The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-09-14
WE'RE NEVER PREPARED.

Secretary Garrison Of the War De-
partment has run up against the real
thing in attempting to concentrate
the army and make it an effective force
in place Of mere adjunct for COM
mercial enterprises in the different sec
tions Of the country The Secretary
would make the army effective for
military purposes. But the interests of
the different commercial propositions
which call for the scattering Of the
army into many disconnected posts are
directly opposed to making a military
force Of our army. 1t Is manifest that
as long as the army is kept segregated
in small bodies and remote posts it
will be impossible to put it on mill
tary footing. There can be no mill
tary training in the modern sense,
there can be no practice in military
maneuvers on a large scale or even on
regimental scale, such as is neces-
sary to prepare a fighting force for
war We trust that the Secretary may
triumph in this contest; but his tri
uUlpU hdf Idliiy no uoubbCur pONu'SN
the people seem eager to continue the
Congressional control which results in
keeping the army broken into frag-
ments so that commercial trade in va
rious parts of the country may be
helped by selling the supplies neces-
sary to the troops. These trade inter
ests are insistent as to the continuing
Of the posts, and this has been so long
the practice that it will be very diff
ficult to change 1t.
In this connection, the New York
Herald harks back to the time when
General Taylor fought the Mexicans at
Resaca de la Palma. He was unable
to pursue the Me1icans across the river
because he had no boats or pontoons,
and it asks, in case we were to invade
the details are to be worked out, how
the supplies are to be furnished, the
transportation facilities made ready,
and so on,
The Herald raises the whole ques-
tion Of preparedness in this reference !;
but, of course, we are not prepared to
fight even such comparatively small
country as Mexico. SO far as that is
concerned, we arc never prepared for
any war; we make our preparations af-
ter the war begins, and we necessarily
suffer grievous loss in lives, money, and
general waste before we actually get
| to going in the progress Of any war,
This we have always done, and this
we shall doubtless continue to do,
The notion that we shall be able to
scrape through In some sort of way,
any war that we may get into, fixes the
unpreparedness policy in the American
mind. Apparently there is no way to
get over this idea, or out of this rut.
| 1t is, Of course, unthinkablc that we
should engage in war with Mexico
nobody wants any such war, nobody
wants to interfere in Mexico. and no
body of sense expects either inter
yentiou or war; but since the question
OF preparedness of our army is raised,
it is only proper that the newspapers
should point out the fact that we are
not prepared for war, that we are in
about as inefficient condition of un-
| preparedness for any war as we ever
were in the history Of the country. and
that is saying a good deal. 1t has
really become a question In the minds
| Of thinking citizens whether it is worth
| while To keep ND An army at all. since