The country has grown great through useful work, and not on account
of the army and navy. In 1881 America's army numbered only 26,622 men,
and her navy consisted of only 24 iron-clads, 2 torpedo-boats, and 25 tugs,
but in 1910 the peace strength of her army was 96,628 and the navy boasted
33 battleships and 120 armored cruisers of different sizes.
Within the last few years it has been the policy of many nations
to increase the army and to build as many Dreadnaughts and super-dreadnaughts
as possible. Many statesmen have been infected by this Dreadnaught fever.
Their policy seems to be based on the idea that the safety of a nation
depends on the number of its battleships. Even peaceful and moderate men
are carried away by this hobby, and support it. It is forgotten
that great changes have taken place during the last twenty or thirty years;
that a nation can now be attacked by means quite beyond the reach
of Dreadnaughts. The enormous sums spent on these frightful monsters,
if applied to more worthy objects, would have a greater effect
in preserving the nations' heritages than anything these monstrosities can do.
The nation which has a large army and a strong navy may be called powerful,
but it cannot be considered great without other good requisites.
I consider a nation as great when she is peacefully, justly,
and humanely governed, and when she possesses a large number
of benevolent and good men who have a voice in the administration.
The greater the number of good men that a nation possesses
the greater she becomes.
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