The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-02-19
PEOPLE AND PREPAREDNESS.

The people are divided into many
groups, ranging all the way from
those who advocate the greatest ar:
my and navy in the world down tc
the man who is so craven and cow.
ardly he would not fight a jack rab-
bit to save his birthright.
The warship builders and ammuni-
ton makers are wild for preparedness
on the gigantic scale. They want tc
build ships and make ammunition
gather in more millions through the
misfortunes of war and the blood of
their c%ountrymen. They see wa
looming in the distance and sweeping
down upon US from every point of the
compass.
A certain class would have US build
up a regular army of half a million
men and provide for several millions
of volunteers. Then they would neg
lect the sea defenses and wait for
the invader to come. They happily
are but few in number, and their de-
sires will not be realized.
On the other extreme are a great
many people who do not believe in
fighting, who are against wal of ev-
cry nature, even against a war for
self-preservation. They believe in
sitting down, folding their arms, and
trusting in God to protect them from
humiliation. They want no army
and no navy. They are opposed to
preparedness of every nature and are
using and exerting every influence to
prevent action by congress. They
have a sublime faith in the willing
ness of God to protect people who
will not protect themselves.
There are another class which APP
pear to be greatly in the majority
throughout the country. They go to
neither extreme, but advocate a
course of procedure which will keep
down the cost and yet will furnish
an armed force adequate to meet all
emergencies. They want to avoid
war, but realize fully that war may
be forced upon US whether we want
it or not. They realize, too, that in
modern warfare the man with the
best gun bags the game.
These people have been expressing
their sentiments in the newspapers
and in public places, and have been
writing to their senators and con-
gressmen, with the result that con-
gress is at last getting down to bust
ness and preparing legislation neces-
sary for the protection of the wealth
and the people of our country.
But congress is by no means a unit
in what to do and how to do it. There
are extremists in congress as we'll as
among the mass of the people. But
these appear also to be in the minor
ity. In both the senate and the
house a very strong sentiment pre-
walls in favor of increasing the navy
and the army and providing a reason
ably strong force of volunteers as a
second line of defense.
The most mooted of all questions
appears to be that of the volunteers.
The president and a small following
in congress and the country at large
favor the continental army scheme
in preference to increasing the size
of the National Guard of the several
states.
Others are opposed to the proposed
continental army. They do not con-
slider it practical for a country
operating under a republican form
of government, and unhesitatingly
state that it is a dangerous weapon
of offense to place in the hands un-
reservedly of any president. They
take the position that we have no
means of knowing who u flu
ture presidents may be, and to place
such a force in their absolute control
would be to- surround them with a
wall of bayontes that might tempt
them to assume dictatorial powers
that would be inimicable to the best
interests of the people.
Probably a majority of the repre-
s~entatives in congress and of the peo-
pie favor increasing the navy to for
midable proportions, recruiting the
regular army up to about 100000 to
100000, and placing the National
Guard under pay for drill attendance
and increasing it's membership to ap-
proximately a million men, apportion-
ed among the states according to
population.
Thus the president would have at
his command a federal force of $780,
900 to 100000 men at all times. The
0overnors of the several states would