Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-13
READINESS FOR WAR
UNITED STATES MUST CONSERVE
PEACE OF WORLD.
American Military Establishment Does
Not Meet the National Re
quirements.

| Capt Carl Reichmsnn in the United States In.
| fantry Journal.
In the light of modern war In the light
OF our position as great power, do our
| land forces in their present shape meet our
national requirements?
1t is believed that this question If submit
| ted to any, body of professional soldiers
would receive an overwhelming negative re-
ply.
Mifltary systems are matters of historical
| development; they spring from the necessi-
nes encountered in the different epoehs of
nations history. and in their origin they
| are deeply rooted In the life. habits and
traits of the people, and in all those quail
ties and peculiarities which we call nation
al characteristics. Any material change in
| military system cuts deep into the life
| or nation and should not be undertaken
without necessity and without mature con-
| sideratfon. 1t Is, therefore. well to approach
| the present subject with care; nay 1t be-
| moves us to approach 1t with becoming
reverence, for to this day the army of the
United States stands unconquered by any
zoe; Its history is an unbroken record of
military virtue and devotion, of toll and
victory in many clmes. Its valor has built
| the rock foundation on which our people
| nave reared the glorious structure of their
| civilization and national life, of their ma
| terial and moral development, of their pros
| perity and Of their happiness.
The conditions under which and the pur-
poses for which armies are maintained de-
| pend on the conditions surrounding the ma
| tons maintaining them; in other words,
| they depend on the national policy and
| they are, therefore, bound to change with
| that policy. So 1t has been with our army
| When the great civil war was over and
| peace reigned once more In the land, the
grand and victorious army was disbanded,
| and the size of the military establishment
was adapted to the immediate needs OF the
nation. We We're then governing ourselves
| by the policy of eschewing entangling alli-
| ances, of keeping friendly terms with
| all nations and of strictly abstaining from
participation In the quarrels of the world
| at large. The west was a vast, undeveloped
! empire, inhabited by Indian tribes in yari-
! Gus stages OF barbarism, who lived more
! or less nomadic life and among whom agri-
culture existed in but rudimentary stage
| For their support they needed a large ter
Iitory, and they naturally resented the adj
vent of the settler who fenced in land, kill
ed and destroyed the buffalo and gradually
but surely crowded the tribes back. 1t be-
came the task of the army to protect the
settlers to punish the maraudng Indian
and to assist in forcing him into an agri-
cultural life.. Twenty-Five thousand men
were deemed sufficient for that purpose
| and they did their work well.
Proves It's Worth.
When tho allotment of land to Indians In
severalty had, let US hope forever, settled
the Indian question, there were those in
| there really was no longer any need of an
army. and the question of further diminish
ing this already small regular establish
ment, or Of disbanding 1t altogether, was
actually and gravely discussed. Before long
| however, this question was set at rest by
the breaking out of the war with Spain
which showed that, anent military estab-
Hshments, internal governmental reasons
may be powerfully supplemented or coun-
teracted from without How the little reg
ular army acquitted itself need not be re-
told here. As a consequence of the war we
acquired territory far from our shores and
| In the case of the Philippine Islands II be-
came necessary to maintain an armed force
for purposes of pacification that could not
be furnished by the existing establishment
without transferring it bodily to the Philip
| pine Islands and keeping 1t there. Under
these circumstances Congress voted an
army of the maximum strength of 100000
men, which, however, for economic rea-
sons, is kept down to a little over 60OcO
The war with Spain brought about a ire
mendous change in our national policy 1t
procured us a prominent place among the
nations, because 1t drew their attention to
our political harmony in case of foreign
war, to the bounGlessness of our warIike
resources, to the readiness with which Con-
gresS made these resources available and
to the energy with which the war was
prosecuted This our new, position has
since been enhanced by the craftsmanship
| OF our chief executive and his advisers, so
| that today, although abstain from
proclainling ourselves as such, we are yfr-
tually one of the great powers and one of
the greatest of them. With our new position
there has descended our shoulders the
heavy burden resting on all great powers,
OF assisting in the regulating and shaping
of human affairs. From the moral and in
tellectual point of view no nation is better
qualified for such a task than the Ameri-
can people. Love of fair play OF Justice
and Of peace. are Unborn in the American