PREPAREDNESS AND WAR
At a recent meeting at Cooper Institute one of the speakers was interrupted with the question: “Is Europe to-day an example of peace by preparedness?” The inference of the question was that preparedness for war, so far from preventing war, tends to breed war. This would be true if all nations would disarm. Europe to-day is not an example of peace by preparedness, but of war through unequal preparedness. Only one nation was thoroughly prepared for war, and that nation, in the conflict thus far, has proved the victor on all the battle fronts. If the other great nations had been equally prepared, there would undoubtedly have been no war. Half measures never led to satisfactory results. France and England and Russia knew, or should have known, that Germany was better prepared for war than any nation in all history ever was before. They made a show of preparation, but when the war began they were not half prepared. They had ample warning which they neglected to heed. They are now reaping the bitter fruit of their folly. Preparedness for war is not an insurance of peace if one potentially rival nation is permitted to so far exceed the others as to outclass them. Preparation for war is useless unless it is adequate.