Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], February 05, 1916, Page 2, Image 2

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1919

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
B 2 GOODWIN' S WEEKLY.
H Now York sneezes when the bankers take snuff,
H' ' the people are guided by the press and go to bed
Hl ' every night dreaming that before morning the
V whole Atlantic coast will be bombarded by the
H fleets that for eighteen months have been afraid
Hj to put to sea lest a submarine may sink them.
H More, that all the belligerents who are cutting
H each others' throats beyond the sea, will suddenly
H become brothers and though utterly exhausted,
H'r will arouse themselves to overwhelm the United
H States. Did ever a party in desperation start such
H' a flimsy vaudeville scare before?
Overdoing The Business
LONG ago, before there was any possible war-
cloud in the sky, wo pointed out that this
B country should be better prepared for possible
B war; that she should look to her coast defenses,
B the guns and ammunition and have the men to
B handle the guns on hand; that depots, foundries
B and ammunition factories should be established
B with railroad connections, so that any point on
Bl the coast could be swiftly reached; that the
BH states should have their militia organized and
B trained in the rudiments of military education,
B and that military training should be included in
M the curriculum of our high schools. This latter
B was to make more manly and efficient men in
H1 civil life, and abate a vast amount of egotism and
B snobbery that is now graduated from the high
B schools, as well as to make efficient soldiers in
B the event of a war and to provide the needed
B men to drill great armies in the preliminary du-
M ties of soldiers, should a war come.
H When Japan made her war bluff because the
B school directors of California, in response to a
B , call from the parents of that state, which in these
m words was, "fix it so that Japanese hoodlums of
H 18 and 20 years of age shall not occupy seats in
H, our public schools beside our little girls," caused
ia law to be passed assigning separate schools to
the Japanese, we pointed out that the Japs could
land in any one of a dozen points on the west
H I' coast and take the coast cities from the rear, and
H 1 urged that west coast states should train an ef-
H flcient militia for defense.
H But the present hue and cry of the president,
H and his close advisers for the immediate expendi-
H ture of some hundreds and thousands of millions
H of dollars on preparedness, looks like a conglom-
H oration of hysteria, politics, graft and a desire to
H scare the people into making fools of themselves
H For example, look at the argument submitted
H by his experts as to the defenses needed for Bos-
H ton. It was that the British fleet could in thirty
H' days destroy our fleet and at seventeen miles out
H at sea bombard Boston and the surrounding
H points,
H But when is Great Britain going to send her
Hli entire fleet to bombard our coasts? She would
H not dare send her fleet, or half her fleet, or a
H( quarter of her fleet three thousand, or three n-
H dred miles away from her own coasts.
H Then, were it different, Great Britain would,
H were she over so angry, hesitate a good while be-
H fore she would attempt to do anything on this
B side of the Atlantic which would cost her the
B possession of Canada, for that would be what a
B I war with the United States would cost her.
B When the war is over in Europe none of the
B present belligerents will bo in a condition to in-
B voko a war with the United States for at least a
B decade.
B j That war will result in a drawn battle through
B 1 utter exhaustion all around and with such a debt
B ' that those countries will be in such a condition
B ! as is a fever patient when his physician says:
B "The crisis has passed; all he needs now is care-
B i ful nursing." And the patient lies helpless
H j through weakness for weeks.
Bj F This is so manifest that it is not necessary to
B make a campaign cry for next summer out of the
Bf . iminent need of a rush for preparedness.
1 '
B.'i
Tho increase of the navy along natural lines
should go on, tho coast defenses should bo sup
plied with the most perfect guns and ammuni
tion; ammunition factories should bo established,
the best talent in mechanics, invention and chem
istry should be employed, the state militia should
be bettor trained, the high school and University
students should be given a preliminary military
education. What is needed more than all is a
peace preparedness by enacting sensible tariff
legislation and establishing a merchant marine.
Joseph Geoghegan
A STRONG, honest, enterprising, public-spirited
man was Joseph Geoghegan.
An irrepressible worker, a most loving hus
band and father, a Christian gentleman.
His death is a great loss to the community, a
heart-breaking sorrow to his family.
His life here for thirty-five years, through its
late morning and noontime, was an open book to
everyone, and there is not a stain on one of its
pages.
He loved to accumulate money for his loved
ones and for the honorable uses he could make
of it, but he did not want it at any other man's
injury, rather, while himself prospering, lie want
ed every other man around him to prosper.
No matter how tested he always rang true. He
made this so plain that he drew almost unlimited
confidence to himself. He exulted in the progress
of this city and state; he was ready at all times
to further it with his money and his clear judg
ment. He was foreign-born, but he was at heart
from early youth an American.
If his head rested on the flag of Erin, he was
at the same time wrapped around with the stars
and stripes.
His brain was as big as it was level. He could
forsee the effects that certain causes when set
to work would bring hence in business he made
few mistakes. He had a clear intellect and an
energy as tireless as the onward sweep of a
planet on its axis. The success he made would
have been immensely magnified could he have
been given ten years more of effort.
But his highest trait "was the devotion he lav
ished upon his wife and children. His home was
a temple dedicated to duty and consecrated to
love. The desolation in that home now is pitiable
to see. The only consolation there is the fixed
belief that the husband and father has gone upon
a journey a little longer than he was want to take
before, but that it waits a certain reunion where
all will be sunshine and flowers and where the
soft air will be filled with that celestial music in
which there is never a discord.
May the stricken family draw a little comfort
from the knowledge that at least in a little way
thousands are sharing their sorrow and may the
love given him who is gone be converted into a
couch soft as down under his tired form.
Justice Brandeis' Picture
IT looks as though he might be a sharp lawyer,
a wonderful advocate on one side of a cause, but
as though it would be difficult for him to fill the
chair Jay, Marshal, Rutlege, Grier, Tanner and
the others once occupied.
It is hard to look upon his picture and at the
same time not to think that from the beginning
ho has always been looking out for the main
chance.
At the same time it is hard to believe that he
could have any gratitude for favors rendered. To
explain, the picture looks exactly as though,
should Mr. Wilson be renominated next summer,
it would be perfectly natural for him to whisper
to say, his wife: "Look at that now! Woodrow
broke his platform pledge to obtain that and it
.. I Willi i ii B8CTgBiMiiillgglgjaBg-a!BltEM,l.y(aJg,-i''-E1'
was to keep me from getting it that ho named
me chief justice."
Again, tho look is that his disposition would
be apt to rule like a nisi prius Judge, without
giving a case exhaustive study.
Again, the picture indicates abundant self-esteem,
as though he could take the seat and with
out the slightest abashment look over such jus
tices as Hughes and Holmes and the others, sup
ported by the thought, "I am here because, among
these others, this is my rightful place;" and as
though he might consciously repeat what Webster
once unconsciously said, when reminded that the
view he was taking of a principle of law was con
trary to a decision rendered by Lord Mansfield,
Webster stopped his argument, paid a glowing
tribute to Lord Mansfield's legal acumen, but
added: "But, if it please your honor, I differ with
Lord Mansfield. It is said the gentleman is deeply
interested in the movement to rehabilitate the
""-Toly Land and re-establish, with Jerusalem as
their capital, the Hebrews as an independent na
tion. This is most laudable, but if it can be done
in his day, to judge by his picture, it will be
found that he has the prior right to a block of
ground in the heart of the city, a large tract of
land, where the land is most fertile on the shore
of lake Tiberius, and a valuable waterpower on
he Jordan."
That is, the picture is keen and bright, in
dicating a brain that could make a rattling speech
on the hustings; that before a court could make
"the worse appear the better cause," but it does
not indicate a judicial mind that would be sure,
through patient investigation, what the right was
and then maintain it though the heavens might
fall.
Rut, then, maybe tho picture does not do
him justice.
The Gloomy Foreign Outlook
TT HAT the tension on the belligerents in Europe
is very great has been apparent for several
weeks. This was emphasized by the interview
with Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg publish
ed on Monday last. He admitted that Germany
was ready for an honorable peace. That Austria
has desired a peace convention for a long time
past has been apparent.
France that has suffered more than any of
the other great powers, while still with thorough
bred pluck sings songs at home and holds her
place gallantly at the front, would eagerly wel
come peace, for family ties are very strong in
France, and, moreover, she is a thrifty nation
and would save what she has left and begin to
accumulate more. '
Russia while cold and proud and does not care
much when her peasantry are killed, has clearly
had enough of war for tho present. These facts
make significant tho statement of von Hollweg
that England is tho obstacle to prevent peace.
We suspect that is true. For years Great
Britain has depended upon her fleet to protect
her coasts, so when peace is broached her thought
is: "How can we consider terms of peace while
the German navy is still practically intact?" '
It seems clear to outsiders that tho great ob
stacle in tho way of concluding a peace is the
impossibility of agreeing upon tho terms.
Were a peace convention called, think what
the demands would be:
Germany would insist that she should have
guaranteed to her all the ground she has occu
pied in France, together with Alsace-Lorraine.
All Belgium, all Poland that she has occupied,
her lost possessions in East Africa and China and
guarantees for her shipping.
Franco would demand tho repossession with
title guaranteed of all tho soil she possessed prior
to tho Franco-Prussian war and a money indem
nity. Austria would demand that her rule bo ex-