The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1898-03-26
As 70 THE POSSIBILITIES
or MAR.

Daily Picayune.
Gin war between the United States and
Spain, the big fellow would whip the little
fellow so easily that it would be merely
child's play
This is the patriotic feeling expressed by
the American people, and to certain ex-
tent the results SO confidently foretold
would be realized; but, in all probability,
not readily as many suppose.
Let it be understood that none of the
soldiers and sailors, and but few of the
officers, in the military service of the United
States have ever had any experience in
actual war or have ever been under a hostile
fire.
There are some hundreds of thousands of
the veterans of the Civil War who in
reasonable health and would be able to
face the dangers and duties of battle; but
there is not one of thenl but has passed his
fftieth year, and few men of that age are
able to go through the hardships and ar
duous privations of the campaigns of war.
The old soldiers would be admirable for
garrison and home duty; but they would
not be chosen to compose the bat
talions of an army invading foreign coun-
tries, either by land or by sea.
The military age embraces able-bodieei
men between IS and IS years. The fifty and
sixty ycar-old men have passed the limits
of the period when they are considered fit
to be soldiers. Of course there are ex-
cept;ons; but they only prove the rule. The
soldiers and sailors who would have to do
the bulk of the actual fighting would be
young men below the age of As, and there
is not one of these that has had his baptism
of fire. This Cannot be said of the Span
iards, who have for years been engaged in
colonial wars, both on sea and land.
OF course, nobody doubts the courage of
the Americans, but courage is not all that
is required of them. They all need to have
had that actual experience which converts
brave men into the parts and details of a
trustworthy military organization or fight
ing machine. The men who made up the
bulk of the two opposing armies in the bat
tie of Manassas, in 1861, did not hesitate
for moment when they were ordered into
battle. They advan iced on both sides with
courage, zeal and enthusiasm, and they
fought, too, for time; but they did not
know how to endure defeat. When the
time came that required an exhibition of
their real soldierhood, discipline and cool
by experience, were wholly lacking, and the
men who had advanced cheering, and who
had fought with admirable courage, ran
away from the battlefield in the widest
panic and most hopeless confusion.
But all this is no reason why the United
States should hesitate to go to if the
honor and rights of the American people
are at stake. In the face of urgent
necessity, there must be no hesitation in
springins to the front with all the enthusiasm
and patriotism that should animate the
pepole of the earth's great republic; never
theless, it is wise at least to survey calmly
and carefully the situation. If war is to
be fought by soldiers and sailors who have
had no experience in the most serious part
of their business, there should be delay
in giving them every opportunity to learn 1t.
Promising these facts, it is not too much
to say that, in The beginning of such a war
the United States may not enjoy that certain
and absolute success that all hope for.
There may be failures and defeats in the
beginning, but our people will get on top
in the end. There is no sort of doubt about
that
But the fact that the United States COM
pose 4 country or vast extent, with an I'M
nense population and unlimited resources
must not be too much depended on. The
trouble is that the vast coast line is only the
more open to attack, while the population
and resources are not organized and instant
ly available those of the great Euro
pean nations. We required at the short
est sort of notice to create armies which do
not yet exist, and to man a fleet, of which
bur comparatively small numbers of the
ships afloat.
1t is true that resemblance can
be found in the United States to China, but
it is still wise to study the entire subject.
The invasion of China by Japan shows how
a nation of immense population and great
resources may be badgered and conquered
by power inferior in both of these respects,
but superior in organization. both financially
and physically. Spain possesses consider
a bic navy, and an army twenty or thirty
times as large We cannot hope to
land troops on Spanish territory until we get
an army of adequate strength and efficiency,