Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], February 12, 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

                
Hl 2 GOODWIN' S WEEKLY.
V strated that it has no more settled international
B( questions than did Salamis or Actium.
H When the present war ceases, see what its
B' legacy will bo to the great combatants: first, an
H appalling debt; second, thousands, tens and hun-
K, dreds of thousands of cripples, lunatics, and paup
B ' ers to care for; all industries dislocated and al-
H most universal poverty all the way down from
H sovereigns to peasants an almost hopeless bur-
H den and a weight of sorrow sufficient to crush
H out hope and to build a monument to Despair,
B and over all will be sounding the dreadful cry
B of millions of Rachaels weeping for their children
H and will not be comforted because they are not.
Hl Out Of Units Oomes Greatness
B '"THE world is made of atoms; the nations of the
B earth are units. Our republic is a unit among
B the rest, and is what the lesser units, the states,
B make it. If the republic is ever to aspire to be the
H most commanding unit among the whole, it must
B be made so by the states the units behind it.
H What is the Utah unit doing to add to its great-
1 ness and through it to the greatness of the repub-
H lie? The changes for good in the world are
Hl wrought by labor; labor of the hands; labor of
H, the minds, that in their succession carry on the
H' world's work.
H' What are we in Utah doing? How many new
H' places for men who need work have been cre-
H ated in the year gone by? How many new enter-
H prises havo been launched during the past year
H which are offering places for men who must live
H by the labor of their hands?
H Again we are all interdependent.
H We all more or less depend upon each other.
H When Mr. Bell was working to perfect his tele-
H' phone, ho was perhaps dreaming that through it,
Bi bo many people would need it, that he might be
H ! able to save from it an independence. But when
B j he did perfect it ho saw that to meet the demand
H for it, thousands and tens of thousands of men
H ' and women would necessarily be given employ-
B ment at fair wages, to take up the mysterious
B voice which he had created and carry it on, and
B tlmt -ho little instrument he had created was in
B fact a miracle, the voice of which with a few
B more improvements might possibly he made to
B call responses from the stars, but that its su-
B preme uso was in giving poor men and women
B places where they might for themselves gain
B honorable livelihoods.
B'i When tlie power loom was invented in Eng-
B land and the steam engine was utilized to supply
B ' the power, the working men in that country band-
B f e(1 together and destroyed the factories, under the
i fear that they would lose their old places. Their
Bl eyes were blinded; they could not see that a
H ' naked world was waiting to be clothed, so soon
as the clothing became cheap enough, and that
B what they were destroying was really destined to
H give millions besides themselves employment and
H) to make their country the richest of empires.
H Are the men of Utah working with high mo-
H, tives, and planning while they work to make
H places where other men may work, that Utah may
H. be made richer, tha she at a sub-unit may make
Hj- the great unit of the republic greater?
The Philippines
WITH a, little fleet Admiral Dewey sailed into
l Manila bay, destroyed the Spanish fleet and
Hj reduced the land defenses to silence in two fierce
B hours.
H It was a marvelous achievement, but the most
B wonderful feature of it was that not one American
B wns billed.
H That with the other achievement off Santiago
B when Cervera's fleet tried to escape, caused the
Bf outside nations to exclaim: "A now world-power
Bf lias come" Even imperturbable China was so im-
B pressed that her purchases from the United States
B! I tuat year doubled those of any former year.
It was long ago sung:
"Safe comes the ship to haven,
Through billows and through gales
If once the Great Twin Brethren
Sit shining on the sails."
Looking over the exploits of the two American
fleets in that war it really looked as though un
seen pilots must havo been at their helms, as
though unseen shields must have been interposed
to turn aside the hostile shots; and it did not
require much imagination to detect the purpose
of it all; which was to do away with some un
speakable cruelties and to extend the liberties
of down-trodden men and nations.
Then came peace, and then our government
began a pdtch-work government in the Philip
pines. Before that, at the behest of less than one
hundred money-changing thieves in London and
New York, our congress and president had de
stroyed one-half the money of the world, the only
money those wretches in Manila knew how to cal
culate in; so our congress took the metal which
had always been a money meital to those people,
made a tribute coin and sent to them at the same
time agreeing to accept it in the interchange of
business.
It next forbade the industry which is carried
on by combined capital, calling all such combina
tions "monopo.ies," forgetting that the mod
ern progress of the world rests upon those com
bines, and that they are the chief sources to which
labor looks for employment. It did, however,
some good things; it provided for establishing
schools, did establish order, improved communica
tions and made it possible for the people to real
ize a prid pro quo for their products. It also pro
vided to gradually give the natives places of trust
and responsibility and promised them that they
in due time should have the government of their
country.
Its greatest mistake was the same that was
made in Cuba the wording of the promise.
It should have been something like this: "We
are going to lift you out of the chaos into which
centuries of Spanish rule has overwhelmed you.
As fast as it is safe we will give you places of
trust, and then we will submit the question of
whether you desire to be a state in our union
or to have an independent government."
As it has been, every year some of those na
tive grown-up children, still imbued with the old
Spanish idea of tyranny and loot, have been clam
oring for an independent government, and now a
strong contingent in congress, ignoring all the
facts and all the signs and portents of the past,
are seeking to evade further responsibility, and
turn the islands back, really helpless, upon themselves.
To all those we would say: The nation that
evades a manifest obligation, always pays for it
in the end. If those men have their way, it will
result in the world's exclaiming: "We thought
the United States was brave and true, and of
right a world power. We were mistaken. It is
simply a trading nation, cowering behind its de
fenses and afraid of attack by some power like
Chile or Japan."
No Conflict Of Authority
ALL the chatter about the respective states
having command of their own militia should
cease. The federal government is the sovereign
power.
When the question comes of the defense of the
country, or the attack by the country, there can
bo no divided authority the sovereign power as
sumes its sway.
The states have full control of their militia in
time of general peace, and in the handling of their
own militia when trouble comes in an individual
state, but we often see the governors of such
states calling upon the general government to
help put down insurrections, and then wo always
notice that a company of federal troops is more
effective than a regiment of state troops. This is
because the trouble-makers believe that the mem
bers of the militia do not want to clash with their
own neighbors, and that if any arrests are made
the trials will bo in the civil courts, whereas with ,1
the regulars, they know there will be no hesitation
about shooting to kill, and if any trials are or
dered, the court will be a military court with no
foolishness.
The respective authority of the general govern
ment and that of the states is perfectly defined.
The state should train its militia for its home
use, but every autumn there should be joint man
euvers, where the militia and regular troops should
be joined and all under the direction of the high
er authority, and in the event of war tho sover
eign authority must have exclusive direction of
events.
Any other system would swiftly lead to utter '
demoralization.
A Punch And Judy Show
IS anyone noting what congress is doing these
days? Is all important legislation to be post
poned until the special session after tho fourth of
next month?
Is the purpose of both parties to make the
special session tho key for every-day campaign
capital? It surely looks that way. A double-cross
on the tariff and tariff commission; no light on
the country's merchant ships. Is the program to
be confined to advertising how utterly defenseless
we are in order to wring a mighty appropriation
for war material and keep some thousands of art
isans forging guns, making shells, and building
forts?
When Cervera sailed from Spain for this coun
try the people of the Atlantic coast became so
hysterical, lest they be destroyed, that a special
squadron had to be rushed to sea under Admiral
Schley, to patrol that coast lest the coming terror
lay it waste. Is the purpose now to get them in
tho same state of mind, so that they will become
a power behind congress to force through a
mighty appropriation for preparedness, that the
campaign expenses may be met, and the praise
for such forethoughtedness may never grow still
until after the first Tuesday after the first Monday
of November?
Have the one hundred millions of Americans
sunk into mere units in a Punch and Judy show,
to dance as the strings are pulled?
The war beyond tho sea has been raging since
August 21, 1914. How many American ships are
bearing away our surplus products and bringing
us what is needed from abroad? Why not encour
age the Punch and Judy show?
The Railroad Train Crews
THE train men on the western roads have cer
tainly had exercise enough during the past
four weeks. First excessive cold and snow, then
the drifted snows to drive through, then the ava
lanches, and finally the mighty floods to fight'
back or turn aside.
Worse still is the thought ever present of
what is liable to happen next. That thought is
about the hardest thing to bear, for when all the
elements become enraged and go out to vent their
wrath on the world, about all that mortals can do
cannot prevent their being anxious.
Convene The Hague Tribunal f,V
EVERY day makes more-clear the duty of the
neutral nations to convene the Hague Tri
bunal. The first thing should be to file a protest
against aerial warfare upon helpless women and
c. dren. That, when analyzed, is not warfare, it .
is simply murder, and the nations that claim
it is justifiable as a means to an end, need go