New Britain herald., 1916-02-03

are not regarded. Is that the temper
 of the United States? It may be the temper of some editorial offices, but it is not the temper of the people of the United States.
 Ready for Duty.
 q came out upon this errand from
 Washington, and see what happened. Before I started everybody knew what l errand I was bound on. I expected l to them the issues of the day, and
 what did I meet? At every stop of ] the train multitudes of my fellow citizens crowding out not to see the 1 President of the United States merely he is not much to look at-but to ] declare their ardent belief in the 1 majesty of the government which he l stands for and for the time being l represents, and to declare in one fashion or another, if 1t were only by cheers. that they stood ready to
 do their duty in the hour of need. 1T have been thrilled by the eX- l periences of those few days, and I l shall go back to Washington and smile at anybody who tells me that l the United States is not wide awake. But gentlemen, crowds at the sta- tions, multitudes in great audience ! halls, cheers for the government, the display of the emblem of our nation, 1 the Stars and Stripes, only expresses the spirit of the nation; it. does not express the organized force of the nation. And, while I know and l knew before I left Washington what the spirit of the people was, I have come out to ask them what their organization is and what they intend to make it.
 Modern wars are not won by mere numbers, by mere enthusiasm. by mere national spirit. They are won by the scientific conduct of war, the scientific application of lrreslsuble force.
 And what is there behind the Pres ident of the United States?
 Army and Navy.
 1 "In the first place, there is a navy, which I am very proud of, a navy which for it's numbers, l believe to be 1 the equal of any navy in the world. But look at the great sweep of our coasts Mind you, this war has en-
  of South America and the portion of North America occupied by the United States, and if this movement begins to creep in toward both coasts, and here are thousands upon thousands of miles of coast. And do you think that a navy that ranks fourth in the world in force is enough to defend the coasts and make secure the terri :. tory of a great continent like this? But on land, what stands behind the president, if he should have to set out in your behalf to enforce the de- mands of the United States for respect and right? An army so small that I have not had men enough to patrol the Mexican border. The Mexican border is a very long border, l admit; it runs the whole southwestern length of Texas and the whole southern length of New Mexico and Arizona be- sides; but what is that single border to the whole extent and cost of the United States? And I have not had men enough to prevent bandits from
 raiding across the border of Mexico into the United States. It has been a very mortifying circumstance, in- deed I have been tempted to advise
 congress to help Texas build up it's
 little force of Texas Rangers; and
 now, if you please, because am ask
 ing the congress to give the govern
 ment an army adequate to the uses of
 peace, to the uses of the moment, some gentlemen go about and prate of military establishments. They see phantoms, they dream dreams. Militar rism in the United States spring ing out of any of the proposals of the administration-why man must have a very strong imagination, in deed, to conceive any such nonsense as that I am not asking, the ad
 ministration is not asking, to be backed by any bigger standing army than is necessary for the uses of the moment
 Spanish American War.
 "Do you remember the experiences of the Spanish American war? That was not much of a war was it? It did not last very long. You remember the satirical verses that some newspaper man wrote about it War is rude and impolite, it quite upsets a nation; it's made of several weeks of fight and years of conversation A war which was parodied in verse, and yet what happened? You sent thousands of men to their death because they were ignorant. They did not get any fur ther than the camps of Florida. They did not get on the water, even, much less get to Cuba, and they died in the camps like flies, of all sorts of camp diseases. Why the percentage of our loss in that war by disease in the camp was greater than the percentage