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Show How to Obtain Preparedness ""PHE governors in session in Boston discussed H the question of 'the best means to make and H keep our republic safe against attack from the1 H outside. Governor Dunne of Illinois was on the ,H right track when- he suggested that colleges sup- ported by national or state aid should include in H their curriculum a four years' training of male lH students in the uses of war. H But why do not the states themselves take l this matter up and train their own young men fl all males of fifteen years or older to be trained JH as part of their educatiom It would cost but H little, comparatively, to add this to the school H duties; it would be the best part of a boy's edu- ';.fl cation, even if he never saw a "squadron set in '"'M the field." It would make him more manly, more . H self-respectful, more capable in every way; ibe rfl the best means of fitting him for all the doitios H of peace; quicken his Patriotism and exalt his " ideas of the duties of citizenship and minister to ,H his honest pride by giving him the thought that 4H everywhere, in every state of the great republic, jjJH all his fellow citizens are at all times prepared fl for any trial that may come upon them. This in HI all the schools and then a three weeks' encamp- HI meat in the field for the autumn maneuvers, where all the students of each year's classes IH could meet and under regular army officers gain il Bd an idea what trained armies are like and what Rjf they can do, would bo enough. B ' Wo do not mean a West Point, but a prellmi- Hr ' nary training for students, to make them ready m for what may come to the nation at any time, H ' and what in our present unprepared condition is R ' liable to come at any time, for the outside world H ' is land-hungry and unscrupulous in methods, and H ( to And a lich country unprepared for war is al- V ways a temptation for them to strike. H Then in these schools the young men who are Hi born soldiers would reveal their natures, from H t them a higher class to be educated at West Point B ' and Annapolis could be selected and in the event HW of a war would naturally gravitate to the front. HK Each state could do this for its own youth, and it H need not add greatly to the (taxes. In the mean- H ' time the general government could be looking H ' to its navy, its submarines, its aeroplanes, Its H workers fn the chemistry of war and in estab- H lishing gun and ammunition factories In differ- B ent sections in order to be ready at any time to m supply soldiers with all they imdght need. The H problem is a simple one and could, at no great B 1 cost, be solved. |