Milford chronicle., 1915-08-20
CONGRESSMAN MTTFP
AT THE MILITARY CAMP
Studying The Question of National n
renee and Practicing What He BoI;..le RE De-


FaVorlng a better and lareer rou.
standing army and militia and haIi.!y' aa'y'
ing that to secure them men sbo,,II y
Instructed IN the practical nbases
Congressman Thomas W. Miller boa
gone TO the military training camn Aa9 10
! Flattsburg, N. Y. There he will '1S ~ at
I go a course of strict miIitar, +roi1.. ouei-
and learn how money sboniS bo 1,-lls an-ss
tor Ine purpose of enlarging the na'
tlOldI ueIenses. He is the only mem
per OF Congress who has enlisted 70,
thls work, but there are monv nTonojl ,J'
hent citizens, both in political and
clVlI life, in attendance at tbe eamD nm
( mayor Mitchell, of New York started
III as private, and Dudley Field Ma.
/ lOIle' collector of the port of New Yort
also enlisted. ''" iOiA
me tremendous response to tba
appeal OF the War Department far
young men to attend the camn for
months strict military training is ey.
ldence that the country is coming to
a realization of the true facts that
confront it from the standnoint of
eatlohaI preparedness, not necessarily
Mr.. Miller. 0''N' '0iu
The United States is pledged to I'D
hoId the Monroe Doctrine. which
means that we should have suf-
Gently strong navy to exert a moral
Inuuence over any nation that endeav-
ofed to tamper with the Latin-Amer-
lcan countries in this hemispbere
"iilch countries the Monroe doctrine
Ieiefs to. To day we have only 10 So
called dreadnaughts that could give
ana take in battle, although we are
Iold that there is a battleship for eY-
cry State in the Union. Most of these
Dattleships are obsolete With re-
Spect to the army, our affairs are in
even worse shape. There are today in
Lhe United States only 10000 available
regular troops. Seventeen thousand
OI these are on guard on the Mexican
Dofuer on the southwest, leaving ske-
5Ioh cOntlngents at most of the army
Dosts. The remaining 10000 are out
sac OF the continental United States
ma instead of being useful in time Of
war would have to be added to. It is
ooIlsh Tor some people to argue that
million men could be raised in this
country in a few weeks. Such men
would make the best cannon food
,Ver served up to a hostile nation.
AIIhough we are spending S100,0OOOOO
! year on our army we have less to
now than Switzerland, which has an
'Hclent army of half a million men
M spends only one-tenth Of that
mount annually. The army and the
aYy of the United States are our ma
lonal insurance policies, and no in
lVldual or corporation would think
l placing insurance in the eXtraya-
ant fashion that Uncle Sam does.
WhIe l am an advocate of bet
7f balanced and larger navy and
iIger standing army and militia 10
link we should learn to spend our
loney in the right way. The fault
es with the members of Congress,
no have permitted their constituents
coerce them into continuing ths
'stem. | have no criticism OF tle
,my and navy officers, because these
hcers and the general boards OF me
my and navy are hampered in theH
ork by Congressional interference
Is up to the people of the country
see that these conditions are chan
l. The 1900 young men at Plattsbuis
'present a powerful sentiment.
I'VE given considerable thought ana
udy to this subject and am going 10
,.attsburg to practice in a small way
hat l believe in and to get frst-hana
lowledge of military conditions
The training camp is under the su,
'rvision of Major General Leonard
Wood, the senior majors general ol
e United States army and his aldes;;
ne camp was started last week ana
to continued a month. Alreaa,
ere are 1900 men of all ages ana
cupations and from almost ever!
st of the Mississippi river in tns
mp. The idea is to provide ns
Gus of volunteer officers and an ON.
rs reserve. Mr.. Miller said It wa
intention to have gone last Wess
len the camp started, but he was
tanned.