The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-23
RELY ON VOLUNTEERS
GOV. LIND DECLARES A STANDING
ARMY Is AGAINST THE
CONSTITUTION
COUNTRY DOESN'T NEED ONE
Surprise at the Washington
birthday Celebration of the Pa
triOtic Societies In the Peoples
Church-HOn. ID. w. LawIer De-
Iivers the Grafton.

Gov. John Lind yesterday afternoon
sprung a sensation at the Peoples
church, where he addressed the united
patriotic societies who were celebrat-
ing WaShingtons birthday. by a speech
in which he argued against the idea OF
a standing army for this country. and
quoted the constitution to prove that
such an army would be unconstitution-
al Gov. Lind's audience. which filed
the church. received his remarks in a
silence which provoked him to remark
that it might be thought he and his
ideas were orphaned.
The governors address was midway
in the program of the days exer-
cises. and was as follows:
"a state has the right of self preser-
walton and self defense-that is the
first law Of nature. To effect this
state employs troops; and the character
OF the state its institutions and its form
Of government determine the character
of its troops. If the character of state
is of a monarchicaI government there
have been regular armies of hired
troops. Where there has been such a
form Of government as a class, as in
feudaI times and in Rome, then the de-
fense has been carried on by a class
of feudal armies and hired soldiers. In
the history of democracies there has not
been an instance when the troops have
not been the citizens of the country
they defended. the volunteers. the mill
tia.
This feeling was so intense during
the revolution and the period anteced-
ent to it that there is hardly an instance
TO be found where the national defense
depended upon the regular troops The
troops Of the revolution were volun-
Seers. The volunteer and the militia
man were present at the birth of lib
erty- He christened liberty with his
blood
NO PLACE FOR REGULARS.
THE regular has no place in our con-
stitution. A navy has a place there.
but the constitution says that congress
shall have power to raise armies and
to provide for their maintenance for
10 period longer than two years. There
is no such limitation as to the navy.
There is no restriction as to the period
of an appropriation for a navy and
again and again we have seen the con-
gress provide for expenditures for the
navy for years ahead. But it is not so
with the army. Every appropriation
for the army is from time to time.
Congress has power to call upon
the militia to suppress an insurrection.
repel an invasion. etc, but in the con-
stitutiOn of the United States there is
no place and 1 trust there never viii
be a place for any regular army except
such one as may be necessary to de-
fend the country. Our fathers had i'm
plicit confidence in the volunteer. They
considered him equal to any emergency
and trusted in him to defend and per-
petuate our institutions. We always
have had and must have a standing
army on the same lines aswe have peace
officers in every community. Washing
ton suggested that in order to have ar
efficient cavalry branch of the army it
was necessary to have them regularly
employed. and the same is true of the
artillery. These branches are of neces-
sity permanent. but not a standing
army as such. They should be a nu-
cleus for other forces. AS our country
grows there is necessity for a standing
army. but not in the sense of the stand
ing armies of Europe. Who preserved
this country intact, the regular or the
volunteer? We know it was the lat
ter
VOLUNTEERS RESPONSE.
Last year an occasion arose when
there was no insurrection within and
no danger Of an invasion from with