The Benson signal., 1915-12-11

this matter, must supply them with the
training they need to take care of them
selves and Of it. The military arm of their
government, which they will not allow to
direct them, they may properly use to
serve them and make their independence
secure-and not their own independence
merely but the rights also of those with
whom they have made common cause,
should they also be put in jeopardy.
They must be fitted to play the great
role in the world. and particularly in this
hemisphere, for which they are quail
fled by principle and by chastened ambi-
ton to play.
1t is with these ideals in mind that the
plans Of the department OF war for more
adequate national defense were conceived
which will be laid before you, and which
urge you to sanction and put into eff
feet as soon as they can be properly scru
tinized and discussed. They seem to me
the essential first steps, and they seem
to me for the present sufficient.
They contemplate an increase of the
standing force of the regular army from
it's present strength of 5,023 officers and
102, 1856 enlisted men of all services to a
strength of 7136 officers and 134,707 en-
listed men, or 141, ,S43 all told, all serv-
ices, rank and file, by the addition of 81
companies of coast artillery, 10 COM
panies of engineers, ten regiments of in
fantry, four regiments of field artillery,
and four aero squadrons, besides $50 oni-
GERS required for great variety of extra
service, especially the all-'mportant duty
of training the citizen force of which I
shall presently speak, 792 non-commis-
stoned officers for service in drill, recruit
ing and the like, and the necessary quota
of enlisted men for the quartermaster
corps, the hospital corps, the ordnance
department and other similar auxiliary
services. These are the additions neceS-
sary, to render the army adequate fer its
present duties, duties which 1t has to
perform not only upon our own CONT
mental coasts and borders and at our in
terror army posts, but also in the Phil
ippines, in the Hawaiian islands, at the
isthmus, and in Porto Rico.
Force of Trained Citizens.
BY way of making the country ready
to assert some part of it's real power
promptly and upon larger scale, should
occasion arise, the plan also contemplates
supplementing the army by a force of
1000 disciplined citizens, raised in incre-
ments of $4,000 year throughout pc
riod Of three years. This it is proposed
to do by a process of enlistment under
which the serviceable men of the coun-
try would be asked to bind themselves to
serve with the colors for purposes Of
training for short periods throughout
three years. and to come to the colors
at call at any time throughout an add-
tional "furlough" period of three years.
This force of 100000 men would be pro-
vided with personal accoutrements as fast
as enlisted and their equipment for the
field made ready to be supplied at any
time. They would be assembled for train
ing at stated intervals at convenient
places in association with suitable units
of the regular army. Their period Of
annual training would not necessarily ex-
ceed two months in the year.
1t would depend upon the patriotic feel
ing of the younger men Of the country
whether they responded to such a call
to service or not. 1t would depend upon
the patriotic spirit Of the employers of
the country whether they made it possi
BILE for the younger men in their en-
ploy to respond under favorable condi-
tions or not. l. for one, do not doubt
the patriotic devotion either Of our young
men or of those who give them employ
ment-those for whose benefit and protec
tion they would in fact enlist.
The program which will be laid before
you by the secretary of the navy is sim
ilarly conceived It involves only a
shortening Of the time within which plans
long matured shall be carried out; but it
does make definite and explicit a program
which has heretofore been only implicit,
held in the minds of the committees on
naval affairs and disclosed in the debates
of the two houses but nowhere formu-
lated or formally adopted. 1t seems to
me very clear that 1t will be to the ad-
vantage of the country for the congress
to adopt a comprehensive plan for put
ting the navy upon final footing of
strength and efficiency and to press that
plan to completion within the next five
years. We have always looked to the
navy of the country as our first and chief
line of defense we have always seen 1t
to be manifest course of prudence
to be strong on the SeaS. Year by year
we have been creating navy which now
ranks very high indeed among the naves
of the maritime nations. We should now
definitely determine how we shall COM
plete what have begun, and how soon.
Program for the Navy.
The secretary of the navy is asking
also for the immediate addition to the
personnel of the navy Of $500 sailors,
2.500 apprentice seamen, and 1,50O marines.
This increase would be sufficient to care
for the ships which are to be completed
within the fiscal year 1917 and also for
the number Of men which must be put in
training to man the ships which will be
completed early in 1918. 1t is also neces-
sary that the number of midshipmen at
the naval academy at Annapolis should
be increased by at least 800 in order that
the force of officers should be more rap
idly added to; and authority is asked to
appoint for engineering duties only, ap-
proved graduates of engineering colleges,
and for service in the aviation corps a
certain number of men taken from civil
life.
If this full program should be carried
out we should have built or building in
1921 according to the estimates of surviv-
al and standards of classification followed
by the general board of the department,
an effective navy consisting of q battle
ships Of the first line, six battle cruisers,
25 battleships of the second line, ten ar
mored cruisers, 13 scout cruisers, five
first-class cruisers, three second-class
cruisers. ten third-cass cruisers. 108 de-
| troyers, IS fleet submarines, 157 coast sub
marines, six monitors. 20 gunboats, four
supply ships, Is fuel ships, four trans
| ports. three tenders to torpedo vessels
| eight vessels Of special types, and two
| ammunition ships. This would be a navy
| fitted to our needs and worthy of our
| traditions.
Trade and Shipping.
But armies and instruments of war are
| only part of what has to be considered
| if we are to consider the supreme matter
| of national self-suf1iciency and security
| in all its aspects. There are other great
matters which will be thrust upon our at