The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1900-10-04

AprOpoS OF the OemOCfetlc CAM
paign "bogy man" of militarism, the
following from the sCorn Belt," .
non-political publication, is both per-
tinent and interesting
We seem to have had no example
of it in American history. Much
talked Of In very late times, no one
personally knows just what the term
really means or what proportion the
standing military force must bear to.
the populstion to constitute amilitar.
ism."
If the proportion Of the number Of
soldiers to the population be the cri-
terion, then we came nearer to mill
tarism aud it's perils eighty-six years.
ago than we ever have before or
since. For in 1914, during the war
Of 1912, we had a soldier for every
22O persons in the country.
During the times of Jefferson.
Madison aud Monroe, the first %
years of the republic, we had at vari-
Gus times q proportion of one soldier
to every 1910 of the population; one
to 1.04l; one to 1,10z. In 1s40. sixty
years ago, we had . soldier for every
1,6O5 citizens. But in 1898, at the be-
ginning of the war with Spain, we
had only one soldier to every 2,48S;
! citizens. Ii was relatively less than.
one-half as large, or as near state Of
militarism, as it was in the days OF
Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, to.
say nothing OF our fearful situation.
in 1914.
When the war with Spain hai1
closed, we had aa regular army t8y-.
6SS men; ono to every 1,200 citizens.
We should have to multiply this by
five to come even as near to militar-
ism as we were under Monroe in
1915.
With all our little tasks IN Porto
Rico, Cuba, the Philippines and China,-
we have now about the proportion OF
one soldier to every 1900 citixens.-
We are but little in excess Of the low
est ratio between citizens and regular
soldiers in our national history.
Were there now an army Of l00, ,O0Os
men there would be soldier for
every $50 Of the present population
England on q peace footing has the
smallest armament in Europe, and no..
body accuses her of milisarism, but
there is soldier for every It's Of the
population. Germany has . soldier
for every 88 citizens. France has one,
for every 68. The American soldiers.
when they are all at home are scatter
ed over an area as large or larger
than all Europe. But Europe has.
about s, 100000 men under arms alb
the time, and there are about 2O,O00,--
900 trained and disciplined men to-
be used in any great emergency. If
we had the said 5000 900 under arms
we should have soldier for every
$40 citizens or thsreabouts, and We
might begin to be uneasy if some fu-
ture president should show disposi-
ton to order them all to Washington
As it il, or as it would be II we multi
piled our little force by two. or three.
or even five, we would still fall far
short of the proportionate peace ar
mament of any other Of the great
powers, aud still probably lack room
for all who wish voluntarily to b
soldiers.
/ The other extreme is no army at ALI
Our very latest experiences In China
make that proposition seem sbsurd.
The good sense of American people
is probably to be relied upon In tho
matter of this latest of popular buga-
boos and scares. Militia rism, mean-
ing usurper with IN immense army
to place and keep him In power, .
series of war Of conquest; an arma-
ment eating up the resources OF the
republic and taxing the people into
poverty; is not among the most dis
tant possibilities "f the repsblic, and
the average citizen probably knows It.
The most dainty and effective pills