Show I II I IN TIME OF PEACE IMBRICATE MERICAN cocksureness of victory in n case of A is based war with any of the tho first class powers upon unlimited confidence in our om resources Admitting that our eminence is rather in the industrial industrial indus indus- trial arts there is n n. deep seated belief in each and every one of us freedoms freedom's sons wot would d respond so heartily to national defense as fiS to hurl hurt back baek whatever what what- c ever er unfriendly foot might press the tho soil oil of liberty This TIlls firm finn faith in our warlike prowess is predicated f primarily on the wealth wo o could translate into I fighting lighting machinery and the tho equipment for great volunteer armies and aud secondarily upon our unI unbroken un un- un I broken record of success in warfare I A word of warning or an effort at nt analysis in inI order to bring disillusionment inspires a n species of I hydrophobia in tho the enthusiastic idealists who aro are prosecuting tho peace propaganda But a practical I of world conditions and the part we havo lavo survey sun u 1 1 1 1 1 1 41 ln grown to play piny in ill tiem rno HIU H U U tum iw even c en soft speaking may not render us immune from froit j trouble unless we own a n big stick and possess th the tho capacity capaci to smite whatever hostile head appears Great national resources are arc our national shield and buckler but it is ia idle to place such unlimited I dependence in that which lies unused The Tho richest I nation Dation of tho earth better capable of maintaining aI a n I powerful army and wd an un efficient navy Y than any finy other I we are aro just now no pursuing a n purblind policy in naval I affairs Our standing army so far for as fiS numbers and find mobilised efficiency is concerned would bo be scarcely scarcely- worth consideration wore were we to be embroiled with a aI I nation less s honeycombed with graft lack of patrie patriotism patriotism patri patri- e and innate cowardice than was tho the Spain we found so O etsy esy a a. victim At the tho close of the war with mth that decadent country countr a high h American army officer remarked V We Wc e had a nice nico little army we spent pent thirty years in developing and improving anda and ana a weeks week's campaign shot it to pieces We know that the tho rank and file of our army composed as it is of intelligent Americans exceeds in personnel any other in t The he world orld that is true e Our officers arc are trained in tho the best military college of modern times the sC scattered units of our army I axe are maintained at a high state of efficiency But 0 these units widely diffused as they are ore lack training train train- jag inS by corps and by divisions and are arc wanting in I mobilized field efficiency when President Taft concentrated concentrated concentrated con con- a great proportion of our our military strength 0 on tho the Mexican border at fit the inception of the l fadero I revolution it required five fi days to get enough troops there to frighten oven cen a gang of opium smugglers I Military and naval experts have 0 sounded grave warnings without ma avail J. J The fear of militarism in inI inspires inspires in- in I spires a great many well meaning but mistaken folk I t to encourage the government in its erroneous policy The Tho critic who would expo expose e the errors and point tho the way to a l sane definite policy of strengthening our preparedness for war Avar is derided an ill-founded ill unseasonable un un- un- un t seasonable belief in the power of our wealth to save us from disaster m militates against earnest intelligent intelligent intelli intelli- I gent consideration of what is s growing to be a 3 great national problem I Scarcely an international question arises arise anywhere anywhere any any- where hero but that we obtrude our 11 advice usually ly unasked un un- nI n- n t I asked and more often unwelcome W We Wc c depend upon I some and unscheduled luck lucky star to prevent pre pre- I vent rent our national nose being pulled by somebody that permits his irritation at nt Yankee prosperity and eminence emi emi- a nence to outrun his discretion W Wo We 0 talk gran grandly ly of I being beinS able to throw many millions of fighting men into the field forgetting that nono none is skilled or accustomed ac ac- to field service and that the thc months l we e should require to mold them them into the semblance of I an 10 army would open the wa way 9 for a n foreign foe toI to I establish itself at vantage points from rom which clisI dislodgment dislodgment dis- dis I lodgment would be possible only after long and deadly campaigns It is idle in this connection to I cite tho the conversion of the citizen soldiery into a fighting fighting fighting fight fight- ing force at the beginning of tho the Spanish war nr few who were thero will for et the tho fever eTer camps of ChickI Chickamauga Chickamauga Chick- Chick and Montauk Point I America has the of a splendid navy tho the two-battleship two program would maintain it at proper I fighting strength We Vc h have he e in tho the regular regula-r army army I I tho the skeleton of a military establishment capable o of improvement to fc adequate national de defense ense But we e weI I scatter catter it over O thousands of miles of our national t domain without cohesion the benefit of training inI in I unison or anything else that military intelligence and arid common sense dictates |