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Show IN THE NAME OF MAKS. Whenever tire question of our nation's na-tion's preparedness for "par eomes np for discussion in the national capital, sini'e t.ne is sure to make himself absurd by sublime exaggeration. Not long ago our secretary of state,. who is more accustomed ac-customed to the peaceful and pastoral nays of the Chautauqua circuit than to the tine frenzy of the tiring line, remarked: re-marked: ''The president knows that if this country needed a million men. and needed them in a day, the call would go out at sunrise and the sun would go down on a million men in arms." Being a spellbinder, and indifferent to trifling details, Mr. Bryan did not dwell upon the question of equipment for his million mil-lion men. He did not explain how they were to be uniformed, or whether they were to carry Springfields, Krag-Jorgen-sons, fire-crackers, bowie-knives or bolos. Representative Gardner is given to exaggeration ex-aggeration on the other side of the fence. It is his business in life just at present to whoop up the military spirit and to describe our appalling unpre-paredness. unpre-paredness. In the house yesterday he said that it would be eighteen years before be-fore the coast defense guns had sufficient ammunition for an hour's engagement. That is a very sad state of affairs, for inside of eighteen years we probably shall have substituted guns of larger caliber on our coast defenses, and then we must wait another eighteen years to provide, them with ammunition. It is rather odd that while we are unable to provide our own guns with ammunition we are perfectly able to supply England, France aDd I;us.-ia w ith va-t qtioiititi"-. not only of ammunition, ammuni-tion, but of rincs and cannon, from fi'Ad pieces to siege guns that compare favorably with Germany's famous "Ilusy Berthas"and "Jack Johnsons." Y"c imagine that many wild statements state-ments are being made on both sides of the coutrov rv. We feel certain that the armament factori'-s in the L'nited States will be able to supply most of our needs, even if vs dc-ido upon a much bigger army and navy and more elaborate elabo-rate coast ciet'enies than we j--o '--? at present. Moreover. v. e can follow the example of the European belligerents by ordering abroad. |