Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1914-12-06

speech Of Hon, Augustus r.
Gardner
Mr., Gardncr-Mr Speaker yester-
day / introduced house joint rosolu-
tion S72, Providing for national
security commission
This resolution calls for am inyosu-
cation whose purpose ~ 10 ascertain
whether the United states Is prepared
for war Today ! am addressing this
body because ! need help In pressing
that resolution 10 "A hearing,
\ Deliberate Dclusion.
For "A dozen years | have sat here
like a coward, ana ! have listened TO
men say that I'm time OF war we could
depend for our dcfenA upon our
national guard and our naval militia,
and / have known all Of the time II
was not so. ! am former mllitiaman
myself | am a veteran Of the Spanish
war, and | tell you that any such
doctrine Is the suprcmcst folly Ondor
that delusion In 10 short years we
have allowed our navy to slough away
from a strong second to England, until
now II is a very bad third and Is fast
sinking TO fourth or firth place, The
theory In this country that we can
create an army and navy right of
the reel Is totally and entirely wrong.
After war breaks out you cannot inn
proyise a dreadpaught, you can not
improyise torpedo, you can not i'm
proNise 42-ccntimeter hOwltzcr, you
can not improvise a travelling concrete
plant, you can not improvlse plants
for initiating Zeppelin balloons, you
can not improylse sailors
All those things must be provided
I'm time Of peace, and yet We are ne
glecting them. And, my friends, you
can not make a fighting regiment out
of a militia organization until you have
either eliminated 20 per cent Of the
personnel OF that militia organization
or stiffened their resistance against
the instinct of self-preservation l
have been a militiaman. | have seen
militiamen go into the Spanish war.
Many a lad enters the national guard
In times Of peace and then Is ashamed
not to volunteer when war breaks out.
He goes to war half-heartedly, hoping
against hope that when the time
comes he will be brave. Perhaps he
may be brave, but often the spirit Is
willing and yet the flesh is weak, That
20 per cent | spoke Of is quite enough
to disOrganiZc the best material which
ever went to war.
The militia has seldom been de-
pendable in a tight place in the past
You have got to go through the long,
weary process Of cutting out the timid
and hardening the rest before your
national guard regiment will become
an effective volunteer regiment
The Story of the Spanish War.
"Oh yes somebody says to me-
chat is the same old story that we
have been hearing so long, that the
United States is not prepared for
war" My friends, il is the same old
story, and it is a true old story. We
60. l,,,, ha
Spanish war broke out in 1898 and
we were not prepared for war when
the Spanish war ended.
At the end Of April 1898, war was
declared against SpainI and there
came call for volunteers, for 1880
only. Afterwards, in May, came a
call for 5000 more volunteers. Did
these volunteers mobilize, all equip
ped, rushing to the front like the com
ing of the wind? BY no means. A
great many of those volunteers have
not modified yet. Did you know,
Mr.. Speaker, that in the Spanish war
great many states of this union were
unable to supply their entire quota
until after the war was ended? If the
gentleman from Pennsylvania, Gen.
Hurlngs, were here today, he would
tell you that on the 9Th day of August,
1893. at COamo, i. r., three months
and a half after the war was declared, !
he led his men into action, armed with
rifles which had only been in their
hands for three days. In Cuba during
the Spanish war, in the month of July, |
two regiments went into battle armed
with short-ranged Springfield rifles, |
shooting black-powder cartridges, T.
There is the press gallery sits Sergt |
Goodwin of Company X, Third Texas. /.
Were he on the floor he could tell /
YOU how his company for five months |
had to put up with antique black |
powder Springficlds To be sure, |
many of those valuable relics were at I