The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-31
ARMY OF MILLION BOYS IS PROJECT OF COL, THOMPSON Standing Land Force Should Include Youths Is to 21,
 He Says. Believes Half Billion Dol lars Should Be Spent For
 Bigger Navy.
New York, Aug. s1.

| tions of Europe the United States
 must appropriate $500,O00,0 900 for a 1 vast naval increase at once, and must
 raise a standing army of 100000 young men between the ages of Is and l 21.'
 This opinion was advanced last
 night by Col. Robert M. Thompson
 after he had been elected Presi dent | of the Navy League. The annual l meeting of the Board of Directors of 1 the League was held at the Hotel
 WaIdorf-Astoria in the afternoon, and | General Horace Porter rendered his
 resignation as head of the organiza- tion on account of his advancing 1 years. He was elected Honorary 1 President, and Colonel Thompson, ] who is President of the New York Metal Exchange anad was formerly well known as a cotton operator, and who had been Chairman of the Ex- eeutive Committee of the league since 1904, was elected unanimo ously to General Porter's place. It was at a dinner rendered to Colonel Thompson 1 at the Waldorf that he expressed his views on the military and naval needs of this country.
 1 'tBefore going into the details of the defense needed continued Colonel Thompson, "let n4e say this:i At the end of the war in Europe we are go- ing to have practically the entire stock ! of gold of the world in this country. History has proven that treaties and moral obligations are nothing to na- tions that covet what another pos
 sessses, and with the gold and trade that will be this countIy's there will be great deal that will be coveted. Europeans Can Invade America
 Modern conditions of transporta-, ton, it is calculated by best authori- ties. would make it possible for one of these European fighting organizations
 to land 100000 soldiers fully equip
 ped for aggressive warfare, ofl our sh ores within fifteen days after war had been declared In three months
 they could have a million fully equip ped men here to make a Belgium of our unprepared country. In our pres
 ent condition it would take us several
 months to get together few hundred thousand men. Belgium's fate has
 shown the effectiveness of willing but untrained cftizenry And England's
 experience is showing how long it
 takes to make soldiers out of citizens.
 We should have to officer our forces
 with those who are now privates in
 the regular army, and Russia is
 learning the lesson of poorly officered
 forces
 .e.The only way to protect our coun-
 try is to give it a protecting force that will make it foolhardy for a foreign
 nation to attack us, that will make 1t impossible for the foreign nation to land and entrench the first 300, GOO We must have 6OO,o0O men re ady to be thrown against that first army of 100000, and to. have a mobile force of that size we must have a total force of !, ,0O0, ,00O.
 We would create the navy that is needed by one single outlay of a. large amount and then repay the amount gradually in installments little larger. than our present annual budget for this purpose./l Then. instead of patch ing up from year to year a navy SthatEl is inadequate, we would have a, great navy that would mean genuine de- fense for little more in the long run than the present cost.
 Boys Are the Real Fighters.
 ."The standing army should consist of boys. There should not be a|man, except the officers, more than 21 years of age in theewhole army. say this because in all real fighting it is being proved that the boys are those who make the real fighters. Instead of be- ing a drawback, however, this fact l makes the problem of our national de- fense simpler We have proved that schools. such as West Point and Anna polls not only create the best soldiers there are, but they develop renarka ply fine, well educated men, who make the best cttiznes when they go into pri- vates life.
 Every year there are 800, 900 boys who reach the age of IS years in this | country. It-is admitted that the Cow ernn1ent benefits itself when it takes upon itself the obligation of educating these boys. The answer to the nilf- tary side of the problem is this: the Government must educate these boys, 1 or the percentage of them required, at schools similar to West Point and An napo1is,- and in this way equip. them | not only to make the United States for
 nidab1e. but to take their places in the community as splendfdly educate l splendidly developed citizens. There l would be no loss of time on the part of the boys and there would be no l economic loss to the coun try, but no 1 nation on earth would dare attempt a | war of conquest at our expense"
 Albert B. Lambert, President of the 1 Lambert Pharraica1 Company, of. St. 1 Louis, who is President of the Aero 1 Club of St. Louis andSa member, of the 1 Aero Club of America, was elected 1 Second Vice President of the league, at 1 the>> dinner spoke aviation in war fare. MT Lambert lived in France 1 three years, and holds ran air pilots license in that country. He is said to | have made 5000 flights-in aerop1anes. 1
 Great Need of Aeroplanes.
 ttThe American navy has no aero i plane scouts worthy of the name,'' MT. | Lam bert said 'tIn case of war our | fleets as they are now constituted | would be sent to face certain destruc- | ton at the hands or fIeetsN supplied | with aeroplane spotters. On land the | story would be the same! Masses of l troops could be concentrated to be | hurled against lines, while we remain | ed utterly in Ignorance that an attack was to be made According to the best | reports the Germans have been able i to infIict terrible defeats of the pres ent war on the Russians largely be- cause the latter had no aeroplanes i worth mentioning. and fought in the dark. unable to tell at what point the | Teutons were nnassing for the attack And yet at the outbreak of the war Russian had many more aeroplanes than the United States.
 Some idea of the Enormous num- Der of aeroplanes needed for modern warfare can be gained from the fact | that England is anxious toe purchase |