New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-07
MIR. Wilson'S Opportunity.

Safence on a sound and adequate OASIS ne
y11 have the support of hundreds Of thou
rands of Americans who are not OF his
political faith Such a decision Will be.
accented all over the country as one more
satisfying evidence Of the growth of Mr.
Wilson since he became President.
1t is a patent fact that the army which
we have is hopeessly inadequate and dis
proportionately expensive. 1t is not less
alarming fact that behind the skeleton for
nations of regular troops we have only an
attenuated militia and an utter absence of
national reserves. What is even more
serious is the fact that we lack trained
officers in numbers adequate to command
that EARNED citizenrt" so familiar in the
eloquence of orators in all our history.
The difficulties which now beset Great
Britain in organizing the vast armies that
have responded to the call for volunteers
is a final indication, if one were needed,
of the fallacy of the American notion that
il is possible to improvise commanders as
well as armies.
The United States should have a regu-
lar army and a militia which combined
could serve as a first line of defence in
conjunction with the navy during that
period in which the volunteers called up
on the declaration Of war were being
trained. equipped and organized. 1t should
have a reservoir of men, trained at West
Point or at similar academies, who could
be called to the colors in time of national
emergency.
No man will venture to say how many
soldiers there should be in the regular
establishment in advance of the reports of
the General Staff 1t is understood that
when Congress assemblies figures, esti-
mates. reports, prepared at the request of
the Secretary of War, will be available.
Until that time all attempts to speculate
are idle and beside the point
What is essential is that the President
and Congress should recognize what the
country has realized, that the United
States should be placed in a fencible con-
dition, that it should have that minimum
of trained soldiers and trained officers
which will enable it to stand off the at
tacks that, if they come, will come before
the volunteers can be ready.
In the European sense we shall never
have great armies. We do not need them.
1t is inconceivable and undesirable that
the United States should maintain an es-
tablshment permitting the mobilization of
millions of trained soldiers. This goes
beyond our need or our desire. Aggres-
sive action will ever be impossible because
we shall never possess the material to
make it, however strong the wish.
But the last year has made absolutely
clear the fact that no desire for peace on
the part of a nation can preserve its exist
ence or keep it out of conflict Sincere,
honorable, determined devotion to pacific
aims are no guarantee that legitimate
rights of a nation will be respected.
In recent months American citizens
have been murdered by a nation with
whom we have no quarrel. We have been
forced to consider the possibility of war
when every hope of whole people was for
peace. because there was raised the ques-
ton of life or death for Americans. The
experience Of Belgium is a lasting monu-
ment to the fallacy of the argument that
either helplessness or the absence of pro-
vocative ambition can insure immunity.
We shall not contribute much to avert
inc attack. We shall not add anything to
the peril of war by providing ourselves
with the minimum of material for national
defence. War will come, if it comes to us,
without regard to either consideration.
Preparedness will not make for war or for
peace, but it will make for safety, for
, security after war comes, and no one can
longer escape the conviction that war may
come even to US.
Mr.. Wilson began his administration
with firm faith in the gospel of interna-
tional peace. But at that time he only
shared with millions a faith which has