The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

“manifest destiny” for this Republic; namely, the
ruin of free government.
Again, the size of our armies and our navies, if
the imperialistic policy is persisted in, can not be
regulated by our own wishes. Our program in this
respect must be arranged to suit and to fit the
programs of the other “world-powers.” This is
strikingly illustrated by a speech recently made in
the British House of Commons by Mr. Goshen, the
first lord of the admiralty, “when he asked the
House of Commons to appropriate the enormous
sum of $132,770,000 for the British navy, saying
that so startling an estimate had not originally been
contemplated, but that it had been framed after a
careful study of the programs of the other powers;
that the United States, Russia, France, Japan, Italy,
and Germany had under construction 685,000 tons
of warships, and that England was compelled to
shape her action accordingly. He prayed that, if the
czar’s hope for disarmament were not realized,
those who proposed to attack the country’s
expenditures would not attempt to dissuade the
people from bearing the taxation necessary to carry
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