The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1915-12-10

training they need to take care of them
selves and OF It The military arm of their
government. which they viii not allow to
direct them, they may properly use to
serve them and make their independence
secure-and not their own independence
merely but the rights also OF those with
whom they have made common cause,
should they also be put in jeopardy.
They must be fitted to play the great
role in the world. and particularly in this
hemisphere. for which they are quail
fed by principle and by chastened anbi-
ton to play.
1t is with these ideals in mind that the
plans of the department Of wal for more
adequate national defense Were conceived
which will be laid before you, and which
l urge you to sanction and put into ef-
feet as soon as they can be properly scru-
tinized and discussed. They seem to me
the essential first steps, and they seem
to me for the present sufficient.
They contemplate an increase of the
standing force Of the regular army from
its present strength of 5,O23 officers and
l02.9 S5 enlisted men of all services to a
strength of 7.136 officers and 124, I07 en-
listed men. or 141. S3, all told. all serv-
ices, rank and file, by the addition OF %
companies of coast artillery, Is com
panies of engineers, ten regiments of in
fantry. four regiments of field artillery.
and four aero ~squadrOns. besides 80 Off
GERS required for a great variety of extra
service, especially the ali-important duty
of training the citizen force of which 1
shall presently speak. 1872 non-commis-
stoned officers for service in drill, recruit
ing and the like. and the necessary quota
of enlisted men for the quarternlaster
corps. the hospital corps. the ordnance
department and other similar auxiliary
services. These are the additions neces-
sary to render the army adequate for it's
present duties, duties which it has to
perform not only upon our own CONT
mental coasts and borders and at our in
terror army posts, but also in the Phil
ippines. in the Hawaiian islands, at the
isthmus, and in Porto Rico.
Force Of Trained Citizens.
By way of making the country ready
to assert some part of its real power
promptly and upon a larger scale. should
occasion arise, the plan also c~oniemplates
experimenting the army by a force of
400, 900 disciplined citizens. raised in incre-
ments Of $1,000 a year throughout q pc
TiOG of three years. This it is proposed
to do by a process of enlistment under
which the scrviCeable men of the coun-
try would be asked to bind themselves to
serve with the COlors for purposes of
training for short periods throughout
three years, and to come to the colors
at call at any time throughout an addi-
tional "fErlough" period of three years.
This force of 400 go men would be pro-
vidad with personal accoutrements as fast
as enlisted and their equipment for the
field made ready to be supplied at any
time. They would be assembled for train
ing at stated intervals at convenient
places in association with suitable units
of the regular army. Their period of
annual training would not necessarily eX-
coed two months in the year.
1t would depend upon the patriotic feel
ing of the Younger men of the country
whether they responded to such a call
to service or not 1t would depend upon
the patriotic spirit OF the employers of
the country whether they made it posi-
bic for the younger men in their en-
piOy to respond under favorable cOndi-
tons or not. I. for one. DO not doubt
the patriotic devotion either OF our young
men or of those who give them employ
ment-those for whose benefit and protec-
ton they would in fact enlist.
The program which will be laid before
YOU by the secretary of the navy is sim
ilarly conceived. 1t involves only a
shortening of the time within which plans
long matured shall be carried out; but it
does make definite and explicit a program
which has heretofore been only implicit,
held in the minds OF the committees on
naval affairs and disclosed in the debates
of the two houses but Nowhere formu-
lated or formally adopted. 1t seems to
me very clear that it will be to the ad-
vantage of the country for the congress
to adopt a comprehensive plan for put
ting the navy upon a final footing of
strength and efficiency and to press that
plan to completion within the next five
years. We have always looked to the
navy of the country as our first and chief
line of defense. we have always seen it
to be our manifest course of prudence
to be strong on the seas. Year by year
We have been creating a navy which now
ranks very high indeed among the navies
of the mar:time nations. We should now
definitely determine how we shall COM
plete what we have begun, and how soon.
Program for the Navy.
The secretary of the navy is asking
also for the immediate addition to the
personnel of the navy of $50 sailors.
$500 apprentice seamen. and 1,50O marines.
This increase would be sufficient to care
for the ships which are to be completed
within the fiscal year 1917 and also for
the number of men which must be put in
training to man the ships which will be
completed early in 1918. 1t is also neces-
sary that the number of midshipnaen at
the naval academy at Annapolis should
be increased by at least 800 in order that
the force of officers should be more rap
idly added to: and authority Is asked to
appoint for engineering duties only. APP
proved graduates of engineering colleges.
and for service in the aviation corps a
certain number of men taken from civil
life.
If this full program should be carried
out we should have built or building in
1921. according TO the estimates of surviv-
al and standards of classification followed
by the general board of the department.,
an effective navy consisting of q battle
ships of the first line. six battle cruise,s s,
% battleships of the second line. ten ar
mored cruisers. IL scout cruisers. five
frst-clasS cruisers. three second-class
cruisers. ten thivd-class cruisers. los de-
troyers. IS fleet submarines. l57 coast sub
marines. six monitors, 20 gunboats. four
supply ships. Is fuel ships. four trans
ports. three tenders to torpedo vessels,
eight vessels Of special types. and two
ammunition ships. This would be a navy
fitted to our needs and worthy OF our
traditions.
Trade and Shipping.
But armies and Instruments Of war are
only part OF what has to be considered
il We are to consider the supreme matter
of national self-sificiency and security
in all its aspects. There are other great
matters which will he thrust upon our at
ten,ion whether we will or not. There
is. for example. a very pressing question
Of trade and shipping involved in this
great problem OF national adequacy. II
is necessary for many weishty reasons of
national efficiency and development that
We should have a great merchant ma
rine. The great merchant fleet we once
used to make US rich. that great body of
sturdy sailors who used to carry our flag
into every sea. and who were the pride
and often the buiwark OF the nation We
have -ahncsG driven out OF x3stencec>b b.
inexcusabie neglect and indifference and
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