The National tribune., 1882-04-01
A Dip into the Future.

A Dip into the Future.
The Regular Army of the United States
has an effective strength of little more than
twenty-five thousand officers and men. 1t
has no navy at all worth speaking of, al
though it possesses sufficient number OF
experienced officers and seamen to man
respectable fleet if it had any ships worth
manning. So far as its apparent means Of
defense go, the Republic would be powerless
to cope with any foreign principality should
any uutoward event involve it in another
war England, France, land locked Ger
many, Russia, Italy, Spain, Sweden
compared to tie armament of any one Of
these powers our own is insignificant On
sea or on land we should be worsted at the
first encounter Even the South American
republics are better of. The Chilian fleet
could lombard New York from the bay with
impunity, and the Iuckless citizens would be
forced to witness the destruction of the me-
tropolis without striking blow. One such
ingincible gunboat as the famous Peru
Wan ram Hauscar could drive American
commerce--the little that remains Of it
from the sea. Everyone admits that this is
so: it has been repeatedly asserted on the floor
of Congress and openly confessed in the De-
,,or+r,au+ rapor+r Va+ no ODa aDnporS 10 he
alarmed at the situatiOn-although in point
of fact the defenseless condition of the coun-
| try may at any time become a source of grave
| solicitude-and up to the present time no
! continental nation has ventured to take adj
vantage Of it. One of the chief reasons
undoubtedly is that the Republic gives no
offense to its neighbors and never NEEDLES
with their affairs 1t does not aspire to
plant its flag in Africa or India or Egypt or
to improve the morals of the heather, but
rather within its own borders to furnish
! safe refuge and asylum for the oppressed OF
other climes and stimulate the development
of its own resources. Another reason may
be found also in the fact that gradually the
old world has become dependent upon the
new for its food supplies while the New
! has become the largest consumer OF Old
World products. The commercial ties which
bind the continental nations to the United
States are undoubtedly too strong to be sew
cred upon slight provocation.
1t must be confessed, however, that the
main reason why our scanty military and
naval armament occasion no disquletude,
lies in the sublime confidence of the Ameri-
can people in their ability to make good this
seeming deficiency whenever an actual
necessity arises for doing so. The wonderful
fertility in resources which was displayed
in the late war has made an enduring i'm
preston on the character of the Nation, and
inspired it with confidence in itself which
nothing but disastrous experience hereafter
will ever shake. The alacrity with which
the citizens of the Republic responded to the
|
bellion will never be forgotten, and it will
always be said that it affords a sufficient
guarantee that in any future peril the Nation
will not lack for defenders. The belief is
not unreasonable, and we should be the last
to dispute its soundness, but if the Govern
ment bases its confidence upon the achieve
ments of its ex-soldiers and Sailors it seems
TO us that it should be its most sacred care
to see that the interests of its late defenders
are not, by ever solittle, slighted or neglected
1t cannot hope to see the spirit of patriotism
which burned so brightly in the battles OF
the rebellion, kept alive in succeeding gen.
erations unless it fulflls its whole duty to the
present. Nothing will so quickly chill that
spirit as an attempt on its part to evade the
obligation which the war imposed upon it
to care for and support the veterans who
were disabled in its service. The cold, cal
culating statistician may succeed in frighten-
, ing the thoughtless into the belief that the
, cost of pensions is greater than the country
can afford to pay, but just as surely as the
f preservation of the Union depended in 81
upon the willingness Of the people to take
) arms in its defense, just as surely any failure
: now on the part of the Government to fully
5 reauite its defenders, viii imperiI its safety
f hereafter. The country can afford to bt
5 lavish in compensating its soldiers for theil
3 services it cannot afford to be ungrateful
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9 TRIBUNE is only one dollar per year. NJ
] ex-soldier can afford to be without it..