The record-union., 1898-05-02
INCREASE OF THE REGULAR
ARMY.

q.
American Review Lieutenant George
B. Duncan has an able article on rea-
sons for increasing the regular army
Those he gives are in some respects
new. and they are all strong. For in
stance it has been all along urged that
we do not need a larger regular force
than we maintained years ago when the
population was not half what it is to-
day. and the extent Of our territory was
oEe-half less than it now is, because We
are an isolated nation.
That has been the corner stone Of the
OPPOSITION to increase. But Mr. Dun
can calls attention to the fact that We
are not now isolated because we once
were. The genius of invention has
changed all the essentials Of a few years
ago. Time and space are being rapidly
annihilated, so to speak, wind and wave
opposition to free movement are largely
overcome by the power of modern
machinery in shios' hulls, and by the
new methods Of ship building; we have
the news of the world for every hour
at our tables, the rise and fall of mar
kets around the world are reported al
most instantly. no matter how distant
from Us is the market place.
Our citizens in pursuit of pleasure and
business are found in all parts of the
civilized world, and demand respect and
protection; commercial activity no lon
ger pays any respect to geographical
lines; our products are found in nearly
every market; foreign capital is largely
invested in business in our land, and so
we are drawn closer and closer to the
world at large. by our communication,
business and social relations with ali Of
civilized mankind. We are very far from
isolation, indeed, we are in exceedingly
close touch with all the world
SO far then as isolation was an argu-
ment against increase of the army, it
has lost it's force. Now the Constitu
tion guarantees the States a republi-
can form of government and protection
for their people against assault upon
their rights and privileges as citizens.
Such guarantee presupposes power be-
hind it to make it effective. We came
out of the war of the revolution jealous
of the repose of great power in any
hands, but neither the people nor the
States were knit together in interest
or in sympathy then as now: in fact
they stood rather apart. Where once
there were no near neighbors, now we
are near no matter how distant from
our friends, so that our interests and our
sentiments run more in common.
Originally the idea of a standing
army was to guard our frontiers from
attacks by savages, and to garrison the
few forts we felt it wise to maintain
Had we possessed an efficient regular
army Of numerical strength in propor-
tion to our population, it is the opinion
of Lieutenant Duncan that the rebellion
would have been crushed at the outset,
and long and terrible civil war of
years have been avoided, though such
sudden ending might not have produced
the results that followed, the war might
not have worked the freeing Of the
slaves nor would it have settled the
fostering issues between the people on
the line of slavery or the question of the
right Of secession. Nor would we prob
ably have entered upon the larger and
broader work of the Union had the re-
bellion been stopped at the very start
But we need a larger standing army
because Of the reasons given in the out
set to prove that we are no longer iso-
lated, but by our conditions really give
advantage to possible enemies. Thus
the British can now send troops to
Canada more easily and swiftly than
they put Sir John NIoore's army into
the peninsula. and with as little ex-
pense as was required to send supplies
to Wellington's army in Spain.
The means of preventing strife be-
tween nations has not yet been dis
covered. and we may well say that it
will not be possible thing, as long as
human nature remains what we know
1t to be. So, as the possibility of fric-
ton with others increase, so does the
need for larger force of trained men
as soldiers. The wonderful advance in
the invention and manufacture of arms
and explosives has rendered war in
fnitely more swift than it could have
been even twenty years ago. We have
not therefore the time to prepare in re-
sistance that we had in the early his
tory of the republic As the object of
war is to secure honorable, advanta-
geous and lasting peace, it follows that
the very best means to it should be
employed.
No longer does the uniform make the
soldier. 1t requires severe training
now, and a high degree of skill is ac-
quired only under training. Success in
wars now depends upon skill in the
handling of arms and other appliances
of warfare. The need, then. is proven
by the conditions for a larger army; in
other words, for a better state Of pre-
paredness, as the best insurance of
freedom from assault from without, for
the assertion of our rights as a nation.
and respect for our citizenship wher-
ever it may be-
There remains then only the fear of
old that a standing army is a menace
to the liberties of the people. But with
us, as State lines have been drawn
closer to each other, as State sovereign
ty is no longer dangerous thing to