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Show j UNIVERSAL MILITARY M TRAINING. H In his message to Congress, dls- H closing the inability of the United Hj States to keep out of the war, Presl- H dent Wilson pointed to the necessity H of universal military service. What is H meant by this term is repeatedly H " asked. The authors of the movement H claim the United States will have a H completely efficient scheme of defenso H only when a system of universal mili- H tary training is adopted by Congress. H An advocate of the plan says: H "Under universal service all men, H instead of a patriotic few, -v V-111 be H called upon, in the hour of necessity, H to rally around the colors and fight H for our common country. Universal H military service will abolish the evils H of the volunteer system by which, If H YOU go to the front, YOU stand a fair H chance of having some one who didn't H go, steal YOUR JOB." H ) Chas. J. Bonaparte, former attor- i' ney general, and a member of the advisory board of the American De- fense Society, explains the principles W of universal military training: H "With respect to universal military W training, we should first note a ser- H ious misapprehension of fact which H exists on the part of many well-mean- H ing but ill-informed citizens, a misap- H prehension which is also designedly W and artfully used by others, better in- H formed, perhaps, but not so well mcan- B ing, to darken public counsel and to W confuse and mislead public opinion. It H is often asserted, and yet more fre- W quently assumed, in the 'discussion of 1 current events, that compulsory mlli- H l tary service is something now and un- Hj ) heard of in the United States, some- Hl ' thing more or less at variance with W the traditions of our early national M life and with the practice and the H counsels of our country's fathers. This W is not merely untrue; it is precisely Hj the reverse of the truth. H "Those who now advocate the en- H rollment as soldiers or sailors of all H our citizens fit to bear arms are urg- Hl ing a return to principles universally H accepted and practically applied dur- H ing the first fifty years of our nation- Hj al history, as well as in our entire Hl colonial period, and fully sanctioned H by laws in force today and which have Hl been in force, in substantially their Hl present form, from the very founda- H I tion of our government H "What is really new in the proposed H change of system Is that its advo- H cates ask us to train and organize H American citizens for the efficient H discharge of this part of their duties, H and to so train and organize them H while we are at peace instead of wait- Hl ing until war is actually upon us. j This suggestion, however, is now only H because it is adapted to new condi- H ' tions. Steam, electricity and the vast H developments, of ship-building have 1 changed the oceans which waBh our 1 shores from barriers of defonso into j avenues of aggression. The Atlantic j I and Pacific no longer protect us, as H , they did in the days when an invad- H j ing army would have been in the H I words of a well-known military writer, H j 'carried in sailing ships moving, with 1 f uncertain speed, from 50 to 100 miles j - a day and each carrying from 200 to Hl 250 soldiers.' 1 , "Now that all the great military H j nations have at their instant disposal j j vast merchant marines, including H huge steamers of thirty or forty or 1 fifty thousand tons and each capable j of transporting eight or ten thousand H troops and of making, with certainty, 1 five or six hundred miles in twenty- H four hours, an ocean has been con- 1 verted, for military purposes, into a H gigantic railway, with unlimited track- H age, and a wholly uncertain terminus, H a terminus which may be shifted, ac- 1 cording to the needs or plans of our H . foe, from Maine to Texas or from the H Mexican frontier to that of British Co- H lumbia. Even If the French army had H been no larger in August, 1914, than 1 ( our regular army la today, still the H Germans would have needed twice H ( as much time to march a hundred Hj thousand men into Paris than they H vrould need to put the same force in H Washington or Nev York, had they H command of the sea. Hj "Another portentious phenomenon Hl t of recent times has been the enor- H ' mous Increase in armaments since the H ! Franco-German war of 1870. In 1870 HI the Germans put into the field sev- H 1 enteen corps d'armee. At last ac- H ( counts they had some seventy, with 1 reserves and garrisons expanded in H , proportion. Even the Immense size H of these armies, however, Is of less H moment in our case than the amaz- H ing rapidity wherewith they can now M be assembled, equipped and put in mo- H tion. The process of mobilization has H been literally reduced to a matter of H hours. In 1870 it was nineteen days H after the declaration of war when H the German troops crossed the French H frontier in force, and that was then H regarded as a wonderfully short time H for the purpose. In 1914 the first H German declaration of war was pre- H sented at Petrograd at 7 o'clock in H the evening of August 1st, and, about H noon of August 4 th, the invasion of 1 Belgium began. It is reasonably, in-, deed quite certain, that if our assail ant had command of tho sea, the at tack on us would have followed the declaration of war bo quickly that bul a few days, at the most, would be given to us to prepare to meet it Under these conditions, we cannot with safety spend months or even weeks, nay, we cannot, afford to lose dayB or hours, in teaching raw recruits re-cruits the goose step or how to stand at attention, when any moment may bring an Invading enemy to our shores, and expose some part, at least, of our country to tho fate of Serbia or Montenegro or Bolgiumor northern France. "We would teach our boys discipline disci-pline and the use of arms, so hat they may fight well, precisely as we teach them to read and write, and at least the rudiments of physical sciences and history and geography and mathematics, so that they may work to good purpose and Increase the nation's wealth, and yet more clearly so that tlmy may vote with enlightenment enlight-enment and public spirit and choose wisely our public servants. We would instill into their minds the great military virtues of self-sacrifice and obedience to lawful authority, Just as we try to teach them honesty and industry in-dustry and sobriety, the mastery of their passions and respect for the rights of others. Most of all, we should seek to make them patriots; 'for, if they do not grow up patriots, they will be, In effect, public enemies, ene-mies, and all the more odious and noxious and dangerous public enemies because we have given them an edu cation at public expense and entrusted to them a share in tho government of our country." nn |