The times., 1897-08-29
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Captain Mahan's Twentieth Cen
fury Outlook.
AMERICA AND ITS FUTURE
Changed and Changing Conditions
which Bring the United States
Into Close Connection With the
European Powers-Cur Needs on
Land and Sea-The Coming War.

The uutlook-the signs of the times
vision, peertag into the future. to see
more than as through glass, darkly;
men as trees walking, one cannot say cer-
tainly whittier. Yet signs may be noted,
even II they cannot be fully or precisely
interpreted; and among them l should
certainly say is TO be observed the general
outward impulse OF all the civilized ma
iions Of the iirst order OF greatness-eX-
cept our own. Bound and swatned IN TIE
traditions Of our own eighteenth century,
when we were as truly external TO the
European world as we are now a part OF
it. we, under the speciuus plea of peace
end pI entv-fulness OF bread-Aug an
ideal cf Isolation and refuse TO recognize
the solidarity OF interest with which the
world Of European civilization must not
only look forward to, but go out TO meet.
q future that, whether near or remote,
seems TO await it. say we do 50, ] should
more sareiy express my thought by say
ing that the outward impulse already is
in the ma s0rity OF the nation, shown
when particular occasions arouse their at
tention, rat that it lis as yet retarded, and
whose yieK.s Of national policy are gov
erned by maxims framed in the infancy
OF the Republic
Coincident witi. the long pause which
the French revolution imposed upon the
process OF external colonial expansion
which WAS 50 marked a feature OF the
eighteenth century, there occurred an
Other singular manifestation OF national
energies, in the creation OF the great
Etaneing armies of modern days, them
selves the outcome of the levee en- Inasse,
and Of the general conscription which
the revolution bequeathed 10 us along
with its expositions of the rights OF man.
Beginning with the birth of the century,
perfected during it's continuance, its close
finds then III full maturity and power,
with a development ia numbers, in re-
serve force, in organization, and in ma
terial for the war over which the econo-
mist perPetuaIly walls, whose existence
he denounces aud whose abolition he de-
mands. As freedom has grown and
strengthened, 50 have they grown aud
strengthened. Is this singular product
of z century, WHOSE gains for political
liberty are uudeniable, mere gloss pei
version Of human activities, as is 50 con
fIdently Claimed on many sides? Or is
there possibly in IL also d sign OF the
times 10 cOlHe, to be studied in connec-
uion with other signs?
What has been the effect of these great
armies? Manifold, doubtless. On the eoD-
nonical side there is the dininution Of pro
daotion, the tax upon mems time and lives,
the disadvantages or evils 80 dinned daily
into aur ears that there is no need of re-
peating them here. Butts there nothing 10
the credit side OF the account, even per-
haps a balance in their favor? Is il
nothing, in an age when authority is
weakening and restraints are loosening,
that the youth OF a nation passes through
q school in which order obedience and rev
eTeace are learned; where the body is
systematically developed; wkere ideals Of
kelf-surr ender, Of courage, of manhood,
are inculcated, necessarily, because funda-
mental conditions of military success? Is
1t nothing that masses Of youths out of the
fields and the streets are brought to.
gether, mingled with others Of higher in
tellectual aDtecedents, taught to work and
10 act together, mind in contact with mind,
ana carrying back into civil life that re-
spect for constituted authority which is
urgently needed in these days, when law
lessHess Is erected into a religion?
II II q suggestive lesson To watch the
expression and movements of a number
Of rustic conscnpts undergoing their first
drills, and TO contrast them with the
finished results as seen in the faces and
bearing OF the soldiers that throng the
streets. A military training is not the
worst preparation for an active life, any
more than the years spent at college are
time lost, as another school of utilitarians
insists. is il nothing that wars are less
frequent, peace better secured, by the mu-
tual respect of nations for each others
strength: and that, when convulsion does
come, IL passes rapidly, lea wing the ordi-
nary course Of events to resume sooner, and
therefore more easily? War now not only
occurs more rarely, but has rather the
character of an occasional excess, from
which Tecoveryis easy. a century or more
ago il was q chronic disease. And withai,
the military spirit, the preparedness not
merely the willingness, which is a differ
ent thing-to fight in good cause, which
is distinct good, is more widely diffused
and more thoroughly possessed than ever
it was when the soldier was merely the
paid man. It is the nations now that are
In arms, and not simply the servants of the
king.
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