Show dispelling THE FOG by charles michelson if there is anything on which the american people are united it Is on oil the necessity of our preparing ade q cately to resist and repel attack on this country where there still exists some un 1 certainty is on the question of what constitutes preparedness it is not enough to appropriate vast sums of money to build build battleships a myriad of airplanes defenses for our outlying posses ions tanks and all the other paraphernalia pher nalia that modern war compels pursuit planes will not chase hostile bombers by themselves skilled personnel has to direct them expert gunners have to be found to lire the machine guns effectively antiaircraft anti aircraft guns are complicated mechanisms we probably need more of them than any nation that ev ever er was called upon to protect itself and there must be trained specialists to handle them fortresses are only worth while if they are manned by sufficient skilled forces to make them impregnable once upon a time the embattled farmers were good enough to meet and defeat the army that beset us at lexington but that type of combat lives only in history nowadays as the terrible experience of franco france czechoslovakia poland norway and denmark has so tragically demonstrated rated valor and patriotism abw pitifully inadequate ito to cope with modern modem invasions our defend c r rs must have the latest and strongest weapons and moreover must know how to handle them and that sort of knowledge is not gamed gained in a day training train ng personnel onnel soldiering is no longer a pursuit that anybody can take up overnight it needs no alarmist to point out what a dire thing it would be to send even the biggest army of raw recruits to meet an onslaught by an rimy eimy and navy with every equip merit ment which science has been able to produce under officers who have leen been schooled for years in directing machine warfare the whole of our peacetime peace time army would not be c nourish to service and man the air fleets we are preparing to con that leaves only the partly trained national guard as our present reserve and at this writing some people are demurring at having in g the national guard mustered in tu to service it seems rather obvious that the regulars have tr to be kept in readiness n ess to garrison the panama canal perhaps puerto rico and if the assault we guard against conics in litin americ i we may have to 10 take care of that situation as well that situation may never arise it is certain that it is less likely to arist if we are prepared tor for it than if we are not then comes come the matter of training camps for officers and soldiers and the problem is to get the best material to teach and train A good many of our people shy at the idea of conscription and there are a lot of plans germinating to handle this question if we are going to form a competent army of a million or more we have got to get started if we are going to have ino big navy programmed ana appropriated for we have got to nave sailors and marines and officers ceis tor for our present naval force numbers barely enough to take care of our present not inconsiderable fleet somehow the resistance to mustering in the man strength of this country is coupled with the declaration that we must not send our men to fight Eu ropes battles not for europe I 1 have been around the united states a great deal and I 1 have yet to meet anybody of importance who had the remotest idea of transporting an army across th the atlantic in the first place there gere 1 lycett no place we could be sure of landing such an army the british isles which apparently are arc to be one ot of the i main theatres theartres the atres of war from now on have about as many soldiers as they can handle and the problem of feeding and housing additional for ses in large numbers might be more of an embarrassment than a help it was different in the world war with a continent to range ovar and ports all over the western european coasts for disembarkation in other words it is doubtful if we could get into the european war even if anybody wanted to what we are aiming at is to keep the war from getting over here via south america or canada or by any other way station we should not be very comfortable with herr hillers Hit lers forces as near neighbors even it if our monroe doctrine did not pledge us to prevent the shifting of colonies in the western hemisphere from one foreign nation to another let alone the of any of our neighbor nations it goes without saying that w must be prepared to get along with the present at least me british fleet in maintaining out or creed of america tor for the ameri amer cans so we must figure that we are on our own in what ever the immediate future has in store for us fortunately or unfortunately we have a presidential election in pro gress while we are getting ready to defend ourselves ton consequently there is bound to be a lot of politics involved in the discussions of how we are to do the job perhaps no administration has ever gone us IS far as the president has gone to minimize the political cal aspect of things he has taken into his cabinet two of the most P prominent romi nl republican party non arna a former secretary of state and the minority bartys candidates candi dats data for vice president at the last election defense coers corn first he did not pick near republican or men likely to change their political faith but outstanding fellows these two men are to direct the army and navy but the fault friders are try ing to make the country believe that even this was some soma soil of maneuvering for partisan advantage this sort of fussing s not gol goin ng to make any difference in the long run if it comes to the big test our citizens are patriots first and pe publicans public ans or democrats second but I 1 the happening may delay matters to some extent and we cannot well afford delay As to the quarrels over the matter of how to get a suitable army we should keep in mind that if the worst eventuates we need the fin est cst best trained army we can put together and if the dire possibility does not come to basswell pas swell mi military training never did anybody any harm |