The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-23
A STANDING ARMY.

A STANDING ARMY.
Democratic platform makers always
let a demagogue write their anti-army
plank and the result is a committal of
the party to the absurd doctrine that
the United States can safely fOrego
trained soldiers in war and rest secure
in the valor Of it's volunteers and mill
tia. In these respects the Kansas City
platform is no different from its pred
ecessors.
The common-sense view of the mat
ter is that training and discipline are
as necessary for a soldier as they are
for any other expert. If he does not
have them when called for duty he
must learn his trade in the harsh
school of experience, and the chances
are, IL the volunteer or the militiaman
is pitted against a regular, he will be
beaten and his country disgraced. The
only exceptions to this rule are where
volunteers are able to act as guerrillas
or are better marksmen than the regu-
lars and have a leader who. like An
drew Jackson at New Orleans, is able
to mass them and hold them in strong
defensive position. Even then they
cannot be trusted to do much on the
offensive. Jackson dared not follow
the remnants of Packenham's army
which marched away after its defeat
before the cotton bales and took Savan-
nah; and those splendid irregulars, the
Beers, have been gradually pressed
back until almost all is lost to them
save honor. AS for militia it rarely
amounted to much anywhere.
The history of the United States is
| full of warnings against dependence on
the unframed soldier. Most of our
battles I'm the Revolution were lost; the
war was prolonged five years beyond
it's normal time by colonial inefficiency;
the patriot cause was finally saved by
the French. In the war of 1912 our dis
asters by land were as numerous as our
victories by sea. Hull was disgraced
on the northern border and the at
tempt to invade Canada with raw
levies ANONYMOUSLY failed. The Brit
ish regulars captured and burned
Washington though outnumbered three
to one by the American volunteers and
militia summoned to oppose them. So
bad was the outlook, that, as soon as
the surrender of Napoleon released the
British fleet from European service,
permitting II to blockade this Atlantic
coast of America, the Washington Gov
eminent hurried to make peace, aban-
! dOning in it's haste the very issue upon
which IL declared war. In the next con-
| flict. that with Mexico, regulars were
chiefly depended upon and the enemy
had no strong force opposed. The af-
I fafr yya cIIirE1U nInca1 10
Civil War came, volunteers were made
to fight volunteers and they taught
each other. But If the war had been
| between volunteers and regulars, the
latter would probably have won before
the armed cilivians had learned the
military trade.
The Spanish war found the United
States with a standing army of $1,000
men. Two land campaigns were made,
one against Santiago and the other
against Manila. General Shafter asked
for regulars only in the Santiago cam
paign and he nearly had his wish. Few
/ volunteers or militia got into the fight.
One National Guard regiment, the
/ Seventy-first New York, made a hope
less exhibition of cowardice. The crack
Seventh, Thirteenth and Twenty third
New York escaped the crucial test of
battle by their refusal to enlist as vol
unteers. Roosevelts Rough Riders
was the only command, not in the reg
ular service, which distinguished itself.
OF the vast army of volunteers all but
a handful remained at home under in
struction until Eastern Cuba had been
conquered by the regulars; after that
the Eighth Corps, which had been LONG
in garrison, sailed for Manila. We saw
something of the quality of its disci-
pline here. At Manila there was little
land fighting to do and both sides made
Indifferent records. Later on an un.
trained volunteer started the row will
Asuinaldo by firing what is now pretty
well known to have been an unneces
sary shot. Very soon after that tn,
State Volunteers were shipped HON,
for the good of the cause
These examples ought to show tina
IL the United States ever goes to wa
with a great military power and tina
power gets large trained army on it
soil. no amount of valor, or resource
and no preponderance of numbers oil
the part of the Americans will make III
for their want of military organization
There must be standing army Z
move against the enemy like machin
and stay there; one to absorb volun
teers and turn them into regulars