THAT JAPANESE WAR "BOGEY,"
Lathrop, Jehn E.
That Japanese War "Bogey" By JOHN E. LATHROP CONGRESSMAN WILLIAM E. HUMPHREY, of Seattle, Washington, recently attempted to alarm the national capital by asserting that the Pacific coast is in...
...Idaho and Louisiana are the latest states to abolish the common drinking cup on railroad trains and in public schools...
...It would be a nautical feat to bring those 180 ships across the Pacific in less than 60 days...
...This imaginary Japanese armada of 150 ps could travel no faster than the slowest of the fleet...
...In fact, it probably will not be questioned by sensible folk when I assert that never again in the history of the human race will an army of 100,000 men go over seas, from any country, to attack any other country which has even the nucleus of a navy...
...The citizen who thinks he sees that the commonwealth's political clothes are worn out, and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal.—Mark Twain...
...This would be a total of 180 vessels...
...Beside these diminutive figures the American rate of duty towers like a skyscraper over a railroad shed...
...I am willing to admit that 1 know no more about military and naval warfare than Congressman Humphrey knows, but at the same time I shall assert that any one of us knows enough, if he has common horse sense, to pull Mr...
...Humphrey is a standpat congressman, not over-zealous, to put it mildly, in his fight against such things as shipyard lobbies and steel trusts, and such...
...And when, in the place of England, you write Japan, and, in the place of the Boers, you write 92,000,000 Americans, the illustration becomes so brilliant as to burn through the thin veneer of alleged sincerity and expose the Absurdity of the claims of such war alarmists as Congressmen Humphrey, of Washington...
...What would it mean to land an army of 100,000 men on our Pacific shores...
...Humphrey's scarecrow to pieces, and show that it is nothing more than an old stick, with some worn-out clothes on it, set up in the political cornfield to scare away the peace advocates, and allow the military over-enthusiasts to pick the golden ea...
...Imagine, then, a fleet of American battleships looming up out of the night and hurling itself against the Japanese front at any point...
...The Boers had not even a steam launch, and yet England suffered practically the breakdown of her ministry because of the continuance of the effort to conquer the Boers...
...To import a suit of clothes into France costs 20 cents, to Germany 36 cents, to Italy 22 cents, to Spain $1.44...
...The principal European countries charge duty by weight of goods...
...If the Japanese transports and auxiliary ships were to travel in a mass in cylindrical form, then the 30 battleships must be distributed in an attenuated line all the way around it, rendering it pregnable at any point to an attack by our fleet, with the possibility of awful loss of life by the Japanese, through the sinking of the transports...
...and even a landlubber may correctly picture the enormous front they would present for attack by the warships of the United States...
...There would he numberless delays en route because of breakdowons a. engine rooms, and the stoppage of one would mean the storpage of all...
...VISUALIZE FOR YOURSELF this monstrous fleet, crossing the Pacific, approximately 150 ships guarded by 30 men-of-war...
...So that 8 months, two-thirds of a year, would elapse from the time Japan began active preparation for the invasion and the time when the invasion actually took place...
...If these ships traveled in a column, and each ware allowed 1,000 feet of sea room, they would make a line 34 miles long...
...The most brilliant illustration of what modern invasion means is afforded by the history of England's war in the Transvaal...
...C. E. Brierley & Company of Huddersfield...
...Suits of similar cloth would cost in New York from $13.00 to $26.00—fully double the price charged in England...
...However, progressives ought to pay him the compliment of analyzing his statements occasionally in order that Mr...
...This firm offers to supply suits to customers in any part of the world at from $6.45 to $3.40, according to the sample of cloth selected, (exclusive, of course, of duty and freight charges...
...The United States tops the lot with 90 per cent, approximately...
...Accompanying the samples is a list of duties payable on an imported suit of clothes in various countries...
...Men's Suits and the Tariff JUST to ascertain the effect of the tariff on men's clothing, a gentleman in New York recently wrote for a box of samples of cloths with respective prices, to a well-known firm of British expert tailors, viz—Messrs...
...To convey 100,000 men across the Pacific Ocean, at an average of 1,000 men to the transport, would require 100 ships To convey coal and supplies, and to serve as dispatch boats, approximately 50 additional craft would be required...
...s without let or hindrance...
...If they sailed in doube coumn order, the column would be 17 miles long...
...Belgium charges 13 per cent., Bermuda 10 per cent., British Guiana 12 1/2 per cent., Canada 30 per cent., Cape Colony 12 per cent., Jamaica 17 per cent., Newfoundland 45 per cent., Transvaal 12 per cent...
...The samples came in due course...
...A passenger steamer, at the present time, journeys from Yokohoma to Seattle or San Francisco or Portland, in 20 days...
...What Would Happen...
...A fleet of not less than 30 battleshps would accompany such a flotilla...
...That Japanese War "Bogey" By JOHN E. LATHROP CONGRESSMAN WILLIAM E. HUMPHREY, of Seattle, Washington, recently attempted to alarm the national capital by asserting that the Pacific coast is in danger of an invasion by an army of 100,000 Japanese...
...To gather an army of 100,000 men fit for invading the shores of a foreign country, arm them, equip them, and train them, would consume, say, six months...
...Humphrey's feelings may not be hurt by reason of neglect...
Vol. 3 • January 1911 • No. 3
