The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-10

and shall become the property of said company,
troop or battery.
1t is perfectly clear that this scheme
does not contemplate the creation Of
standing army, for the troops would re-
main under the control of the states in
time of peace precisely as at present.
Under this scheme congress could well
afford to vote larger appropriations than
are given at present, because the govern
ment would thus secure uniformity in the
arming, equipping and training of the
National Guard and a high standard Of
efficiency. Instead of 100000 militia on
paper, of various degrees of worthlessness,
we would have 100. 600 well-trained militia,
which would quickly leaven in every state
the raw lump of volunteers whose vast
masses we should summon into service in
the event of great war. Instead Of
making militia companies occasionally
efficient, under this scheme Of Federal
supervision and support they would be-
come universally well armed, well drilled,
well disciplined and fairly well instructed
in the theory and practice of the soldier,
whether in camp, on the march, or in
garrison. If the National Guard should
be organized under this scheme it would
cost about $685. per man year.
Each of her soldiers annually costs Ger
many 500, Austria $40, France $242 and
England 1871, while the state of New York
pays for each member of her guard $35 q
year. A plan which would give us the
best soldiers in the world for $685. is at
least worth considering. Organization,
Lieutenant Evans says, is the secret OF
success in war. With the present militia
thoroughly organized, under the super
vision of the government, the United
States would have a nucleus of an army in
itself formidable. Instead of lot of
hirelings, who, when ted, clothed and paid
would about as soon shoot one man as
another, there would be some of the best
blood in the country organized and in con-
dition to be put in the field on q weeks
notice.
This plan was explained by its authors
in public addresses before the recent state
militia encampments of Missouri and Kan
sas, and was approved by the adiutant
generals of both states. The officers of
the militia followed Lieutenants Bachelor
and Evans in speeches upon the subject
and all expressed willingness to cooper
ate in this plan for the naturalization of
the militia of the various states. Unless
this plan is adopted our militia will re-
main worthless as an efficient nucleus of
an army tit to defend the nation in event
of war. Congress is parsimonious today,
but congress could afford to be liberal in
its appropriations under the proposed law,
which would at small cost practically in
crease the United States army in time of
war by 10000 men. Our standing army
today Is about 5000 strong, exclusive of
the hospital corps and general service
clerks and messengers. It is scattered over
vast territory in small detachments, and
under the present system of recruiting it
in the large cities it is composed of lower
order Of men than it should be obliged to
accept. This weakness of our regular
ignorance and indifference of public
opinion, which is carefully nursed by the
mugwump metropolitan journals of large
circulation at the East, who ignorantly
assume that we shall never have another
war, or if we do that ''the United States
can fight the world at days notice"
God help the United States if this stupid
faith to fight great military power at
short notice is ever seriously tested; our
safety today does not lie in our developed
offensive and defensive military strength,
which is contemplate; it lies solely IN the
fact that every great European power has
today too many warning interests and IL
valries at home to spare men and money
for war with America. That is our pres
ent security, but there is no certainty that
the present situation will always be main
tanned. Under the treaty of 1917 we can
put upon the great lakes no naval force,
while Canada with her system of ship
canals can admit powerful feet of Brit
ish gunboats to the lakes. There is moth
ing today to prevent the complete occupa-
ton of the lakes by an enemy's feet.