New-York tribune., 1915-03-27


Tho proposrtion ls that the United
States military establishment rs insult
ncient and largely inefficient, ana YET
is proportionateiy by far 'he most eN-
nensiyc in the world. J.. other words
,e are not getting our money worm
Tor our military appropriations. our
state Of uuprcuarcdneSS is enormously
costly i'm dollars and cents; 'ar move
costly tran STATE OF adequate p''palA-
.,or for emergencies should he. The
propor,ionate cost pcoportonate 20
the number Of available men OF our
army D., from two TO i've times greater
thar that Of an, other army IN the
world
Observe: We have standing army OF
less shan 10000 men. and II costs ~
more than S90000000 q year, or more
than 81 600 d man. Germany mad be-
fore the war sanding army OF o.
600 and total appropriations Of $500
coo OO0. or less thau $450 man. More
to the purpose s.. It, however TO com
pare not merely the standing armies,
but tne forces effective for immediate
use. the first and second lines. On thai
basis We have for our S9o,0OO.oOO about
I60, ,OOO men France. before the war.
had for her >ls5.000.00o some 1.210OON
.co or nearly eight time. as many
...u as we for little more thsu twice
oar cost. Or. if We turn away from the
great military powers. and from those
Iu which what we call starvation wages
prevail. what do We ind Thrifty,
ucace-Ioviug Holland mas $4,000 men
tor less than $i400o0Q0 or more
,han thrpc-fourths as many men A. we
for less than ouc-siNth OF our cost.
Sweden has 10000 men az cost OF
S15.OO0.O00 more than onc-hifh more
men than we. a. onc-slXtn Of the cost
Norwa- has 10000 men for only 81
100000 oae-fourtn less men at only
oue-twentieth Of our cost. Australia
, has 100000 men. or nearly as many as
we. Tor only S12.j00000 less than one
seventh Of our cost, Finally. Swltzer-
land the example most dwclt upon by
our author with a population OF about
4.0OO. .O00 is able 20 put at a days no.
tice 100000 trained soldiers into the
held at a cost Of only SSo00.OO0 year
one-twenty-s second OF our population,
one-cleverth Of our cost. and more than
three times as many men as we.
What is the explanation Of these
facts. so discreditable 10 our practical
business sense? Our author dlscerns
and exposes It unerringly:
The big mole in the pocket where
VIC carry our army funds, OF course,
IS the lack of any regular system OF
reserve. The professional soldier.
the fighter who enters the army for
a living. is the most expensive unit
Of defence a nation can have. The
citizen soldier, who is called 10 the
colors only in time Of war, or for
short periods of training, is the
cheapest. A reasonable combination
Of the professional and the citizen
, soldier. in accordance with the eS-
tabliShed military policy OF the
United States, would give us. for
our ninety million dollars. detcn-
sive strength that would compare
not unfavorably with that OF any
first class nation.
Ii is. Of course. a common theory
. that we have a citizen army IN the mi.
tia Of the various states. or National
| Guard, on which the Federal government
spends S4,0O0.O00 year. Well, we
have; but II numbers all told only l2l,-
300 men on paper, and II called Tor
service it would probably have not more
than half that effective strength. II is
notorious that one-fourth Of IT is dest-
tute Of facilities for even rudimentary
and most essential instruction and
drill: the general equipment is mad
' eQuatc, and the force whole ~
dcplorably lacking in the two essential
arms of cavalry and artillery. Even
our standing army, admirable as II IS
nm its personal composition, IS ILL
equipped Ii is lacking in artillery, and
Of ammunition for the guns which 1t has
there is not more than one days sup
ply, The latter condition Is an appro-
pirate parallel to one in the navy, where
there is only one torpedo for each tor
pedo tube,
How inefficient our army is collect
lively. despite its superb individual
efficiency. is set forth "in lampblack
and lightning in the indisputable re-
minder that il would be utterly unable
TO prevent the landing. or 10 check the
advance. of an invading army force
Of. saw. 200 900 men. The sole depend
ence Of the United States for security
against an al least temporarily success
iul invasion by even a seCOnd-claSS
mower is upon its navy wiki ITS one
torpedo for each torpedo tube And our
navy now ranks third IN ships and
fourth i'm men; probably fourth in
actual efficiency. with imminent danger
of falling to fifth place unless the pres
ent war eliminates one Of its superiorS.
Reliance upon coast Notifications IS,
Of course. vain. Granted that they are
efficient in the highest degree. their eff
cheney extends no further than the
range Of fire Of their guns. Granted
that Boston, New York and Philadel-
phia are. or may be, made imprcgnable
against direct attack by feet. there
is nothing to bar am expedition from
landing at some uudeiended point on
the long intervening stretches OF coast
and then marching upon those cities
from the undefended landward side.
The only pract tical protection against