The Washington herald., 1911-02-01

| ing out Of this country, and that rifle
men and frontiersmen. such as fought
at New Orleans. are no longer available.
I'VE should also remember that a small
well-organized force of British took and
| sacked our Capital. with insignificant
loss; the force defending it, although
superior in numbers. fled with total loss
Of less than 1Oo killed and wounded. We
must remember. in a word. that unde-
veloped military resources in the face
Of a sudden war are of no more value
than an undeveloped gold mine in Alas
ka in a panic in Wall street.
The officers of the army realize very
fully that il Is contrary to the policy Of
our government to maintain large
standing army. but we know. incident to
our greatly increased responsibilities-the
occupation of the PHILIPPINE Islands, the
fortification and garrisoning of the Pan
ANA Canal. garrisoninG the Hawaiian Is
lands. Porto Rico. and Alaska-that the
demands upon our military establishment
are steadily increasing. and we are all
aware II the fact TO maintain a position
of Importance and influence among ma
tions requires an adequate military force.
and while the vcice of the United States
is for International peace, it will always
be listened ID with much more attention
if backed up by a good army apd navy.
supported by a good system of reserves.
In determining our line of action We
should compare the cost Of maintaining
an efficient military establishment. back
ed up by a proper system of reserves.
with the frightful sacrifices of life and
unnecessary cost in money incident to a
war waged under conditions of unpre-
paredness on our part"
Taft MacVeaGh's Hobby.
Secretary of the Treasury Franklin Mac
Veagh's special hobby was disclosed as
President Taft. Mr.. Taft is a large. eye
filling subject and he had apparently
entered deeply into the speculation Of
Mr.. MacVeagh.
The Secretary of the Treasury paid a
high tribute to Mr.. Taft's broadminded
views and unselfish devotion to the pub
lie interest He admitted that Mr.. Taft
was a born and bred Republican. and
naturally a political partisan. But he
said, the President was so interested
in the statesman's side of the job as
President that he could not sufficiently
concentrate his mind on his individual
interests and advancement to make him
a huge success as partisan. Mr.. Mac
Veagh thought that il the President paid
more attention to himself and the popu-
larizing of his personality by needing
public clamor on current topics. he would
make a better party leader than he is
now, but would not be so good a Presi-
dent. He thought the Presidents politi-
cal troubles were the result of his vir-
tues rather than of his faults.
Hands Out Big Bouquet.
Mr. MacVeagh asked that special at
tention be paid to the manner in which
Mr.. Taft had put government jobs under
the civil service. He pointed to the
fourth-class postmasters, Treasury en-
ployes. and others. Mr.. Taft was dis
gusted with the necessity OF the Presi-
dent of the United States being occu-
pied so largely with the petty details Of
selecting officeholders, his view being
that the Chief Executive should spend
his time handling more important prob
lens.
The issue Of executive orders making
exceptions to the rules Of the civil SER
vice commission have practically been
stopped under Mr.. Taft, as Mr.. Mac
Veagh pointed out. He also asserted
that no proper publicity had ever been
given this fact. The speaker urged the
firm stand Mr. Taft has taken on the
Canadian reciprocity bill as evidence Of
his liberal views. These bills have be-
come a tremendous and disturbing politi-
cal factor, but Mr.. Taft has supported
them with all his strength, regardless OF
consequences.