Arizona republican., 1900-09-20
AS TO
 MILL TARISM.''

AS TO son, it shoots. Militar-
 MILL ism is the very anti
 TARISM.2 thesis of democracy. In
 any army the com mander orders, the soldier obeys: in a republic, mandates issue from the sov- ereign people and the public servant gives heed. Can any one doubt the de- moralizing result whicn follows the use of force, even when the force Is justi- fled by necessity? We cannot afford to weaken the governments reliance upon the people by cultivating the ideas that all the work of war must be done by professional soldiers. William Jen- nings Bryan.
 We quote the above from a statement of Bryan's printed in the Tucson Star At the Chicago university a few days ago Bryan added the following to his remarks concerning the army: If 1OO,- 900 soldiers are permitted to walk about in idleness where one soldier would do, what are we coming to?'
 The only inference to be. drawn from these statements is that if Bryan is elected the regular army is to be dis banded. Our seacoast defenses, which were provided with the aid of demo- cratic votes in the congress, will be suffered to go to rack and ruin They cost millions, and millions more are necessary to complete the system pro- jected by the war department. Mill to rrti- completed this system will make the country absolutely safe from foreign attack. We all remember that only two years ago the people of the Atlantic coast were in a fever of fear over the expected coming of Cervera's fleet. Had that fleet or any other hostile fleet sue ceeded in eluding our ships of war it could have ruined any of our seaboard cities or have exacted a tremendous ransom, for the reason that our de- fences were not sufficient. In the last made toward the completion of the sea- coast batteries. In a few years, at the present rate of progress, all the navies of the world might assault our coast cities without effect. Taking Bryan at his word-if he were elected the army would be reduced to little or nothing and all national defenses and instruc- tlon would be put aside. The national military academy would naturally be closed, for without an army it would be folly to go on educating young Ameri- cans Co be officers. It follows that our war ships would soon have to be sold for junk, for if Bryan would disband the army the navy would have to go also.
 We pointed out the other day that with standing army If 100000 men the proportion would be one soldier to every 75O inhabitants. If the cost of that soldiers maintenance were made direct tax on those 75O people the individual expenditure might amount to about one-eighth of a cent people alone. Counting the population of the countries coming to us as the result of the Spanish war the ind Niiua! cost would require bette. arlthme- tician than Bryan to compute.
 From the standpoint of figures Bry- ans position is ridiculous. From the standpoint of patriotism, of American ism, it is contemptible. All the noble traditions of the army and navy would be obliterated if this demaGOgue had the power. The youth of the lanl W ould be taught that the "hoaor Of the flag" was an empty term. A pertinent comment on Bryanism is found in the New York Sun that arrived yesterday It Is a communication from A. H. Smith of Elberon, N. J., entitled "'rhe Old Days the Antis Sigh For" Here it is in full:
 About this time our friends. the antis, are longing for the return of the good old days when our country men who chanced to incur the displeasure of some petty official of, for example, a South or Central American state. were wont to throw themselves for protec- ton on the British consul and claim to be British subjects. In those times. and they were not so long ago, Amer ican citizenship counted for nothing with the momentary head of one of those kaleidoscopic governments. An American could be irsulted or mai. treated to any extent and his only hope of protection lay in the conde- scension of a British official on whom he had no claim except community of language.
 But when such an official took up a matter of this kind which. to thelr honor be it said, they were usually