The Nome daily nugget., 1914-04-21

All the biographies uI Thrudor, Roosevelt and no man living has
 teen the subject of more biographical i and photographed writing-lay
 deserved stress upon his claim that
 tt for his forethought as assistant
 secretary of the navy. Admiral De- IeN would have had an mmunition O: Roosevelt for his effort to secure Manila,
 It is curious that while the praise with which to fight the battle of preparedness for war still reverber 0tes, those in places of control over our military expenditures should be permitting both the army and tho
 ,..y to sink again into the unpre- pared state from which he claims to have rescued the latter sixteen years ago.
 It was only after hard fight that tte senate yesterday passed the for tifications bill sent over from the house. with an increase of $1,72O, 900 in appropriations for ammunition and siege guns. The house had been deaf [. the pleas of the secretary of wal and General Croier for these appro- priations, and no doubt a new fight may be expected before the house now agrees to them.
 The point of view of the little Am orleans who would keep the nation always in a state of military impo- tence wa saptly indicated by a ques- ton put by Senator Sheppard, of Texas.
 You say this would provide ann intuition for an army of half a mill lion men," said he. Why, if there ere only 76.00O men in the army now, should We need enough for half q million?"
 The question was, of course, an- swered immediately and convincing. ly. but 1t seems incredible that any man with sense enough to get into the senate could not understand that our national theory of defense contem- plates a small standing army readily increased in time of war. It has al- ways been easy to i'll the ranks in time of need, though to fill the roster Of officers with men trained to arms is more difficult. In the Spanish American war we enrolled 250,OO0 men without trouble, though sorely put to 1t to find competent officers to drill and lead them.
 But cannon and ammunition are not to be provided and distributed in a moment. nor in a month. The in- stance of Dewey's ammunition in the spanish war was not unique. There were volunteers and regulars going into action side by side equipped with rifles of entirely distinct types. so that ammunition could not be ex- changed. Most of the volunteers were armed with rifles that were useless within easy range of the Spaniard's Nausers. just as today the Mexicans are better equipped with field and machine guns than are we. Had Spain in 1898 been a modern, aggres- sive nation. our lack of the vital munitions of war would have caused us initial disasters and prolonged the var for many months.
 Without experience, so recent and sp perilous. it seems little short of criminal that congress should neglect the fundamental duty of providing arms and ammunition, not merely for the everyday use of the army We keep but for any force up to hatf a million. Failure in this is national suicide.
 The senate has done we'll to cor- feet the error of the house, and the latter body should accept the changes in its bill. The spectacle of men rallying to the flag in time of need, but finding the nation, unable to