Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-04-20

80 ''"' '''NiItN TOT peace IL hbtH'''t'
preparation for war" said former Prcsi
dent William Howard Taft, now professor
OF constitutional law at Yale University,
at his lecture on Military and Naval
Defences of the United States given
saturday evening at the University OF
Vermont gymnasium before one of the
largest audiences which ever listened to
an address given by any of the long list
or distinguished men who have visited
Burlington. our position as a world
power, our maintenance OF the Monroe
doctrine, which l believe should never
be abandoned even though at times 1t
may seem unwise to insist too strongly
upon It's Observance, and the fact that
at any moment crisis may develop in
our diplomatic relations with any or all
of the comba:ants in the Europeon war.
make this preparation n more pressing
need at this moment than it has over
been before I'VE should have rs first
line of defence our navy and our coast
defences. with our army as the second
lin" OF defence, Our navy should he
sufficiently strong TO defeat the navy of
any power capable of modifying and
sending against us within six weeks
army from 10000 to 10000 trained
soldiers. and our coast defences should
adequately protect our coast cities so
that they could not be captured and used
by the enemy either as a base for his
operations, or held for ransom We
should have an army numbering half a
million trained soldiers, counting those
in the reserve forces, which could plug
any gap opened by the enemy in the
q
landing force Of the enemy or hinder his
operations until our citizen army was
ready. We now have in the way Of
preparation navy from SO to 40 per cent
weaker than that of Germany. and am
not making any invdious comparisons,
but Germany is ut present the only power
with a sufficiently strong standing army
to send against us half a million trained
soldiers within the time ] have men
toned while we greatly lack in sub
marines, torpedo boats and battle
cruisers. and lack 1860 men and 800
officers to man the vessels we have"
our coast dcfences are in better
shape than any other branch and
could be placed in first class condition
within a year or a year and half s
time" "Our second line OF defense
consists Of an army of 5000 men. in
GLIDING non-comhatants. OF whom from
lS.Wo to 2ocW are in the coast artillery,
so that, not counting our service and
hospital corps, we have about ZOO men
in our cavalry, infantry and field artil-
lery. of whom some 700 are stationed
in our dependencies, leaving an equal
number to defend the hundred million
men. women and children Of the United
States at this critical moment of our
history. The time has come when We
must open our eyes to these facts and
decide whether we shall be like the wise
or foolish virgins. and for my part /
believe in having my lamp ready"
DINNER AND RECEPTION.
Professor Taft arrived on the 6.s5
train from Boston Saturday afternoon
and was met at the station by the
president of the University Of Vermont
and Mrs. Benton. who entertained him
during his stay in Burlington At a din
ner given by Or. and Mrs. Benton at
their residence in honor Of the dis
tinguished visitor there were present
Governor Charles W. Gates Of Franklin,
Judge and Mrs George NJ. Powers of
Worthwhile, Judge and Mrs, c. II. OAR
ling, Judge and Mrs. r. c. Mower and
Dean George II. Perkins of the Univer-
sity Of Vermont. Following the address
the members Of the Sigma Phi fraternity
held a public reception in honor Of Pro-
lessor Taft at the sigmn Phi house.
where a large number of those who
had attended the lecture met the former
president In the receiving line at the
ip 81
President Guy p Benton OF the Univer-
sty Of Vermont. Governor Charles W.
Gates, General stephen p. Jocelyn, Ger
eral Crosby y, Miller, Judge f. c.
Mower II. l.. Ward aud H. r.. shaw
Professor Taft left burlington Sun
day morning for Montpelier, where he
spoke on 'The World Wide Y. NJ
{. A. before the members of the
y. NJ. c. A. of that city In the after
noon. returning IN the evening to New
Haven The address Saturday evening
was under the auspices of the Young
Mems Christian association of the Uni
versty of Vermont.
INTRODUCED by PRESIDENT BEN
TON.
Professor Taft was presented to the
audience by Dr. Guy p. Benton, president
Of the University of Vermont, In a brief
speech in which he said the assemblage
had not met TO honor n learned American
jurist constructive governor OF the
Philippines IA renowned secretary Of war
and one OF the greatest OF presidents, but
to honor themselves by listening to the
most mighty respected and most beloved
man in America, Citizen William Howard
Va