Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-11-25

men will go into battle poorly trained
A soldier who has had less than a years
training is useless in battle; he cannot
stand the gaff and his body is soft
Iatheticaly our history proves that
volunteers cannot be relied upon in war
until they have ceased to be volunteers
and become trained soldiers. Splendid is
the volunteer spirit. but the volunteer
system--a system which begins organiza-
ton after war is upon us or at our doors
is dangerous and expensive and wholly
untrustworthy The continental army
scheme stands at Il compromise between
party politics and preparedness. 1t in
sures absolute failure in the face OF an
organized enemy, and repeats hut the
unreadiness of England The trained
military mind demands at least four
hundred thousand regulars, the back
bone Of fighting army, the primary
training school. But better than nothing
is this plan. an awakening to the need
of organized preparedness. the gradual
evolution toward the adoption of univer-
sal service And as such the regular
army approves.
Practically all of the great rifles Of
coast defense are from the design of the
ordnance department, and their disap-
pearing carriages are the invention of
the present bureau chief. Many are OBJ
solete, and the carriages of the heavy
guns have to be remodeled. They per-
NIT only a limited degree Of elevation
and through faulty design good guns are
rendered inferior in range to those of the
enemys ships. For want of foresight
the bureau placed this handicap on every
large calibered, direct firing gun Of our
coast defense from Maine to california.
The pieces are now useless against the
latest superdrcadnoughts until this handi-
cap is removed
The inefficiency settled upon the army
by Congress and the armys unprepared-
ness for war is visuali2ed by the hopeless
and pathetic state of its aviation corps.
America is the land of the acceptance
Here it was born, but the army has now
but 10 machnes-one fell recently in
the sea and killed its aviator. That these
machines cannot fly cannot be the fault of
Congress. Our loss in aviators has
proportionately been almost as heavy as
in the flying corps of the great armies
now engaged in war. Inferior machines,
poor system of handling, inadequate
training. officers incapable of controlling
machine in the air. and having never
done so. but nevertheless drawing extra
flying" pay as trained avlators, tell the
tale. In the aerial arm the United States
has no representation-in fact. it is prac-
tically without any aviation corps. The
lowest on the list of the great nations
it stands lowest in national defence
the worlds biggest country with an army
the smallest in size. unfit and unready
for war, its unreadness again visualzed
by the fact that there is not a single
bicycle or motorcycle detachment in the
whole American army. There are thou
sands abroad and the photographs of the
dispatch riders we are all familiar with
What are you going to do about ito
| To which | answer. trust the army
| chuck politics sky high, again put the
| fear OF God In Congress, kill the graft
Of the useless army posts. do away witt
| the bureau system and let the fighting
| army run its own show, according to tho
! lines laid down by the general staff
, They are trained for it; Congress is not
Establish a Council OF National Defenc,
so that the army may be represented
on the floor of Congress and the de
mands and opinions of the efficient sol
dier may be heard throughout the land
Give it a budget system as exists /,
every country where defence means
something.
Military training must be general.
is no hardship to the youth of Switzer
land or Australia. Why should 1t be It
ours? On the other hand, it will make
better man Of him. teach obedience
strengthen his undisciplned character
ana there will be less use for slums am
less need Of reformatories. The day o
the small highly trained army Is past
small army Is useless eXpcnse--i
Will not prevent attack. and when at
Jacks come, 1t cannot resist. War de
mahus every unit of Il nation-eVen dow
10 the humblest baker. The fighting lin
Is put the edge of the knife; the steel be
nina II Is represented by the resource
Oh lne nation expended with fullest unity
with the wealth of Croesus. the BIRTHS
empire has hardly dented the Germa
lines. backed by a nation with "A uniforr
purpose but living on bread tickets
Military factors decide the issues Of wa
not economical strength, and to win go
must be better than the enemy. Abov
all, time counts, The war abroad prove
that our riches will not help In wal
Money Will buy everything except pre-
paredness, And our undeveloped militar
resources are about as valuable in tn
t onrush of a modern war as an und,
veloped coal mine In Alaska during
blizzard in New York