Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1906-12-12

could be more instructive than ratioI | study of the war of 1872, as it ls told. d | Instance, by Captain Mahan There VI | only one way in which that war cod l have been avoided. If during the pd | ceding twelve years a navy relatively strong as that which this country cd | has had been built up. and an army pd vidrd relatively us good as that whl1 the country now has, thcr" never w0t have been the slightest necessity l fighting the war: and If the necessity h)
 arisen the war would under such clrcu1 stances have ended with our speedy a1 overwhelming triumph. But our rcot| during those twelve years refused l
 make any preparations whatever r|
 garJinR either the army pr the na1 They saved a million pr two dolhrs 20 doing, and In mere money paid hr1
 dredfold for each million they. th]
 saved during the three yenrs of Wl
 which followcd--n war which broup1 untold suffering upon our people. whl
 at one time threatened the grovest b1
 tional disaster. and which. In spite uf tl
 necessity of waglng it. resulted merl
 in what was In effect a drawn baitl
 while the balance of defeat and trimull
 was almost even.
 1 do moi ask that we continue to ,I crease our navy [ ask merely that be maintained at its present strengt1 and this can be done only if we repIaJ the obsolete and outwOru ships by ne, and good ones, the equals of my aflol in any navy. To stop building ships M one year means thnt for that year ul navy goes gack instead of forward.
 In both army and navy there k urged need that everything possible should !, done to maintain the highest standa1 for the personnel. alike as regards th, officers and the enlisted men. do nd believe that In any service there k finer body of enlisted men and of iupl officers than we have in both the arm, and the navy. including the marin, corps. All possible encouragement \ the enlisted men should be given. in pa, and otherwise. and everything prnctld able done to render the service attractIy, to men of the right type.
 But in both services there is urgen need for the establishment of n princip, of selection which will eliminate men af ter Q certain age fl they cannot be pfo which will bring into the higher rank fewer men. 8nd these at an earlier age
 tt is a real misfortune to have scor,, of small company or regimeNal post scattered throughout the country; th, army should be gathered in a few brir ade or division posts; and the general, should bc practiced in the handling o men in masses. Neglect to provide fo, sll this means to incur the risk of fn ture disaster and disgrace.
 The readiness and efficiency Of both tk. army and navy In dealing with the r,. cent sudden crisis In Cuba illustrate, afresh their value 10 the nation. Th. readiness and efficiency would have been much less had it not been for the exist cnce of the Gcnerh Stan in the arm, and the General Board In the navy: bolA are essential to the proper developmen' and use Of our military forces nfloa and ashore The troops that were sebl to Cuba were handled flawlessly. II was the awiftcat mobilization und dls patch of troops over sea ever accom- pliahed by our government.
 The Congress has most wisely provide. Tor n National Board for the promoti1t or rifle practice. Excellent results hay, already come from this law. but IL doe. not 20 far enough. our regular army l. so small that in any great war we should have to trust mainly to volunteers: and in such event these volunteers should al ready know how 10 shoot We shohh establish shooting galleries In all th, large public and military schools, shouli maintain national target ranges In dif f~rent parts of the country. and shoulc in every way encourage the formation oI rifle clubs throughout all parts of n land. The little republic of Switserlaai offers us an excellent example In all mat tcrs connected with building up an ef'ic. lent citizen soldiery.