The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-12
GETTING READY.

The attention of the newspapers, and
 the attention of the country, are con-
 centrated on the navy and the army
 just now. From every point where
 ships or troops are gathered come dis
 patches announcing their present ana
 prospective movements. Some of these
 are absurd, others are misleading, but
 they testify to the general fact that
 our military forces are being put into
 shape for action to meet possible con
 tingencies. So far from being an indi-
 cation of war, it is the most hopeful
 sign of peace. It is the unready and
 the negligent who are in the most dan
 ger. Everywhere Is heard the note of
 busy preparation and all branches or
 the public service. the state troops ln-
 cluded, are receiving useful lessons in
 the work for which they are intended.
 The questions that come to our office
 show that the militia are on the alert
 and anxious to know their duty. One
 eager inquiry is as to what authority
 the president has over them in time or
 war. To this we may answer that it is,
 generally speaking, the same as the
 authority he has over the regular
 army. The commander-in-chie has the right, under the constitution, when war or insurrection threaten, to
 call upon the militia of the United
 States for service. He is made the sole
 judge of the emergency and there is no
 power anywhere under the constitu- tinn tn l,ie pnnp11Ginn of fact He can call the militia into service and send them where he pleases even to Cuba or to Spain. The governors have the right, how
 ever to select the officers of the troops belonging to their respective states,
 and as matter of practice and cour-
 tesy, the call for militia is made through them. Their authority over the militia ceases as soon as the troops are mustered into the service of the United States. According to our un- l derstanding of the law the president has the right to call upon the members of the Seventh regiment of New York; | for example, for duty. As a matter of | fact this would not be done. During | the war of the rebellion each of the | several states was called upon to fur nish it's quota of the total number of | troops called for by the president, and | this precedent would no doubt be fol- lowed in the case of another war, so | far as it could be- Danger to a partic- ular locality might, however, result in a more immediate call upon the troops l nearest to the seat of danger and best | prepared for prompt action.
 l In case of extremity there would be such an uprising of great people as would shake the world. It is not num- | bers or zeal that we lack, but experi- | ence, and an appreciation of the neces- sities of military service. The country | is still full of old soldiers of large ex- | perience who are no longer fit for ac- | tive duty, but whose counsel and guid- ance would be invaluable if those need | ing it were wise enough to make use of 1 it. The grave danger is that ignorant 1 and over confident assumption would | be allowed to usurp the place of knowledge The artillery bill, for ex- | ample, was thrust aside last week be- cause New York lawyer who is ap- parently more ignorant of war than a member of a boys brigade, assumes | tIidt ile Cil plCh up III lHe streets or 1 New York, on a twenty-four hours mo-
 tice, a body of men fitted to handle | without instruction the modern ord
 nance in our forts. This would be amusing if it were not melancholy and did not bring up to the vision the I headstones that fill our national ceme- teries, and dot the village graveyards
 the country over telling their story of
 the cruel fate that ignorance innicts | upon it's victims.
 | If there is even a remote possibility | of war congress should without delay | pass the artillery bill and follow it im- | mediately with the bill providing a I three-battalion organization for the in- | fantry. With these two bills upon the
 statute book, and the bar upon enlist ments removed, we could expand our army at once into an efficient organi-
 Zation of over one hundred thousand | men who have been educated in our
 own or other armies who would flock l to the colors at once if they saw a 1 prospect of active service We could | expand our four colored regiments into l an efficient force of twelve regiments