Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1915-12-10

| the government must be their servant In
| this matter. must supply them with the
training they need to take care Of them
selves and of 1t. 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
| fed 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 Tor the present sufficient
They contemplate an increase OF the
standing force of the regular army from
| its present strength of 5,02S officers and
| 102,985 enlisted men of all services to q
| strength Of 7,136 officers and 134,707 en-
| listed men, or 41843, all told all serv-
ices, rank and file, by the addition of 81
companies of coast artillery, l5 COM
panies of engineers, ten regiments of in
| fantry, four regiments of field artillery,
and four aero squadrons, besides $50 onl-
| GERS required for a great variety OF extra
| service, especially the all important duty
| of training the citizen force of which
| shall presently speak, 1872 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
%hn al
| sary to render the army adequate for its
| present duties, duties which it 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 its real power
promptly and upon larger scale. should
| occasion arise, the plan also contemplates
| experimenting the army by force of
| 1000 disciplined citizens, raised in mere
ments of $4,000 year throughout a pc
| riod of three years. This it is proposed
| to do by 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 addi-
| 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-
coed two months In the year.
It would depend upon the patriotic feel
| ing of the younger men OF the country
whether they responded to such call
to service or not. 1t would depend upon
the patriotic spirit Of the employers of
the country whether they made 1t posi-
BILE for the younger men In their en-
| ploy to respond under favorable condi-
tons 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-
| ton they would in fact enlist.
The program which will be laid before
| you by the secretary of the navy Is sim
| ilarly conceived. 1t involves only
| 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
| lated or formally adopted. 1t seems to
me very clear that 1t will be to the adj
| 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 it
| to be our manifest course of prudence
| to be strong on the seas. Year by year
| we have been creating a navy which now
| ranks very high indeed among the navieS
| Of the maritime nations. We should now
! definitely determine how we shall COM
| plete what we 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,
$500 apprentice seamen, and 1.500 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 300 in order that
| the force Of officers should be luore rap
| idly added to; and authority Is asked to
| appoint for engineering duties emily. APP
proved graduates of engineering colleges,
| and for service in the aviation corps
certain number of men taken from civil
| life
| If this full program should ne 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,
| Is battleships of the second line, ten ar
| mored cruisers, Is scout cruisers, Ave
| first-class cruisers, three second-class
| cruisers, ten third-class cruisers. 10S de-
| troyers. IS fleet submarines 1877 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.
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