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Show j NO LARGE STANDING ARMY. H This paper has contended that there is no excuse for a largo Hl standing army in this country; that the United States is not inen- Hl aced by neighbors and cannot bo successfully attacked from across M the waters: that the citizen soldier offers ample assurance of protec- HJ In support of our position, -we quote as follows from 0. Alcx- Hi andcr, an authority on military matters: H ""Wellington's troops at Waterloo were largely militia; the H American forces in. the Revolution included many regiments of H militia. The battle of New Orleans was won by citizen levies, many 1 members of which had never seen a foreign enemy. H "The armies in the early part of the Civil War on both the H Union and Confederate sides were largely militia, and the gradual H transformation from the original militia organization to subse- H fluent commands famous in the narratives of Gettysburg and other H memorable engagements is one of the most interesting features of H our war history. The National Ouard has the material; it is for the H United States and the stato to see that the material is put to effect- H ive uses, and that obsolete methods shall give way to a modern H progressive system, with schools for the training of officers, fair H' treatment for the enlisted men, and due encouragement of marks- Hj manship a qualification in which Americans have been foremost H on land and sen, and in which they cannot afford to fall behind in M J "this age of universal preparation for war, which, it is to be hoped, H may never come." M The soldiers of all standing armies lack initiation. They bc- M come trained machines, robbed of that most desirable quality, the H ability to act for themselves in an emergency, while the average H man in the United States not only can decide for himself what to j do when thrown on his own resources, but can call on his training in H ' the school of self reliance. There is a vast difference between the sol- H dior who is a machine and the fighter who can act for himself. The j power of initiation, which is not possessed by Europeans, because 1 of absence of opportunity, has made Americans superior in trade j and in war. We do not mean by this that Europeans, who come m to America, are not capable of acquiring this self dependence, for r they do often excelling the native-bom in ability to make the ' best of their opportunities. But tho habits of l,ife in other countries I are so different that self-reliance is seldom, if evor called into play. A country like ours, with men trained to buffet the world, has something better than a standing army it has a 'mighty force of aggressive, vigorous, strong-hearted men who, in every walk of life are equipped ''to be intelligent workers, quick to see an advantage advan-tage and to act accordingly. Called to tho dcfen.se of theii country's coun-try's flag they would repeat the vuctoric3-of the militia in past wars. , f ' . f '.y ? |