The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-17
Z A PREPAREDNESS.
Does II Not Mean for the United
states National Army?

To II EDITOR OF THE SUN-Str: In
considering the army plans Of Secre-
tary Garrison and the War College Di-
vision of the General Staff TIL SUN
says:
Mr.. 0arrison's continental army will
be attacked In Congress because at best
II would be . volunteer force Of doubtful
effectiveness. The War College Division
plan will be regarded a. extravagant In
theory and impossible Of execution. A
middle course Will have to be taken II
effective preparedness Ia to be authorized
by legislation.
II by effective prepa redness" you
mean practicable attempt at prepare
ton. or political preparedness. you are
doubtless right. But that may be .
very different thing from genuine pre-
paredness. which need not be charac-
teriEed A effective.
! do not snow Of n legal or con-
stitutional limitation or existing insti-
tuition that should be allowed to stand
In the wal Of military preparedness.
Of such military preparation as is
necessary to protect this country
against conquest or spoliation. II there
Is anything in the principle safety
first" a. applied to u national welfare.
II means that our political ideals. our
democratic theories n preJudices. must
give way on occasion TO military re-
quiromente. And let US be under no
delusion al to what these are.
There 10 a belief among u people
to-day. deduced by amateur military
critics. by newspaper s~trategists. from
the present war. that six or eight months
OF military training 10 suficient for the
creation or an army OF citizen sol
diers that shall prove a match for any
army. There could be no
greater illusion. There can be 10 pre-
%paredness worthy Of the name that does
not consist substantially Of a regular
army and "A regular navy. Not that
there Is no place In an efficient military
force for volunteers or militiamen
there Is; but the framework, or cadre,
the higher Officers. the standards OF
order and discipline. the spirit. or
morale. must be those OF q regular
1T my. Volunteers and militiamen must
be gradually converted into regulars. in
form and spirit. II not In name. All
this In unpalatable to our democratic
citizenship. But II anything worth
while Is to come Of the present national
defence movement we must begin by
realixing that We have something to do
that must so against u grain. There
is no reconciling the military need OF
hsht ooy ohu hout ~ NV thNoto VI
democracy. There is no blinking the
fact that n regular army is essentially
undemocratic.
An efficient citizen soldiery can he
nothing else than a regular army under
4 different name. To think OF adequate
national defence without the one man
power Of military organization and ad-
ministration. without the Oliearchy of
a general staff. without the absolutism
or military obedience, Is to imagine a
vain thing. II these features of mill
tary method constitute militarism there
Is no use OF our trying to have pre-
p%aredness without militarism as we'll
try to have An army without soldiers.
IL We are going to have "A spurious
Imitation OF preparedness and not the
genuine article we ought TO know IL.
We have a right to the imitation, II We
want Il, but W should not accept IL
In the guise or under the name OF the
real thing. Before We decide for the
imitation we should consider whether
inadequate defence is preferable to none
at all. Would we not do better to save
our money. to put It In an indemnity
u with which to buy off our Veto.
rious enemy than TO spend II on ~ineffec.
tual resistance. increasing the demands
that will be made upon us and decreas-
ing our means OF meeting them?
The plan OF the War College is ba sed.
YOU judge. upon an estimate OF what
Germany might 10 or attempt to do.
that Is TO say. upon the menace OF
Germany" This reckoning with a sin
gle Power. ard not the strongest naval
Power at that, will be regarded. YOU
say. az eNtravag giant. You remark
OBVIOUSLY thA number of troops re-
quired to deal with an invasion by any
nfhaF IryrGr than .A,,f Ia
much less than a million Of men" As
Stunning this to be true. what IL to pre-
vent Germany and Austria. or France
and Great Britain. or Great Britain
and Italy, or. la the course Of time,
Great Britain and Germany. or any two
or three or more Powers. combining 10
attack the United States?
Does not the present war suggest a
transition from wars OF nation against
nation to wars of coalition against a
coalition. OF titanic contests in which
race may be pitted against race, couu.
nent against continent. hemisphere
against hemisphere Yes. combined fight
ing on a world scale and not any single
combat is what we should look for as
the test that is coming to us in our
next war. Large. wealthy, populous. as
our country Is. It's only safe military pol
Icy Is to be prepared 10 put forth its
whole strength. to fight TO its last foot
OF territory. to its last dollar, to i.s
last man. This does not mean that all
Its military " must he prepared
for immediate mobilization on the out
break of war. but It does mean that
they should admit Of mobilization as
fast as they are imperatively needed
that such defence as ia made cannot he
overcome before II has absorbed all its
pOtentMl reinforce ent that tho conn.
try cannot be conquered or a peace
dictated to 1t while any appreciable mill
tary strength remains in II. latent and
undeveloped.
To every true. enlightened democrat
an army In an evil, but a choice Of evils,
1t is a foreign body IN the political sys-
tenn which like n bullet In the human
body may be more or less TROUBLESOME
or dangerous according to It's size, form
and substance. The fundamental cues
ton for lis is this. Can our body polite
Withstand the feudalixing influence OF a
regular army based on universal SER
vice? We stood a test of this kind
pretty we'll In u civil war. Had our
people then lacked the necessary faith
In our Constitution. in tho democracy
Of our body polite, they might have
chosen to let tho nation die by seces-
sion rather thar by military usurpa-
ton, n We should not be the United
States Of America to-day. A truly ma
tional army IL no more foreign to the
spirit or our commonwealth. Is not as
untrue to the Declaration OF Independ-
ence as HI institution Of slavery which
Wa carried In our system for over hall
a century A hardly more so than the
policy OF a protective tariff which W.
safely endured for nearly as long a