Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-12-10
GARRISON URGES
GREATER MEASURE
OF PREPAREDNESS
Annual Report to President
Thought by Many to Be
Most Remarkable Ever Filed
by a Secretary Of War;

ipulSory military service.
In what many men jon official life
rcharaoterize as the most remarkable
report ever made bv secretary of
WAR. Mr. Garrison passes quickly over
the widespread routine activities Of
.thc w'r department ANA deyotcs prac-
ideally an his words rs the subject of
military preparedness. the need Of
which DO sums mp by saying
So long as right ana wrong exist
in The world there win be ana ucvua-
fble conflict between them The right
doors must be prepared 10 protect and
defend the right as against the
wrong"
Jnsparing i'm his arguments in am
/ sWer TO those who would have ma i'm
Icrease in the country's military pre-
Iparedness Secretary Garrison declares
/ that the American people must view
lthcir responsibilities and measure up
ito them, ana then goes on TO take up
the various arguments of the opposi-
( ton separately
Doctrine Of Non-rcsistancc
"Thers are some who do NOT feel
free 10 base their conduct upon 4 con-
siderotion of facts on conclusions of
reason, because their Interpretation Of
divine Injunction, hc says "They do
1 not believe in resistance 10 physical
force, and those whose coHsclences are
SO convinced surrender life and an
mat they cherish ANA love to the be-
hest Of the aggrossor. This attitude
concerns the Individual. and him
alone II cannot be made the general
form of conduct under our form Of
government without departing from
the basis upon which our government
rs founded. Inc Is ,mpelled TO query
upon what proper consideration there
Is based any distinction between the
right Of necessity or deslrabiIity Of u.s.
ing mental force TO repel error. moral
force 10 repel evil, and physical force
20 repel wrong II would seem, IL
reason were applied that in each in
stance the situation Is Identical. and
that II we should properly prepare our
minds TO be strong $50 that we can re-
iect error, and our moral characters
evil we should likewise make our
physical force strong i'm order that we
may maintain the right as against
those who would physically impose
tho wrong unon MS
There are others concerning whose
clarity Of vision we are not advised, and
concerning whose soundness of reason
we are not informed because the
attitude which they take is admittedly
NOT based upon either vision or reas-
ON. They are those who predict that
war will never come to this country.
and assert that therefore precautions
with respect thereto are unwise and
needless. Since wars have come upon
nations from the earliest date of re-
corded history TO this moment. there
Is no basis of fact for such a position
but am actual demonstration of the
noneXistence of such basis We were
early warmed that There would be
wars and rumors of wars and that
nation would rise against nation ana
kingdom against kingdom and the end
was not yet and that prediction has
been fully verified There Is no basis
and NO foundation to conclude that
this great evil has been eliminated,
and il therefore must be treated as
are an other existing evils and must
me prepared against surely as bc-
tween resting upon prediction on upon
preparation, wisdom would not hesi-
tate,
Mistrust Themselves.
There are others among us who
are too intelligent and clearsighted
not to see the facts and to realize
their Significance. but who counsel
nacton because they mistrust them-
selves and the nation Those to whom
now refer 90 not believe In the doe
unc of non-resistance; they do not
rest upon the prediction that an ovil
which has existed since the world he
gan has ceased TO exist and been abol-
ished and should not therefore be con-
sidered MS or TO Doe prepared against,
they oven point ont our potentially of
force. but they counsel against amy
preparation thereof They base this
counsel upon the expressed fear that
IL we possess force, We will be induced
90 use IL when We should not This
position ignores the responsibilities
which we have undertaken and which
we must maintain az any self-sacufice.
IL ignores the fact that if nations
which possess force are likely TO use it
when they should not, some nation
which has such force is likely To use il |
against as when it SHOULD not II ass
sumes that our nation may not he
trusted With force for fear that it may
misuse it.
+The eyes Of many are blinded 10
facts and their minds closed TO reas-
on By an adherence OF what they /
term milimrism without amy actual I
conception OF lust what this means or /
how il should affect the proper con /
sideration Of the subject Those who I
really fear mihtarism, or more accur- /
ately stated, those who dread real mill /
itarism. should be the strongest add /
vocates of reasonable preparation /
The latter Is the prevention Of mill /
tarism IL they mwisely defeat reas- I
enable preparedness, they leave the
country i'm a condition where the in
evpble result Of defeat, humiliation
or acute apprehension viii be hasty
and ill-advised provisions as To arma-
ment far beyond anything which calm
reason and wise provision would deem
necessary
There will be those who assert that
the proposed policy Opposes the tradi.
tions of the people and runs counter
thereto, This is mere assertion; II is J.