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Show H MAKING MODERN ARMIES. H A clear idea of the magnitude and variety of modern military operations may be obtained from tke order issued ly the war department for the formation of special and technical corps in the three armies of the United btates 1 These include separate divisions for the use of esphyxi-, 1 ating gas and liquid fire which has been forced upon all the combatants by the custom of the Germans; mining, M water supply, general construction, engineer supply, sur-H sur-H yeying, and road service, with no fewer than six distinct M divisions for the establishments of communications, in-M in-M eluding builders of light and standard-gauge railways. A forestry workers, quarrymen, and three pontoon divi- T sions. ... M This comprehends a branch of modern warfare which H has been highly specialized. Every man employed in these H divisions will often be under fire and must be prepared H for defense, 'riicy are all soldiers. When we consider H the extent oiuie divisions required for the commissariat, H the enormous medical and hospital service, with its many H subdivisions, the signal service and the airships, we can H obtain only a dim and imperfect realization of what it H .means in these days for a nation to prepare for war. In H nearly every department we have been compelled to begin H at the very' beginning, because we have willfully blinded H ourselves to the possibility of a great conflict for national H 'defense. It is a foregone conclusion that the Republic H .will not be caught in this plight again. With a system H of universal military training, and the nucleus of all the H 'departments of an army in action kept in a state of readi- m mess, v are likely to escape great wars in the future. M But, in the light of our present experience, how vain m seems the assurance of the complacent Americans, in a B Say that already seems old, that at the first sign of danger H jto the nation a million patriots would leap to arms. H y o |