The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-23
Increase of the Army.

Increase of the Army.
One Of the results of the recent war
is manifest in the easy manner assum-
ed by some Of our statesmen and news
papers in urging the necessity of
considerable increase in the standing
army of the United States. We find,
for instance, SO eminent a citizen as
Senator Joseph r. Hawley, of Connec-
ticut, glibly suggesting that the coun-
try will require 100000 regular soldiers
to garrison and preserve peace in Cuba,
Porto Rico and the Philippines alone,
and the pity of it is he regards this
as a desirable national adjunct.
The development of this sentiment is
the natural outgrowth of our late vic
tories. The conviction does not appear
to have been borne in upon the minds
of the representatives of territorial ex-
pansion that the greatness Of this coun-
try is, above all things else, the re-
suit of freedom from that martial spirit
which, from the beginning of civiliza-
ton, has brought nation after nation
to decay and final ruin. BY adhering
strictly to the pursuits of peace the
United States nation has grown within
little more than a century of time to
be the richest on earth. In the bosom
Of its soil has been found to exist ev-
erything necessary for the sustenance
of human life and the supply of human
comfort. Industry and thrift on the
part of the individual are the only
requisites for their attainment, and
wholesome laws, always capable Of just
n 0iY1i- t1Nof crixy
all property rights. It will require
centuries Of labor to exhaust the re-
sources Of the country-indeed, they
may be fairly regarded as inexhaust-
tble. When we turn our eyes toward
China, the oldest civilization in the
world, with It's enormous population of
hundreds of millions Of souls and its
thousands of years Of substantial
peace, with many Of the richest foun-
tains of natural resource still untouch-
ed, we might properly blush at our own
impetuosity and tendencies in the d.
rectlon of conquest
And yet this is the spirit which Is
reflected whenever the argument is
standing army. Our country was as
declaration Of war; as it is today, In
all that goes to make nation truly
great. We can continue, and indeed
expand, our greatness, just as well
without a large standing army as with
it, and with far less danger to our best
material interests. If we cannot as
sumo permanent possession Of Porto
Rico without a large detachment Of
troops to maintain our rights there,
then we ought not to take possession Of
the island at all AS for Cuba, If the
insurgents are not able to take care
of themselves after we have secured
for them their freedom, then they are
not entitled to their freedom and we
have done wrong in wrestling the island
from the domination of Spain. With
respect to the Philippines, it has been
demonstrated over and over again that
we do not require them in connection
with our Asiatic trade, which is already
coming to us faster than we can find
fleets for the conduct Of the traffic,
If the annexation of Hawaii was eff
fected in the shadow of a necessity, on
our part, to heavily garrison it with
troops of the regular army to prevent
an assertion of rights to their own
dominion, on the part Of the natives, a
crime has been committed by us in
absorbing it into the Union. Within the
past fortnight the fact has been demon
strated that SO far as dealing with the
Indians is concerned, the troops Of the
regular army are Of little or no value,
because of the inefficiency Of the war
department in the matter of their
prompt and proper distribution at the
Of the greatest necessity.
To stock an army with 100000 regulars
means the withdrawal Of that many
men from the industries of the coun-
tries into avenues which unfit them
thereafter for productive labor in any
field. It means an unnecessary tax
upon a people already bearing liberal
burden of taxation. 1t means, more
over, the growth and expansion Of a
martial spirit which, sooner or later,
will swell into acts Of aggressiveness by
the nation, which will involve it in tur-
noil and eventual disaster.
It would be much better for all if we
should as quickly as possible resume
our ante-bellum conditions, leaving
Porto Rico to it's own destinies under
the beneficent protection Of our federal
laws as applied to all our existing
states and territories; that We should
leave the people Of Cuba to work out
their own salvation, under the friendly
eve of this government; that we should
permit the political forces which con-
trolled the annexation Of Hawaii to
conserve and safeguard the inter
ests of those possessions, which,
possibly, they may be capable of
doing under the flag of the United
States better than during the years Of
the presidency Of the little republic,
and that we should let the Philippines
alone, reserVing for ourselves only such
privileges as may be our due in con-
nection with our expanding commerce
in the Pacific seas. If we shall do all
these things, no extravagant increase in
our standing army will be necessary;
and the country, by restraining itself
against the temptation to appear in the
family Of nations arrayed in the gilt
ter reflected from a stockade composed
of a mighty navy and a restless army,
can pursue It's way in industrial and
fruitful peace, instead of erecting itself
into a position Of defiance and thereby
inviting attack from the other powers
Of the world.
Episcopal;ans and Divorce.