Defenseless America

m General

's Islan

ry 6th

Mr. M

nd that he has a military as well as a civic responsibility. All this can be done without creating a spirit of militarism or of aggressiveness. Take Switzerland as an example. Here we have a country where every boy and young man who is physically sound receives, largely as a part of his school work, military training to the extent necessary to make him an efficient soldier. This is a policy which ought to be followed with our youth. It is not enough that a man should be willing to be a soldier. He should also

their country. This I believe is the ideal we should strive for. We need a standing army big enough for the peace work of the day, i.e., the garrisoning of our foreign possessions,

t proper preparation. If we do we shall meet with an overwhelming disaster.

plined, was once described by Light Horse Harry Lee, of Revolutionary fame, as murd

truly

ard

udson

. Mark

lyn,

le, but unfortunately they are already known to the military authorities of all the other nations. Other nations are all very well aware of our unpreparedness; the

ance is largely due to the beguilers who have set the face of a great mass of our people against a

act that we have been fortunate enough to have a pretty clear stream to ourselves all the while, with no breakers and no

0, General Emory Upton

in the private office of the Secretary of War. Wherever they may be lost, it is the people who suffer and the soldiers who die, with the knowledge and the conviction that our military policy is a crime against life, a crime against prop

re living in a fool's paradise. Some day you will wake up w

national defense in time of war, to build up and man our Navy, construct and man coast fortifications, and enlist, arm, and train an adequ

in time of peace, should not exceed twenty-five thousand. Since then, Congress has several times raised the limit until we now may have an

utlying possessions, the sight of an American soldier of our regula

ations, even as a pretense of garrisoning them. This leaves only 30,481 mobile troops, including engineers, cavalry, infantry, and field

d officers altogether. In time of war not a man of our militia could well be spared for military service to repel an invader,

would take a month to mobilize even

,000 being available, and only 30,000 of our regulars being available, we could pl

ine, and to save the day in case of a reverse, and possibly to turn defeat into victory, and at the worst to cover a retreat, and save the army from rout. This same need

d Enlisted Men of Uni

what we ought to have, and of what we must have to save this

rsonnel in order to get our field artillery ready for duty. It would take us four times as long, therefore, to get our own artillery

pped by isolation, not the enemy-i

s the best equipped with artillery, God could no

ive that we should have seventy-nine additional batteries, with six guns each, even moderately to complete our equipme

on trains, and without officers or men for the new organization, and w

our regular Army is equipped with field mortars or howitzers of the larger cali

ngth in men and guns, but also they have each an efficient system whereb

tal Is

time required for us to raise and train armies and equip them with shoulder-rifles, automatic guns, quick-firing cannon, siege howitzers, ammunition supply trains, and to build, man, and equip with guns, battleships, ba

merican, Februar

oops of cavalry to provide the divisional cavalry alone. There is an alarming absence of auxiliary troops. Most of the militia cavalry is poorly mounted, much of it practically without mounts, and, with the exception of a few special organizations, has had little or no field training. It nee

ittee in 1912, by General William Crozier, Chief of Ordnance of the Unite

an have; the easiest, least expensive, and most expeditious, if you are considering large bodies of troops and large amounts of material. The fuel charge for transportation in good tramp steamers does not amount to one two-hundred-and-fiftieth part of a cent per ton per mile. The sea is a splendid means of transp

ge of

icers killed, wounded, and missing during the first six months of the European war

coast-defense works." We should also require an additional 500,000 men at the very least. To be rational, we should have a mobile army of a million men. In this enormous country a standing army of a million men would, comparatively speaking, be

es should at once be taken to increase tenfold the officer-making capacity of West Point. Also, any private in the ranks should, by meritorious conduct manifesting

y, has already declared war on that house. The bank-raider who has begun to spy on the cashier of a bank and the nocturnal habits of the people of the

lared war on the United States. Their spies have been working among us for years, and they have

our lack of ammunition are very clearly put i

cent. for the entire project of guns (1,292). Half of this is under manufacture or contract, so that there is not more than 15 per cent. actually completed. For the guns on hand and under manufacture we have, of ammunition on hand and under manufacture, about 41 per cent.; actually on hand, approximately, 20.5 per cent. For the guns actually made (634) we have 27 per cent. of the ammunition necessary. For the guns now in the hands of the regular army and militia we have about 44 per cent. of the ammunition necessary. It should be rememb

and ammunition, it will take between eight and nine years to complete our present modest estimate for

gular Armies o

f of Ordnance, 1914, that no permanen

. They are taken from the Report of Major-General Wotherspoon, Chief of Staff of

nited States Army, exclu

cers

88

ized s

cers

95

, sho

cers

7,

rties, belong to the non-combatant and non-effective class, and are not with the

artillery, and infantry) is 58.05 per c

cers

51

cians, scouts, etc.,

cers

45

in continental

ed men

uni

90,850 artil

ve on

anufactured

000,000 rifl

ve on

nufactured 2

f 9-1/2, 12-1/2, a

6-inch howitzers and sma

li

ent. have had any rifle practice, and only 33.43 per c

0 militiamen, 23,000 failed to present themselves for the annual inspection; 31,000 absented themselves

were unable, in 1913, to qualify even as third-class marksmen, and tha

people, and prayed that they might hear his appeal to prepare for war with Germany. Like a voice crying in

England should have enlisted and begun to train 800,000. Also, he threatened to abolish Lord Roberts' pension if he did not keep quiet. The grand old soldier was spared by a kind Provid

arms with all speed in preparation against war. He has even greater reason than Lord Roberts had, because our

m the American Lord Rober

manding an army in the field any assurance of success if attacked by an arm

d-artillery guns, for troops armed with the small arms are as effectual against this fire until they arrive at about 2,000 yards from it as though they were armed with knives. This field-artillery material and ammunition cannot be quickly obtained. In fact, the Chief of Ordnance estimates that almost one year woul

ammunition in from three to four months, and after getting under way could turn out about 100,000 or 200,000 rounds per month for two or three months, and after a total time of six months the production would perhaps equal 250,000 rounds per month. The best estima

ll be limited to what the arsenals can turn out. At present this is about 1,600 rounds per day, running three shifts, and this ammunition, under ordinary battle conditions, could be fired by eight guns in one day of battle. If guns are not supplied on the battle

xpended during the war, exclusive of the

e days they expen

at Mukden fired 11,159 roun

guns fired in three hours 2

Siberians, with 16 batteries of 8 guns each

e artillery of the First Infantry Div

were not occupied by firing, 42 guns fired 8,000 round

given its proper quota of field-artillery. To do this this artillery must be on hand, for it cannot be supplied after war is started. A municipality might as well talk about buying its fire-hose after the conflagration has started. A fire department without its proper e

ress To

ess. It is true enough that the main blame rests with Congress, but it

in their district, or a river deepened, or widened, or want a navy yard in their state, and he is ready to vote for similar concessions to all other Congressmen who will vote for the concessions his constituents require. Every Congressman is mindful of

g, and care less, about national defenses. No calamity has ever come upon us for lack of defenses. Why should they worry? Also, they have been assured from the pulpit and the Chautauqua and by circulars sent out by the peace societies tha

army-an army big enough to intercept an invading army that might be l

re to yield to this point of view, and get along with a comparatively small effective army, it is absolutely indispensable that we should have a navy certainly as powerful as any

e to be adopted, we could get along with a much smaller army. By the adoption of such a system, we should soon have a very large trained reserve force in civil life, which could be drawn upon in case of need. Assuming the adequa

termed a menace to our liberties, and, as ex-Secretary Meyer has said, we are ric

ng and service in preparation for nation

ecause a country is governed by a congress and a president elected by the people, that all its institutions

ry, as to make absolutism wince. The cities of Germany are governed so wisely and so well that could we hav

as for him. None of us likes our taxes any too well. Nevertheless, they bring home t

vors. Benjamin Franklin desiring the favorable regard of a prominent pe

implants in them a sense of duty and obligation to the government,

he government and the government's obligations to him are vague and crude to the las

he right to tax the individual for financial support of the government, so it has the right to tax the individual for military support of the government. Con

equently, the people owned the state, and the state owned the people. It is proper that the state and the individu

s that practised in Switzerland. Switzerland is a typical democracy, and yet no country in the w

a hundred thousand Swiss mobilized on the frontier. They were the best-armed, the best-trained, and altogether the most efficient soldiers in Europe. Every man of them could shoot to kill. They we

oring country, but they hold themselves in perfect readiness to see to it that

re exacting, more scientific, until, finally, the young men find real guns in their hands, find themselves commanded by, and receiving instructions from, real officers, and they are taught to shoot. When their school training is over,

is taught obedience, his powers of perception are quickened, his alertness increased, his physique greatly strengthened, his health benefited, and his personal habits governed by laws of temperance and hygiene, with the result that his efficiency f

"Peace Insurance," ably expresses the

these schools disclaim any attempt to train soldiers, but include military training merely to make better citizens. They find that the man trained militarily learns obedience, promptness,

y from $500 to $1,500 per year to secure this training for their boys, surely there is some gain to the nation in the men who rec

al and general government economics, has made the German people more efficient and potential per capita than the people of any other country on earth. Consequently, we must admit either that the Germans are inherently s

efficiency. It is not an unreasonable conclusion, in view of the evidence, that G