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Show THE TENDENCY TOWARD WAR. Amid so much peace-talk, and while such high hopes are expressed of the final abandonment of war, it is a complete com-plete wot blanket on the whole peace Jdea . to have England give signs not only of a desire to be well prepared for war, but of taking such a step in war tactics as has never yet been taken in that country. The report of the Royal Commission on the volunteer and militia mi-litia forces, It Is reported, "practically recommends conscription as the , only means of providing a home defense army adequate for the protection of the country in tho absence or partial absence ab-sence of the regular troops." That is, the military systems of jthc other nations of Europe must be adopted adopt-ed In Great Britain also, and "It 13 the duty of every able-bodied citizen to be trained for national defense." At present it is considered that a year's continuous service with the color would suffice, with some weeks' training train-ing at the maneuvers for a year or two afterwards. But no doubt that limited service would be found Insufficient, and once the system were established, a longer training would presently be Insisted In-sisted upon. And there 1 something to be sail for such training, provided it wore under the direction of intelligent, expert, educated edu-cated officers, men who have both con- , science and heart. The conscrlpjt would receive drill and Instruction In care of themselves, in exscinds of effort, ef-fort, and In hablu of cleanltn, consideration, con-sideration, and mutual confidence and helpfulness; they would be trained to united purpose and efficient action as a body; and this instruction and drill wpuld be good for them all their lives, and for their country, not only In time of war, but in time of pence. To b sure, there are objections: the lime taken would be. in a certain ene. a Ion not only 'to the Individual in starting his life work, but in a way to the community, and the positive coat of it would be considerable. It would flx the habits of caste or class which, however, are pretty rigidly fixed already. al-ready. In Kngland. so American are apt to think, but by no means so rigidly rigid-ly a among other European people. The report, however, is chiefly Indicative In-dicative of the trend of public sentiment senti-ment In these days, whlcli is distinctly away from' a confident state of peace, and toward the necessity of all nations being thoroughly trained for war; toward the Idea that at any time a nation na-tion may be called upon to make a desperate fight for existence. And that the United Slate last year paseed a new law consolidating Its military system sys-tem and providing for the better utilization utiliz-ation of its military strenglh, la only another sign In tho same direction, another an-other milestone In the present drift of the human race toward war as a probable prob-able necessity for any nation that would live. |
