The Monticellonian., 1915-12-09

 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.
 It 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 l urge you to sanction and put into ef- 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 5,02S officers and l02 9s5 enlisted men of all services to strength of 7t36 officers and 134,707 en- listed men, or III. S43 all told, all serv- ices. rank and file. by the addition of 52 companies of coast artillery. l5 com panies of engineers ten regiments of in fantry, four regiments of field artillery. and four aero squadrons, besides 750 onI- ceFs required for a great variety of extra service. especially the all-'mportant duty of training the citizen force of which l shall presently speak, 792 non-commls- 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- sarv to render the army adequate fer it's present duties. duties which it has to perform not only upon our own conti- mental coasts and borders and at our in= terior 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 10 assert some part of it's real power promptly and upon A larger scale, should occasion arise the plan also contemplates supplementine the army by force of 4o0.000 disciplined citizens, raised In incre= ments of 900 a year throughout pe- riod of three years. This 1t 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 eolors for purposes of training for short periods throughout three years, and to come to the colors at call at any time throughout an addi-
 
 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.
 It 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. II would depend upon the patriotic spirit of the employers of the country whether they made it possi ble for the younger men ia their em- ploy to respond under favorable condi= tions or not. I. for one. Go not doubt the patriotic devotion either of our young men or of those who give them employ ment-those for whose benefit and protee- tion they would in fact enlist.
 The program which will be laid before you by the secretary of the navy is sim ilar1y conceived. IL 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 of the two houses but nowhere formu- AdASd Oi biHldli1 dQbpl6Nl. II SetiiiS u me very clear that it will be to the ad- vantage of the country for the congress to adopt a comprehensive plan for put ting the navy upon a 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 7.5d8 sailors 2.50o 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. It 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 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 27 battle ships of the first line six battle cruisers 25 battleships of the second line ten ar mored cruisers. 13 scout cruisers, five hrst-eiass cruisers. three second class cruisers. ten third-elass cruisers, l0s de troyers. IS fleet submarines 157 coast sub marines, six monitors. 20 gunboats, four supply ships. 15 fuel ships. four trans ports. three tenders to torpedo vessels eight vessels of special types. and two ammunition ships. This would be 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-suificiency and security in all it's aspects There are other great matters which will be thrust upon our at tention whether we will or not. There Is. for example. a very pressing question of trade and shipping involved in this great problem of national adequacy It Is necessary for many weighty reasons of national efficiency and development that we should have a great merchant ma rine- The great merchant fleet we once used to make us rich that great body of sturdy sailors who used to carry our flag into every sea, and who were the pride and often the bulwark of the nation. We have almost driven out of existence hv ineNcusable neglect and indifference and by hopeiessly blind and provincial pol icy of so-called economic protection T. is high time we repaired our mistake and resumed our commercial independence on the seas.