New Britain herald., 1915-08-28
PREPARE FOR WAR,
 SAYS GOV. DUNNE
Our Forces Wholly Inadequate,
 Declares Illinois Executive

1 EuWard F. Dunne, Of llHnol0' auVlo- l ed greater military and naval pre-
 paredness in his address at the gov" | ernors' Conference here yesterday Ill l part, Gov. Dunne said:
 Since the commencement of the
 tremendous war now waging in Eu- rope, and the danger of our country l being embroied therein, all clOsses of people in the republic have been l seriously considering the unprepared- ness for war which seems to exist l in our country
 i Sorry Predicament. 'If war were to be declared against 1 this country by one of the six great 1 est nations of Europe it must be con- i ceded that the United States in it's 1 present condition of land and naval | forces would be a sorry predicamenr. | For offensive warfare our land forces | are so small as to be regarded with l ridicule, our naval arament might succeed for a time in damaging cities 1 and fortificatiiOn upon the seacoast 1 of possible enemy in Europe, but separated so far as we would be from the base of supplies such offensive naval warfare could not be of lasting duration.
 'In defensive naval warfare, we
  showing upon our own coasts, but if any of these great nations should effect a landing of any considerable army, for weeks at least such an in- vason would be unopposed. This serious situation of affairs has given even the. most ardent advocate of peace between the nations grav, concern.
 Militia Wholly Inadcquate. The present militia of all of the | different states of the United States l is wholly inadequate for the defense | of the nation. In 1913, the total mi,- | itia of the National Guards of all the States aggregated approXima ately one 1 hundred and twenty thousand men, 1 Such a number of men would be
 wholly inadequate for the defense of l the nation in case of war with any | frst-class power.
 | ITO rely upon the regular army o' l one hundred thousand men, and a
 militia of one hundred and twenty l thousand men in case of war with a l frst-class power would be an act Of
 supreme folly. The citizen soldiery
 of the republic must be reorganized, l regenerated and enormously increas-
 cd There should be at least a body
 
 of arms, organized and maintained
 throughout the different States of the 1 united States in the aggregate Of
 at least two million men. How can thls be accomplished without i'm. | posing too great a hardship upon | US mem bers and upon the taxpayers ] or the Nation? It can be accomplish ca oy the adoption of two measures, Give Military Trainino. First: By requiring every college and university in the United States which receives from any state or from the Federal government any support or appropriation of money. 1 tc give a military training to it's l students during the four years of the | university or college course. As part | of the physical and mental educa ton 1 of the student, he should be compell- | ed, II In such an institution, as part | of his curriculum, to devote suffi- | cient time to enable him to become
 a well-informed soldier in time Of
 war. That this can easily be accom-
 plished is proven by what has alread,
 been accomplished in some of the
 universities.
 "One of the greatest needs of the l British and Russian armies at the l present time is their need of trained
 offcers to take charge of the enlist 1 ed men. We should profit by the
 examples furnishing in this awful war
 now prevailing in Europe. For de .
 fenslve purposes at least we should
 nave an adequate number of we'll
 drilled men, graduates of our educa : uonal institutions who could in case , or war take charge of and whip into
 shape the soldiers who would fly to
 the defense of their country's integ-
 rity
 More Liberal Appropriations.
 Another method of increasing the
 numbers and efficiency of our state
 mlltla would be for the Federal gov. ernment to make more liberal appro- prlatlons for the maintenance of the same On the average the militiam en Tn the State of Illionois does not receive to exceed fifteen dollars a year, and that only when he is in active service.
 This beggarly allowance is not attractive to :he ordinary farmer. mechanic or clerk.
 All of this should be changed. If 5 a mll1tlaman were paid one dollar fore every night that he spent in military training in his drill hall or arsenal with a provision that he S would receive no compensation unless he attended at least forty nights dur a ing the year, l believe that instead of d 120,0OO militiamen we would have 1,5OO,0OO or 2,OOOOOO."