New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-11

OF all the important questions now en-
gaging public attention 1t may be asserted
with but little fear of serious :. contradic-
ton that the question of providing for your
national security, Of insuring the United
states not only from invasion, but from that
fear Of invasion which is so demoraiizlng
alike to finance, commerce and self-respect,
should take precedence. It may with equal
truth be asserted that this is far from being
the case. For every man or woman who de-
votes time, energy, thought and money TO
advancing the cause Of national defence
there are hundreds who are doing their ut
most TO promote educational and social re-
form. woman suffrage and all the other
questions which are vital only to country
able to protect itself
The reasons for this remarkable and pos
siby fatal apathy in respect to an all-essen-
tial matter are not within the scope of this
article | wish simply TO deal with the de-
porable fact as it stands pointing out in
passing, by homely simile, that the amaz-
ing indifference Of the greater number OF
Americans in this regard places the United
States as a nation in the position OF n man
who, having inherited a splendid and his
toric family mansion, deliberately spends the
whole of his powers and means in deco
rating and improving its interior, but re-
mains absolutely deaf to the repeated warn
ngs of experts that its foundations are rot
ten and the walls ready to crumble about
his ears at the onset Of the first violent
storm. Is such a fool or a lunatic?
That portion of the nation which does
give precedence 10 the question Of your IN
preparedness in the event of invasion is, IN
fortunately, divided into two camps-those
who may perhaps not unfairly be classed as
the Illusionists and the Realsts. The IL
usionists, despite all the convincing and
melancholy evidence to the contrary, blindly
cling TO the touching belief that there is an
innate propensity for self-sacrifce in the
American of to-day which will still induce
him, in the event Of a national crisis, 20
come forward voluntarily in his millions 70
do his duty without training, and are under
the impression that men become soldiers
the moment they are dressed in uniform and
follow a band On the other side stand the
Realists, who love their country and their
countrymen just as well, but from whose
eyes the scales have fallen, who have not
failed TO read the lessons OF this war, who
know that if national service had been
brought in by the English government eight
years ago there might and in all proba-
blity would never have been a war at all
and who see clearly that, after all, Ameri-
can nature is like other human nature, and
that you must, in the vast majority OF
cases, compulsorily train youth in the
way he is to 90 if you would make fine
outstanding citizen-soldier Of him, morally
and physically.
The establishment Of national service
league, IL there is not one already in exist
ence would stand as the embodiment Of the
large majority of the latter section Of the
nation. II would advocate, as Lord Roberts
advocated, for the manhood of the country,
without distinction of class, between the
ages of eighteen and twenty-one, four
months continuous training in the first year
in camp, not barracks-on the lines of that
admirable training which is given at the
Pattsburg camp, and during the next three
years an annual camp of month. AS the
allowance of time is short, in order that the
daily duties of citizenship shall be respect
ed as far as possible, such training should
be preceded in every boys school and college
by physical training and drill, instructions