The Nome daily nugget., 1914-01-07

Ne are hv, particularly interested i.. sviulvrs up LSre in <AlAsAa. An Ihct l.v country ,s so souAs anu so spArce- k ue, eiopeu lnat n s possiIie liin' ,,ut v.s .nMn Il, s thousand ever ki"es u thought tv lhe question oi defence.
 Iilu, ls vue great trouble with this whole nation vl ours. IL IS so busy bui,uing nsen up. developing its won d,rrul resources, li,aI nowhere ls though, gwen tv the defence of wha, We are building.
 Inere was time. further buck in oul history when every man was pre- f,arcd to become defender of his l.vne and his country at moments notice. When every man kept the Squirrel rifle and the powder horn h.,uuy and was ready night and day tn answer the call of the minute men or of the sergeant of the trained band"
 And they did answer and they did fight for their homes and their nag. these men of the early days. But they '. ere not soldiers. even then and the great general of revolutionary days bcwaiied the fact that he must fight the oppressors and invaders of his country not with soldiers trained in the "art of war but with raw re- cruits which. even in those days the great George Washington said were not equal to the exigencies of mod ern warfare"
 Modern warfare" And he lived before eighteen hundred.
 How much more modern Is warfare now. How much more should the man who Is depended upon to defend the country's honor and the country's homes be a trained man now. when warfare has become scientific.
 The best authorities believe that 1t takes three years to make a soldier in these days.
 When war comes 1t comes swiftly and there is never one one hundredth o. that time allowed to turn the pa tr;otic. but untralned volunteer into a soldier. He is showed into uniform. given rife and is told that he is soldier. That is all he knows about it. And then he is led out and allowed to be slaughtered for the great glory of the flag and future generations.
 It is rather pitiful. Not now per haps. No one will ever heed the man who breaches national preparedness for war But the pity of 1t all comes home to these needless ones when their sons and their relations and trcir friends are reported among the dead from the battlefield or the camp or. more frequently from the pest hos pitai. Then perhaps the people who would not heed those who spoke for adeuuatc national defence are sorry that "in time of peace" they did not "prepare for war"
 We have no regular army to speak of thanks to niggardy and political iy biased congress and general be- iiei among people that to he unpre- pared will keep us out of war. We have small militia force in the sev- cral states. The total of regulars an'l militia is not enough for one first class army corps In time of war.
 If war should come we would In '.- to have soldiers We would haN z plenty of men. for Americans are pa trotic. Hut what would be most need ei in order to prevent Q useless waste of Iifc would be soldiers. At least men with some military training.
 How arc VIC to provide for thisg
 Out in Australia every schcolhoy is a soldier. Hc spends part of the time of his cducation in being educated to defend the land. IL is a wonderful ssstem and it has relieved the British government of great deal of military responsibility in that far colony. For these boys are trained to take their