The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1913-12-19
INTERVENTION AND
RESULTS OF IT
British Writer 6 Ideas on How the
United States Would Have
to Middle Through. "

il the United States is forced to in
wade Mexico we shall again witness the
unedifying spectacle Of great and
wealthy nation immersed in luxurious
chaos because its people are not pre-
pared for the business of war. says a
writer in the London Daily Express.
Spain Is eviction from the Western
Hemisphere involved certain bitter les.
sons. which taught that a campaign
cannot be won by patriotism alone.
They were promptly forgotten when
peace broke out again, and now they
must be learned once more, as Great
britain learned them when her troops
failed to sweep much-dcspscd Zoe OIL
the veldt in a few short weeks.
In America, even less than in Great
Britain, do the people ever think of the
army or it's necessity until war clouds
spread across their horizon. They glory
in past victories, and have supreme
! hope for the future, but the ink is
! hardly dry on treaty of peace before
/ they serenely Danish all uncomfortable
memories of the official blunders and
military scandals of the last campaign
| and send the seasoned professional
| fighter back to his lonely frontier post
| with thanks). to remain until called
| for.
Ninc.tcnths of the American people
never see regular soldier from one
| year to the next. When the war fever
| becomes epidemic, they think of their
! defenders as the clerk next door and
| the tram conductor, who don their uni
| forms as citizen volunteers in the State
| force and are mustered into the Fed
eral army for foreign service.
Wave of Patriotism.
If Mexico must be conquered, the
| United States VIII be inundated, AS II
was fifteen years ago by tremendous
wave Of patriotism. The newspapers
| will stimulate public feeling with three.
| inch black type Middle.agcd business
men win leave their work and flock to
the volunteer headquarters seeking en-
| listment for foreign service. Civil war
veterans will don their faded uniforms
and talk of Gettysburg at the street
! corners.
Wealthy women will equip Red Cross
contingents aud milionalres offer new
battlcships, all found. All the mex.
haustiblc resources of rich and pow.
| erful nation viii Immediately be laiu
at the feet of authority, and the Battle
Hymn of the Republic will be sung in
the churches of all creeds.
And then they will middle through.
The compact regular army--a peace.
loving congress keeps it at the maxi
mum strength of about three army
c0rps-wll bear the brunt of long and
arduous campaign, fighting and dying
without brass bands, as professional
warriors do all the world over. 1t will
be the backbone of an cxpeditionary
force, and will accomplish all that
tough, wcll-discipline old soldiers, com
mandcd by some of the finest officers in
! the world. can accomplish.
But they will have to support the un.
wieldy, raw, and incompetent Lattalions
| of the volunteer organization, hastily
! whipped into the field under burningly
/ Jealous but inexperienced volunteer of.
| ticers. There will result the luxury of
chaos. that always follows an attempt
| to create an army in n day, regardless
| of expense.
| When Spain was kicked ont of Cuba,
the whole country turned upside down
in the effort to construct the army that
no one had thought of in time of peace
| The martial spirit became a mania. En.
tire cities suspended business to see
their volunteer regiments march away
to the mobilization camps, where over
worked officers of the regular ESTABLISH
ment spent many weary days in examin-
ing and sitting them and swearing in
the residue as Federal troops.
Incompetent Army
Then came the disillusoning DELAY,
when tired stan officers (recallcd from
| Far Western posts, where they hal
wasted the best years of their lives AS
| lleutenants or captains and suddenly
promoted to brigadiers in the hope that
they could work miracles tried to ham
mcr this unpromi sing field material into
| efficiency
DO what they might, the citizen army
/ could not Ice made competent in few
weeks after war was declared. Blum
| derS were made, even by the most pa
/ tri0tic, The first stage of the war fever
/ PASSED, and there came reaction. Pub.
lie criticism succeeded indiscriminate
| praise
/ Men died in fever camps. Bad beef
KILLED many others. There were sean.
da's about the commissiariat, the med
| zeal service, thousand and one Other
shortcomings due to incxpericucc and
Incompetence. Public money was
wasted, Contractors profted by the
/ official frenzy and poctctcd fortunes.
Politics trained the campaign. old
officers equipped with the arduous
| training Of West Point, found them.
selves outrankei by civilians who knew
q senator 40 Washington aud bought
gold lace accordingly Volunteer req
mcnt> with a "pull' were drafted into
| tHe rNprdiiiounry force, and died OF
fever boz cuba, while less fortunate rcgi.
/ mrnts wrote Violently 90 the ncwspu
peers and died BOO the mobilization rnup,
Ht homo
DlseaFe Worse Than War.
ENw with ouch wrak opposition a-
/ wus phrrnl Dog the BALI starved soldier.
. OF SPAIN tHr campaign Wa- ono of
NwNY Iu.r,s More mon wrrr killed J.,
lisouso thu p, Spanish hmlis d
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IU ammo TtrUU.IH uf II| IIU..fUU .....It.