Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-05-19
''s>Oso>0>0>O'>0>O>C>0>D>ost
Value OF TTO0DS !
In Peace.
GEN. BELL POINTS
OUT THE WORTH
OF THE ARMY. /;
Correots q State
nent Made Off,
hand Before the
House Commit
tee CA Militia
ry affairs.


staff, has written an interesting letter
in defence of the army as a valuable
institution in time of peace as well as
in time of war. 1t is addressed to
Representative Hull, chairman of the
House Committee on Military Affairs,
and is as follows:
my attention has been called to
the fact that while testifying before
your committee as to the value OF
maneuvers, l made statement to the
effect that we had come to recognize
that the only excuse for the exist
ence of our army in time of peace was
that it might be school of instruc-
ton for war.
AS all testimony Is liable to be.
when given offhand, without careful
thought or consideration, and when
discussing only one phase of situa
ton, this statement is incorrect and
misleading. Inasmuch as / am chief
of staff of the army, and my state
ments are consequently given more
weigh. than would otherwise be the
case, desire to correct this testi-
mony by stating certain facts more or
less patent to all.
II regret that / gave expression to
this incorrect statement all the more
because it would seem to justify a
misconception which is fairly preva-
lent among a considerable number OF
our people who have not given thor
%o-1e,sI 81 10 10 ha /
subject
The Regular Army In Peace.
'"The regular army is not in time of
peace a body of idlers, as is frequent
ly supposed, whose maintenance can |
be excused only because it is neces' |
sary as a preparation for war, neither
is it merely and solely kind of in.
surance against that contingency. II
there could be an absolute guaranty |
that international wars should never |
occur, the United States would still |
have to keep up regular army or |
else have much difficulty in existing
as q civilized state. If this be doubt
ed, let US pause to inquire how the |
great task we have undertaken OF
planting free institutions in the I'M
congenial soil of an oriental country |
could be carried on without military |
force. How could any man be safe in
his life or secure in his property |
there. or elsewhere under Our juris-
diction, unless behind the mere letter
of the law there stood an armed force
to make good it's promises?
"Our great western frontier could
never have been settled, and parts of
it could not be safely inhabited now
were it not for the protection afford
ed by the regular army of the United
States What is there, we may ask,
to make Alaska country of law, or
der and property unless it be the or
ganized armed force We have there?
Were it not for this force these indis-
pensable conditions of civilized life |
could only be maintained through |
unanimous consent, thing hardly to
be relied upon.
"The United States could not have
fulfilled the solemn obligation as
sumed in the face of the world to |
keep Cuba a country fit to live in If |
it had not maintained an armed force, |
quiescent it is true, but ready.
Basis of All Government.
80 in the United States proper,
every man, woman and child and all |
property is safe and secure, not be-
cause there is no lawless element to I
be restrained, but because in the last |
analysis the really effective check ex-
lists in the shape of its regular army.
In the last extremity the power OF /
every government must necessarily
depend upon force, and it would there
fore be we'll If unthinking declama- |
tions against maintaining regular
army in time of peace were never
heard.
Even in purely practical arts OF |
peace the regular army of the United
States has not wanted opportunities /
to demonstrate the administrative /
value to our nation in great calami- |
ties of an organized. disciplined |
armed force, possessing patriotic
pride, high training, self-respect and
sympathy for the people. In times of
yellow fever and fool as tie people +
of the Mississippi valley can testify, /
and in times of great confiagration.
as the inhabitants of Chicago, Balti-
more and San Francisco can witness,
the regular army can be relied upon
to respond Immediately in organizing
relief and protection in systematic
and efficient manner when local gov
eminent agencies have become disor-
ganized and inefficient. Time and /
again the regular army has been
called upon to maintain order in COM
munitles threatened with and suffer
ing from mob violence, and on one
occasion, it is confidently believed,
only its timely arrival prevented the /
ensuing of confagration in a large |
city which would have resulted in
calamity similar to that which re-
Gently occurred at San Francisco.
Therefore, instead of making the |
incautious statement | did. | should |
have affirmed and it ought TO be pro-
claimed on every proper occasion that |
the regular army is not id,o in peace;
that it is not engaged exclusively ID |
preparing for war, and that its main
tenance should not be considered |
purely in the light of national insur-
ance against a possible war. Consh- |
erei in the light of its practical
benefit to the nation in time of peace,
1t is capital well invested and makes
its full return to the people OF this
country day By day and year by year,
and it viii continue 10 do so. even |
though We may be so fortunate as
never to have another international \
war."-F'rom the Washington Star
THE NAVIGATING TIGER