The Little River news., 1916-02-23
527,654 TROOPS
 AGAINST ONLY 16,5oo
And the British Burned the
 National Gal pito|.
COST OF UNPREPAREONESS

National Humiliation, Disaster and
 Loss of Life In the War of 1912, Due
 to the Same Military Policy That the
 pacificists Now Advocate Lives,
 Money and Opportunity Lost Be-
 cause Citizens Thought That the
 Cost of Preparedness Was an Un-
 necessary Expense.
 [PART Ill
 The notion that d defenseless condi- tion begetS a perpetual peace seems to have been prevalent after the Revolu- tion. for with the end of the war the Continental. Army was dispersed with the exception of few scattering men to guard public stores. John Adams. second President of the Republic look ing farther than the mass of his fsllow citizens said: National defense is one of the cardinal duties of statesman The delightful inns ginations of univcr- sal and perpetual peace have often amused. but have never been credited by ne"
 On the day following the order dis solving the army--totally ignoring the disasters attending the employment of raw troops ill the Revolution Con gress authorized the raising of 700 men to protect the frontierSmen from In dians. This diminutive army had scarcely been absorbed by tIe frontiers than Sh2ys Rebellion broke out in Massachusetts HISGl "Clamorous for paper money and determined to resist taxation under state laws" l ,G0O mal the State to adjourn so aS to prevent tue collection of debts: and then they moved ..OtO strong to Springfield to seize the government arsenal.
 The assault failed. state militia event G3ly restored order but the incident 3tought the people to a realization of the fact that the government had no drmN With which to preserve internal order So the dream of nation with out all army was soon dispelled.
 Came now the constitution of tue United States supplanting the Articles of Confederation to insure domestic tranquility" to "PRONIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENSE" giving Con- gress and the President real military powers and placing the responsibility for national defense at their doors
 But still the people and the conSti- tuted authority failed to distinguish between citizenry enrolled and soldiers seasoned and disciplined and so the slaughter went on.
 Presently Gen. Harmar was sent against the Miami Indians with force of ,453 and was defeated because the greater part of his column was con- posed of untrained and unfit militia. A year later St. Clair headed an expedi- tion against the same tribe and that enterprise failed also on account of the same organic weakness In these two expeditions more white men were killed than in the two most sanguinary battles of the Revolution.
 Universal Military Service.
 Convinced by these events that na- tional defense could not be wholly neg lected Congress next endeavored to satisfy public opinion by the passage of an net to establish a uniform militia throughout the United States.
 This act laid down the truly Demo- cratic doctrine that every able-bodied male citizen owed military service to his country" It provided for enroll ment and recruiting. but instead of one national army it provided for thirteen or more state armies, "a wild and i'm practicable scheme" which as subse- quent history shows still left the na- tion In an unarmed condition
 The War of 1912.
 Now came the war of 1872 after a