Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/427

Rh in building one of the great war fleets of the world, which, as experience shows, will be antiquated almost as soon as finished, without being obliged to do so? Are we to tax our already heavily taxed people for this purpose—not to preserve the peace, for that requires no big fleet—but to bring on a danger of wanton war by exciting a desire to use the costly new armaments before they are superseded by newer ones? It is amazing how eager some otherwise sensible Americans are to strip their country, without any necessity, of one of its proudest and most beneficent distinctions—an exceptional blessing which we cannot be too thankful for—that of enjoying an unarmed peace. 



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My attention has been called to the Exeter News-Letter of July 23d, containing a communication from you in which, together with several other gentlemen, I am personally attacked. Ordinarily I take no notice of such abuse as you have seen fit to bestow upon me. But since in this instance it is employed by way of argument against the civil service law, you must permit me a word in reply. Your communication pretends to be an answer to a crushing refutation by Mr. George McAneny, the secretary of the National Civil Service Reform League, of certain allegations made by yourself concerning the provisions and the working of the existing civil service law. I call it a crushing refutation, for it proved conclusively by the record, by indisputable facts and figures, that many of your allegations were untrue, while the rest were strikingly