New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-28
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
LITERARY CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
Preparedness in All Its Phases - Michael
Artzibashefs Mastery Drama of the
War-Yiddish Playwrights

| present time. We never have had it.
! Washington often thought that MS
| Revolutionary army would be stronger
| and better off if the militia levies were
sent home. The "citizenry" in the
War of 1912 marched chiefly to dis
graceful rout. We know how long 1t
took to make a real army out Of volun-
/ teers in our Civil War. That the call
| ing of a million men TO arms between
| sunrise and sunset at this time would
produce better results is not to be
imagined.
A "citizenry trained to arms" must,
| therefore, mean universal compulsory
military service, under regular army
direction. That is the authors prop
osition. Such a system, he demon
strates, Is truly if not distinctively
American system. 1t is consistent with
the fundamental principles OF the
nation.
To those principles the nation now
/ urgently needs TO return. The present
| hybrid system will not do. The author
points out its specific faults with de-
structive force. Three are sufficient
to recount One is, the system OF
| irresponsible expenditures by forty
eight different states in time OF var,
/ to be eventually paid by the Federal
/ government Another, the dual con-
] troll of military forces. The third, an
! impossibly high rate of pay and al
/ lowance for any war force.
| But the author does not confine him
| self to destructive criticism OF the
present suicidal system. The chief
purpose of his book is constructive.
| So he devotes the greater part OF 1t
/ to what he regards as satisfactory
and convincing solution of the prob
/ lem, How to secure and TO MAINTAIN
a real and effective "citizenry trained
to arms" which shall in any emer-
/ gency meet the requirements of the
national defence.
So practical appear the detailed
workings out of his plans that they
/ commend themselves to the reader as
/ quite capable of realization, and as
| calculated, if realized, TO assure the
/ further realization of the supreme end
/ toward which they are the means.
! The first step toward this efficient
q "citizenry trained to arms" should be
quite obvious. Colonel Gignilliat does
not tarry long over arguments about
military training in schools. The util-
| ity and the desirability of it are quick
J.
much elaboration of detail and with 2
wealth of suggestion and direction
/ the practical methods Of giving such
training, both in strictly military
schools and in ordinary high schools.
+ The moral. mental and physical effects
of drill and discipline. and also their
social effects and economic value, are
carefully considered There are, further,
some voluminous and simply invalua-
BILE appendices, containing the most
! practical suggestions and rules for
starting drill in schools where it has
been unknown. cadet codes in various
states and cities where the system has
been adopted War Department orders,
/ state laws, suggestions for rife prac-
tice, summer camps, military courses
/ in non-military institutions brief,
something much like an encyclopedia
on the military training of youth, from
the grammar school TO the university.
. II is one of the most practically useful
books on the subject that We have
seen.
Captain Fortescue had a double ad-
vantage in writing HIS little volume.
lie is a veteran soldier of uncommonly
wide experience and observation in all
trained writer. In consequence, he has
been able to put into a small volume
more than some could get into several
large ones. Thus he describes the mil
itary systems Of those five countries
which are from the present point OF
view the most interesting and instruc-
tive in the world-namely. Germany
France, Great Britain. Switzerland anc
Australia. lie not merely describe:
them. but he keenly analyses them
pointing out the merits and dement's
Of each and their adaptability or non
adaptability to the United States. anC
hen he shows how far behind them al
we have permitted ourselves to fall.
Intensely interesting is his consider
alton of the various methods of mod
orn warfare, with their strange ming
ling of new and old devices. Pitfalls
: abattis, fences, bayonets and Other
things were Icing ago assumed BY many
% be obsolete; vet to-day they are
Characteristic features of this --latest
war side by side with others so start
lingly novel that two or three year:
ago the suggestion Of them would have
been deemed fantastic folly. This wal
is not merely terrestrial and aquatic
Il is aerial and submarine. and. per
haps most striking of all. subter-
lranean. The trench is its most potent
feature; not a mere ditch. but for
tress. camp. arsenal and what not else
all far below the surface of the earth
IL would be rash 10 attempt 10 plac,
any limit upon militant inventivenes'
and ENTERPRISE. We have already haC
m object lesson in the possibility OF
; OO0-ton submarines. with cruising
radius of 5000 miles. such rs Captain
Fortescue anticipates. So We have haC
demonstrations of tremendous posi-
Utilities IN the air. Writers and ora
tors have dwelt n thousand times uDor
TIE revolution in naval construction
land warfare which was effected by thai
famous Sunday mornings fight In
HAMPTON Roads. But the revolution
If 1862 may be paralleled By that Of
1916 or 1917.
What concerns this nation Is that il
shall not be- blind 20 the signs OF the
times. that il shall not let the lesson:
Of other lands be unlearned and unim
proved. With epigrammatic force the
author urges that WE should follow the
instinct of self-defencc, train boys in
school to serve the fatherland if neeC
BE in war as well as in peace, and de-
NcloD citizen army worthy OF inc
name. Captain Fortescue places more
reliance in a volunteer state militia
than many other authorities, but his
IDEALS for il are far different from ant
FAR more effective than those which
have hiterto prevailed. Not the least
interesting recommendation in his sin
gularly profitable little book is ~ the
very end-that the right of suffrage
shall be withheld from naturslized citi-
vena until thew have served a pre-