The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-12

-ShOrt Talks With Secretary Sum
son and General Wood b Mill
fary Matters.
Copyright, 1911, by Frank G. Car
WASHINGTON, D.. c.
What arrangements is Uncle Sam,
patriarch, making for his American
children? It is ali right to talk about
peace, but war with a foreign natlon
is likely to come at any
Uncle Sam has no chip on his
but he will have to fight II occasion
demands. Just before u fleet made
its pyrotechnic tour Of the Aslatlc
waters Mr.. Elihu Root, then in Presi-
dent Roosevelt's cabinet, made some
remarkable statements regarding a
possible war with Japan. This was
to a party Of newspaper men. he
did not mention the japanese IN so
many words, but every one knew TO
whom ne referred. Said he In sub
stance:
MANY of the foreign nations are
sensitive. Some of them look upon
the voice Of the press as the voice
Of the nation. and I beg you news
paper writer's to be careful about
what you say as to foreigners. Your
words may b. taken as an insult, and
you must remember that a nation is
like d man. If it's feelings are In
suited and outraged it must fight
The way he aid this, at that time,
when the treasury box Of the mlka
was empty, made me think OF the
condition of a poor maj in the streets.
down at the heels, with a family half
starving. All of the mans interests
might demand that he keep out of
trouble, but if some one came up and
hit him in the face without provo
cation. Or called him q liar, he would
have TO fight; he could do no other.
Take the case Of the blowing up Of
the Maine. However we may feel
in the light of recent Investigations,
at the time Of the explosion we took
It as an insult and an outrage, and
the result was our war with Spain.
Only a few years before that, Presi-
dent Cleveland sent a message to
England as to the Venezuela COM
plications that brought war clouds
into the international sky. It was
only through the forbearance Of John
Bull tina the heavens became ceru-
lean. Another President may send a
similar message to a nation which
will not be so forbearing. We may
some time attempt to dictate to Ger
many. and the warm-blooded kaiser,
with the greed Of a South American
Deutschland in his eye, may defy IS.
and with his powerful army and navy
smash the Monroe doctrine to pieces.
Uncle Sans Army.
All this is preliminary to my in
designations this week as to the Amer
lean army and Uncle Sans plans for
making it big enough n strong
enough for any emergency. Much Of
my information comes from the War
Department, n it is based upon
talks with the yirile young Secretary
Of War, Mr.. Stimson; the long-ex-
rerienced fighting chief OF staff.
Major-General Wood, and a number
of others who rank high In the mill
tary affairs OF the nation.
In the first place let me give you
some idea Of what u army is and
how it ranks among those OF the
world. I shall take the peace
strength. By the last report of the
Secretary Of War. the number actual
ly serving Is a little over 80, 900 all
old. with an authorized strength
which brings it up to about 100. 600.
We have now less than 5000 officers
and less than $4,000 men. The peace
strength Of the German army is $780,
900, that Of the French 500, 900 and
of Great Britain $4,000. Little
Switzerland can call two or three
hundred thousand men into the field
at a touch of the telegraph button,
and Japan has now 100000 men un.
der arms.
Our War Strength.
AS to our war strength we are even
worse off. We have a militia Of $780,
600 and the army could. upon oc-
casion, without further acts Of Con-
gress, perhaps, put a few more thou
SAND men into the field. Our fight
ing force. however. at best could not
be made more than 200, 900 and we
should ave to rely, as we have in the
past, upon troops made UP
OF men who would have to be train
ed before they could become efficient
as fighters.
On the other hand, every one Of
the great nations of Europe has from
q half million to a million Of reserves
or men who have had experience in
army and who are ready to take