The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1915-03-12
AMERICA THE UNREADY
War Has Always Found the U. S. I'm
prepared-Never Met Real
Fighters.

Fighters.
If the United States were to ind
itself involved in war tomorrow 1t
would have available for its own de-
Tense, after garrisoning its overseas
| possessions, an army which reckons
upon paper to 27,5OO. As matter OF
| fact. the army of defense would not
be as large as that. These figures
are those of American army officers
| high in command.
Much has been written in the last
six months Of the unreadness OF the
| United States as a matter OF fact the
United States has always been un-
ready We have never gone into war
for which we were adequately pre-
pared; we have always depended upon
raw, volunteer troops, and always the
result has been iearfully costly in hui
man life and money. School histories
have been accustomed to point with
pride 10 our war record; The most
casual student OF military history
must smile rather bitterly at such mis-
placed pride.
There is a book, little known to the
general public, which is wonderfully
illuminating to the man who wants to
know how tie United States has gone
to war; how, time and again, it has
repeated the same mist1l.es; how les
sons, learned in the hard stress of
war, have promptly been forgotten.
The Military Policy Of the United
States" the book is called. and it was
written something more than thirty
years ago by Emory Upton, brigadier
general in the United States army and
veteran of the Civil War. Upton was
"the voice of one crying in the Wild
erness," as Elihu Root declared in
1908, when, as secretary of war, be
laid the corner stone of the War Col
lege building in Washington. The
book was printed the next year by
the government printing office, SO that
the voice is not altogether stilled.
Raw Troops Half AS Effective.
The only wars we have ever Waged
with a first class power, OF course,
were out two wars with Great Britain,
Happily for us England had her
hands full on the continent during
both of those wars. The Revolution
airy war, which lasted seven years,
proved concluSively, according to
General Upton, that when a nation at
temptS to combat disciplined troops
with raw levies, it must maintain an
army at least twice the size of the
enemy, and even then have no guar
antee of success; that short enlist
ments are destructive of discipline,
DrAlA-,r
an army to destruction. The largest
number of regulars and militia en-
ployed in any one year of the Revo-
luton was S9,65l. The largest num-
Der of British regulars in the United
States and Canada any one year of
the Revolution was Al, $50. The aid
OF France and later Spain must not
be minimized in accounting for our
ultimate success. But the fact re-
mains that Washington, hampered as
he was by the weakest sort OF cen
trail government, by state troops en-
listed for short periods, and frequent
~ returning to their homes to farm
at critical periods, captured two
British armies-the first at Saratoga
in l777 and the second at Yorktown
four years later. At y Yorktown he was
aided by the cooperation of the
French.
Immediately upon the close of the
Revolution the army was reduced to
eighty men. Later an army of one
thousand led a precarious existence,
and the war of 1912 found the United
States pititully unprepared from a mil
itary standpoint.
The Disgraceful War of 1872.
Indeed the military activities of the
United States during the War of 1912
were little short of disgraceful. We
won no military action of importance
except the Battle of New Orleans.
fought two weeks after peace had
been concluded. All told there were
more than half million men under
action iii the American army, while
the largest number OF British troops
IN the United States and Canada any
one year OF the war was 10000. Our
attempts at invasion of Canada were
plttul tIasCoS. Hull with 300 regu-
lars and 1900 volunteers and militia.
marched across the Canadian border
and then marched back again. was
heSleged in Detroit and surrendered
August 10, 1912, to force of 800
regulars, 400 militia and 900 Indians
Connecticut and Massachusetts re-
fused to furnish militia. Van Rens-
selaer took Queenstown and was then
defeated hecauSa , I,roa ,,,,,,,L. r