Evening journal., 1915-03-16
Democracies and Preparedness of War
(From the New York Tribune.)

In the current number of "The In
fantry Journal" Colonel +. e. Hatch
draws certain conclusions of interest
to Americans from a study Of the
military systems of Australia and
Switzerland II is often assumed
that democratic Ideals are incompati-
Bile with military efficiency. But in
the two advanced domOcracies of
Australia and Switzerland .tho prob
lem of military preparedness has been
attacked as earnestly as it has been
by nations with military castles ana
imptrialistic institutions. Australia
has a population of about 5.O00OOO
and Switzerland a population of about
100000 But owing TO a system OF
universal service and keen pOpu-
lar interest in national defence each
OF these little countries has created
a military system which is turning
out a better army than the United
States has with It's population of
nearly l0O,O0O,O00.
II is not the democratic spirit
which stands i'm the way of military
efficiency. The people of Australia
and Switzerland feel the necessity of
preston and have checrfully imposed
on themselves the obligation Of uni
versal military service. The people
of the United States have been un-
willing 10 cut loose from the dclusiOn
that our geographical isolation pro-
tccts ms from attack They take as
gift OF fortune a guarantee OF ter
ritorial inviolability which most other
nations have 20 purchase by the most
thorough military preparation. We
arc self-deluded I'm greatly Oyerrating
the value Of our geographical posi-
ton Yet so long as public opinion
remains blind TO the very real dam
gers which our lack of preparedness
/ invites, it is useless to expect Con-
gross TO alter our take-it-oasy mill
tary policy.
Colonel Hatch is an advocate of uni
versal service. But he realizes that
+ in the present state OF popular feel
/ ing only a distant approach to such
a system is practicable in this coun-
! try The most that he suggests in
/ that direction is the use of our Con-
gross districts as local organization
areas and the requirement that each
/ district shall furnish a quota of at
least 75g men. volunteers or con-
I scripts. for service terms of seven
/ years After the first draft only 146
men would need 10 be furnished an
nually. On that basis a reserve army
. of 330,1G5 mcn would be provided. Civ
! ing us will an enlarged regular army
Of about 10000. a first line defence
force of a little over half million
men
Some scheme Of this sort may find
approval later on II is a modest
imitation of what Australia and swift
zcrland have found il easy to do A,
an alternative. good for immediat,
consideration Colonel Hatch suggests
that the state militia organization b'
thoroughly nationalized Australi;
and Switzerland arc both declarations
q of states of cantons. But neither tol
o. crates the waste and complications re
] sulting from "A State-controllod mil
e itia system. Congress has .natiOnalizc,
( our militia organizations TO a sigh
d. extent. but the federal governmcn
exercises no real control over them il
time of peace. and cannct hope {,
bring them mp TO an acceptable leve
Of military efficiency. Were,the Stat
e national guards be converted int
= a federal guard or a United States re
serve, real uniformity i'm training ant
= quality could be attained and. in Col
oncl Haich's opinion, the mlitar.
: value of the force would easily b.
doubled. For local service the State
would unquestionably be better off dc
pending on small permanent bodie
= like Pennsylvania's constabulary
p Another Improvement based ol
Australia's experience, would he tn
, utilization of the cadets trained Il
the colleges TO which the Unite
states supplies military instructors
e There are ninety-seven such nstitu
4 tions and about $1,000 students undo
training. But the government get