The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-10

eagerness to constantly strive toward per fection willingness to undertake and satisfactorily perform any and every duty. that Is most cemmendahle and en- | eoufaginE."
 Passing to the need for larger army, regular and reserve. the secretary dis cusses at some length peace and the use of the word "militarism," touching upon the meoted question of whether military preparations tends to prevent war. ''lt Is. of course. not necessary 10 dweil on the blessing of peace and the horrors of war he says Every one desires peace, just as every one desires health. contentment, affection, sufficient means for comfortable existence, and other simi- larly beneficient things. But peace and the other states of being just mentioned are not always or even often solely within ones own control. II may trashfully be said that eternal vigilance Is the price which must be paid In order 10 obtain the desirable things of life and to defend | them.
 Tn the early history of our nation there was a natural almost inevitable. abhor- renee of military force, because it con- noted military despotism. Most, If not | all. of the early settlers in this coun- | try came from nations where a few powerful persons tyrannically imposed their will upon the people by means of l luilld1N DONtf. Ut tonfStt dii NtAtr Ae7 | long since passed into history. No rea- sonable person in this country today has l the lightest shadow of fear of military despotism, nor of any interference what | ever by military force in the conduct Of civil affairs.
 "It also seems proper, in passing to refer to the frame of mind of those who use the word 'militarism' as. the embodi- ment of the doctrine of brute force and l lnpcplxr ann1N if n opranfTaA = ration of military force. and therefore I deprecate any adequate military prepara- | ton because it is a step in the direc- I ton of the condemned 'militafism. Every nation must have adequate force to pro- | teet itself from domestic insurrection. to enforce it's laws, and to repel invssions; that is. every nation that has similar characteristics. to those of self-respectins man. If it prepares and maintains more military force than is necessary for the purposes just named, then it is subject to l the conviction, in the public opinion o1 the world. of having embraced 'militar- | ism, unless 1t intends aggression Tor 2 | cause which the public opinion Of th' | world conceives to be a righteous one TO the extent. however, that it confines its military preparedness to the phrpose' I first mentioned, there is neither warrant nor Justification in characterizing suot action as .militarism.
 Discussion Useless
 1 Equally useless, in my view. is ths discussion frequently indulged in as ts
 whether military preparation tends o' does not tend to avoid war, l term such discussion useless because. so far a' we are concerned. whatever conclusion might be reached thereon would not af- feet our duty. Since it is not in min1 to suggest any military preparation oi I.a. bat ah lutely essential under existing conditions the question of whether more extensive preparation for the purpose of avoiding
 war would have that effect or not h futile Unless and until the Congress oi the United States. representing the people
 of the country. places on record the con
 cluson of the people to the contrary my duty is. I think, entirely clear. and that duty is to set forth the facts and the necessities growing out of the facts. ana suggestions as to the ways and means oi
 fulfilling such necessities.
 | What, then, does this nation need II the way of military preparedness? Oi
 course. l am not attempting to lay dowr
 a counsel Of perfection-that is an eN
 tensive scheme which Is ideal in it's com
 pleteness. Such a scheme might well b'
 considered and studied and adopted aftel
 long study. But to await the result o
 such course would be to continue thu
 undesirable situation in which we have s'
 long been. In my view, it is much bette
 to do those things which lie nearest a
 hand and can be done than to remain al we are. without moving along prope lines until more comprehensive and per feet scheme can be agreed upon" After enumeratng the vast areas O continental United States and those O sour other territorial responsib'litie'
 which must be considered" the repor
 says the total strength of the arm, | June 30, 1914, was 944S2 Of this mum , Der 30,S90 were available as mobile
 force in continental United States. th'
 rest being employed in the Philippines
 Hawaii or the canal zone or comprising hospital. quartermasters or other aux
 Hilary services. In the near future, th'
 report states, additional forces will b'
 sent to the canal zone and elsewhere
 reducing the mobile force on the con
 tinent, exclusive of coast artillery, t'
 24.6OO men. Even with the increased
 force there Secretary Garrison de
 clares. the Panama garrison will b' inadequate in his opinion.
 Table Shown
 A table of tho 13 leading countries O
 the world showing area. population peace strength of the army and tn, total trained war strength Is include, in the report. It discloses that witt . an area and population surpassed onl, by Great Britain and her colonies an, 1, by Russia, the United States stand
 tenth in the peace footing of her arm.
 and twelfth in trained reserves
 Against Russla's a,500,000 trained men
 the United States has 225.000. includ
 ing the Philippine scouts. and Belgium
 with 1S0.000 is the only nation 5elov
 that figure. Switzerland. next above has 275,000 Japan, 100000.
 'Whatever else may properly b
 drawn from the facts as disclosed,
 the report says. "it cannot be dispute,
 that 1t is imperative that We have il this country very much larger per 7 centage of men who have had prope ' military training and who are in a DO , sition to instantly respond to the cai , of the nation.'
 Of war material the report says: We have on hand in reserve sui g ficient small arms. small-arm ammuni
 tion and equipment, roughly figurin
 for the 500,000 men that would hay
 to be called into the field an any larg Q emergency. We have nothing like sui
 ficient artillery and artillery ammuni
 tion.'
 This has been urgently presented i all of the recent Reports of the hea <. of this department and the chiefs 0 staff, and Congress has from time ( time recently increased the appropria tions for these purposes. There is uni versal agreement among all who know Q that artillery is an essential featur s of modern warfare and that a prope : proportion thereof to any army is in Q dispensable If success Is to be eve
 hoped for. It Is imperative that tn