The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-15
Are We Prepared for War.


Nov that the House has passed resolu-
tion authorizing the President to inter
vene between Spain and the Cuban insur-
gents and drive the Spaniards out of Cuba
il Is time for Congress to find out how
much of an army the President has at
his command with which to execute the
purpose expressed in that resolution. The
fact must not pe overlooked that Spain
has an army i'm Cuba of at least 125,oO0 ef-
fective soldiers These soldiers are arm
ed with up-to-date guns and are organized
in accordance with the latest improve
ments of military science. The most of
them have been long enough in Cuba to
be, in a great measure, acclimated. 1t is
apparent, therefore, that in Cuba the
Spaniard is not an enemy to be despised.
It would be much wiser to overrate him as
a soldier than TO underrate him.
And what have we, in the shape of an
army. with which to intervene in Cuba
and drive the Spaniards out of the island?
We have an army of about 26,0OO men, and
a very good army it is But all of it Gould
not be spared for a Cuban invading expedi-
ton. officers and men are needed all
along our immense coast line to handle the
guns which have been, or are being put
into position TO protect our coast cities.
At some of the ports the guns are not in
position yet, and the prospect is that they
will not be in month or more.
1t is apparent therefore, that we have
ha inv asin Of
Cuba-too small for such an undertaking.
But, 1t may be said, we have 100000 or
more well drilled militiamen. Yes, we
have good men in the militia, the best in
the world, but the President has no au-
thority TO call them into service for the
purpose of invading Cuba. The militia
can be called into service for two purposes
only, namely, to repel invasion and sup
press rebellion, and then for only nine
months. That is the law, and Congress
has no authority to change the law.
But it may be said that there would be
no difficulty in getting volunteers for ser
vice in Cuba. There might not be, but 1t
is not certain that there would be a rush
to enlist for war in Cuba, particularly dur
ing the sickly season. Indeed there might
not be a rush TO enlist al any season for
the purpose of securing a stable and indie
pendent government for the Cubans.
There appears to be a great deal of sym
pathy for the Cubans, but not of the kind
to cause men to make sacrifices of life and
property, and the sympathy is not
among the kind of people who enlist in the
regular army. Efforts have been made
for several weeks to enlist 1900 men for
two artillery regiments recently authorized
by Congress, but so far as we have learn
ed they have not been so successful as TO
justify the conclusion that there would be
no difficulty in increasing the army to al
most any reasonable proportions for
war in Cuba. Sufficient inducements
might bring gratifying results in the way
of enlistments, and probably would but it
would take weeks to collect the raw mate
rial and get it into fighting shape; and
when the army was landed in. Cuba it's
greatest foe would not be the Spanish
army, unless the landing took place in
the winter season. The greatest foe would
be the fever.
We mention these things because the
House seems to have forgotten them when
1t passed the resolution directing the
President to drive the Spaniards out of
Cuba and assist the Cubans to set up an
Independent government of their own. If
We have war with Spain it ought to be
short and sharp. We could not make it
such a war unless prepared for it. We
are not prepared. That Is evident. A
long war would produce stagnation in
business and stagnation in business would
produce. such discomfort as would make
Congress wish il had not meddled in Gu
ban affairs to the extent of undertaking
to drive the Spaniards out of Cuba.