. W.