Evening star., 1915-07-22
yet relatively to its size it is the one
best prepared against war.
Preparedness Not Affair of a Dav.


Preparedness Not Affair of a Day.
Preparedness is not the affair of a
day If we begin at once. year or
two must elapse before we shall have
accomplished even a beginning We
should do what Switzerland and Ar
gentina, for example. have already
done. They now have universal mill
tary service in Argentina. The Ar
gentine army is a great deal more fit
to uphold the Monroe doctrine south of
spite of its high average of ir dividual
efficiency and because of it's lament
able smallness. is fit to uphold the Mon
roe doctrine north Of the equator
Drawing to the conclusion of his ad-
dress. Col. Roosevelt urged increasing
ly high standards of efficiency in the
army and navy. THE navy" he said.
,aa should Id never v 5, be used, as it was SO
lice work Of kind that insures its
deterioration as a fighting machine. 1t
should be kept up to the highest pitch
of efficiency. 1t should be kept su-
attack us within the limits above set
forth.
Our regular army should be greatly
increased in size and render much more
efficiency by yearly maneuvering in
mass. as well as practice in other di-
rections. Conditions in Mexico are
such that unless the Mexicans them
selves come to their senses and unless
we are content to see foreign powers
undertake the regulation of Mexico. we
may ultimately have to- intervene.
Such intervention would represent not
real war, but work Of pacification
and police. For such work volun-
teer soldiers are not well fitted. 1t
should be done exclusively by the reg
ular army; and for this purpose there
should be mobile army of over
hundred and thirty thousand men, so
that the whole regular army should be
about 100000 strong.
Swiss Training Quoted.
IN addition 1 firmly believe that
there should be universal military
service for our young men on the Swiss
model. In Switzerland the boys are
trained for their last few years in the
public schools and after they graduate
from the public schools they serve with
the army for four or six months and
then for eight or ten days every year
for the next ten years. This training
and service. so far from hampering the
Swiss or Switzerland, industrially, has
added enormously to the industrial ef-
ficiency both of the individuals and of
the nation, and to their social efficiency
also.
Finally and most important, let US
remember that there can be no eff
cient preparedness against war unless
we prepare our own souls. If we be-
come soft and fabby physically and
morally, we shall fail. No nation ever
amounted to anything if its population
was composed of pacif1cists and pol
troons, if it's sons did not have the
fighting edge. if it's women did not feel
as the mothers of Washington's conti-
nentals felt, as the mothers of the men
who followed Grant and Lee felt; men
who are not ready to fight for the right
are not fit to live in free democracy
"The only women fit to be wives and
mothers in a free republic are those
who feel that their sons are not sons
of theirs unless when their country
calls their souls are eager and their
feet jubilant to answer the mighty
trumpet note which announces that the
hearts of men are being sifted out be-
fore the judgment seat
Addresses the Enlisted Men.
Col Roosevelt also delivered a brief,