The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1916-08-24
BREACHES GOSPEL
OF REPUBLICANISM
Ccontinued from First Page)

IG0Wt1Queu 1TOm ETsh HdkoJ
this nation honored and respected
throughout the world, according to
our real sentiments of justice and
friendship with respect to all the ma
tions of the world; but if we are to
be respected we must respect our
selves. we must attend to the things
that vitality concern us in a self-res-
Meeting way. We must be prepared
also for every emergency, so that our
words will carry the weight they de-
serve. 1t is not necessary to argue
about preparedness in the face of the
exhibition that was made upon the
Mexican border. We had, as | said,
about 10000 regular troops available.
The conditions were such, largely on
account of the very course OF conduct
to which | have referred-that other
troops were needed. Thereupon we
saw the entire national guard sum-
moned. Now, / want to say that /
yield to no one in praise of those boys
who went down there and are down
there now uneomplainingly perform
ing their patriotic duty. 1t is a fine
exhibition of patriotism which We
should honor. 1t is a different ques-
ton, though, whether we should have
a military system which makes it
necessary because of bandit raids on
u border to take men from their
shops and factories and from their
offices and from the professions and
send them down to the Mexican bor-
der to do police duty.
Il do not think this great country
needs to have it's citizen reserves call
ed upon for such a purpose. We
ought to have a regular army large
enough to take care of a situation of
that sort. which, as | say. is nothing
but police duty.
Not Militarism
THAT is not militarism. There is
nothing militaristic about that. There
are some of my good friends who see
the bogy of militarism whenever it is
proposed to do anything u increase
our military and naval forces. We
should consider the size of this coun-
try; we should consider the import
ance of our interests.
Should Consider World
I'VE should regard the state of the
world. We should have common sense
in regard to this matter, and if we
have common sense, we will have, it
seems to me. a regular army large
enough to take care of our military
emergencies, except when they are so
grave that citizen reserves should be
called out. Our present preparation
is inadequate. We have had an army
reorganization bill. 1t only provides
for the fiscal year ending June Both,
1916. for about los, 900. 1t provides
only $4,000 more for the ensuing year.
II is not an adequate measure.
Then another thing should be re-
garded. We. of course, must have a
citizen reserve; but I believe the first
citizen reserve should be a federal re-
serve, trained and controlled under
the federal government. That is good
military judgment. Our first reserve
ought not to be under a divided con-
troll or divided training. 1t should be
distinctly a national reserve, in my
judgment. That was the proposition
which Secretary Garrison made, and
it was presented with formality to
Congress. However, in a short time
1t was abandoned, and then another
plan was taken up. Secretary Garri-
son resigned. He thought it a very
important change. So do l..
Should Taboo Partisanship
IL am profoundly impressed with
this: That when we are dealing with
the safety of this country, with its ul-
innate security in its military and ma
val forces, considerations of partisan
expediency ought not to be allowed
to intervene. When we are making
military plans let them be military
plans; not political plans. The same
thing is true with respect to the navy.
We are not satisfied by reading that
appropriations of a certain amount are
to be passed. OF course, we must have
physical equipment, but the important
point really and fundamentally is a
trained personnel. Are our ships
ready? Have they got a proper naval
organization? Have they got the basis
of a naval plant comparable with that
of other nations? Have we got compe-
tent leadership? Have we got efficien-
cy throughout the departments and in