El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-11-14
WHAT AMERICA SHOULD LEARN
FROM THE EUROPEAN WAR


ficient as were the two armies when
fought one another at Bull Run IN 1901
Even the efficiency Of the regular army
itself was such merely by comparison
with the volunteers.
I do not believe that any army IN
the world offered finer material tnan
was offered by the junior officers ana
enlisted men Of the regular army when
disembarked on Cuban soil IN June,
1898, and by the end Of the next Two
weeks probably the average individual
infantry or cavalry organization there
in was at least as good as the average
organization Of the same size IN an Old
World army. But taking the army as
a whole and considering its manage
ment from the time it began to assem-
bic at Tampa until the surrender OF
Santiago, I seriously doubt il 1t was
as efficient as a really good European
or Japanese army of half the size.
Since then we have made considerable
progress.
went to Cuba at the time Of the revo-
luton in Cuba 10 years ago was thor
oughly well handled and did at least as
well as any foreign force of the same
include 10000 men, that is, it did not
include as many men as the smallest
military power in Europe would as
semble any day for maneuvers.
Not n New Thing.
This is no new thing in our history.
If only we were willing to learn from
our defeats and failures instead of pay
ing heed purely to our successes, we
would realize that what I have above
described is one of the common phases
of our history. In the war OF 1872, at
the outset of the struggle, American
forces were repeatedly beaten, as at
Niagara and Bladensburg, by an enemy
One-half or one-quarter the strength
of the American army engaged
Yet two years later these same
A
tier, when trained and commanded by
Brown, Scott and Ripley, proved able to
do what the finest troops of Napoleon
We're unable to do, that is. meet the
British regulars on equal terms IN the
open; and the Tennessee backwooods-
men and Louisiana volunteers, when
mastered and controlled by the IRON
will and warlike genius of Andrew
Jackson. performed at New Orleans a
really great feat. During the year 1872
the American soldiers on shore suffered
shameful and discreditable defeats, and
vet their own brothers at sea won
equally striking victories, and this be
cause the men on shore were utterly
-unprepared and because the men at
sea had been thoroughly trained and
drilled long in advance.
EXastly the same lessons are taught
by the histories of other nations. When,
during the NapOleOnic wars, a small
force of veteran French soldiers landed
in Ireland they defeated without an et-
fort five times their number OF British
troops at Castelar,. Yet the men whom
they thus drove in wild flight were the
own brothers of and often the very
same men who a few years later under
wellington proved an Overmatch for
the flower Of the French forces.
should Not Wait for Crisis.
The nation that waits until the crisis
is upon it before taking measures for
its own safety pays heavy toll in the
blood of its best and its bravest and in
bitter shame and humiliation. Small is
the comfort it can then take from the
memory of the times when the noisy
and feeble folk in its own ranks cried,
Peace. Peace" without taking one
practical step to secure peace.
national policy, we can never be Of
benefit to others or to ourselves, unless