The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1916-01-20
ESSENTIALS OF PREPAREDNESS

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brought home to the American peopl,
the perils Of unpreparedness. The
mind Of majority is convinced of the
necessity Of entering upon an era OF
preparedness in the spirit Of Wash
ington's words, that, ITO be prepared
for war is one of the most effec:ual
means for preserving peace. Blu;
our people remain of many minds as
10 what constitutes the essentials of
preparedness. The President is sol
EMMY asservating to-day that he is
for reasonable" preparation, while
his retired, but unretiring, premier
Mr.. Bryan, is weekly proclaiming
through the columns of the Commoner
that all preparation is unreasonable. y
The Secretary of War is eloquent in
his statement of military necessities,
but his recommendations are predicat-
cd upon political expediency. The
Secretary of the Navy goes gayly up
and down the country feeding the
peoples vanity with false assurances
that our navy is "the finest ever"
while he gags every officer in the SER
vice who could and would tell the truth
about our shortcomings on the sea.
Congress reflects this conflict of opin-
ions and confusion of ideas. The Ad-
ministration refuses to lead the nation
along the path of preparedness, and
Congress will not rise to its opportun-
tiles until forced by the pressure of
public opinion which is positive and
national. 1t behooves, therefore, the
people and the press of the nation to
continue the agitation and the discus
sion until such a compelling and sup
ported national sentiment is created.
When once that is done no administra-
ton will long remain in power that
fails to heed and meet the popular
mandate and demand for a prepared
ness on land and sea adequate to the
protection of our honor and our rights
at home and abroad, 20 the end that
in the spirit of the Farewell Address:
"We may choose peace or war as our
interest guided by justice shall coun
sell"
If we may paraphrase the searching
words in which Mr.. Justice Hughes
diagnoses the nations ailment, we
shall never rise to our necessities in
this country and secure proper dis
charge of the duty of effective prepar
alton until we get over our dislike Of
experts, and the difficulties in the way
of needed reorganization in the adj
of the War and Navy
will not be overcome by
tying The hands of those most COM
petent to deal with them. The funda
mental weakness of the Presidents |
for army and navy in
crease arises from his dislike of ex-
perts.' Both his army and navy bills |
are bad in so far as they ignore and
override the recommendations Of the |
General Staff and the General Board. |
who constitute our council of experts.
The Transcript would rather see Con-
gress adjourn without adding ship to
the navy o. a soldier to the army than I
to see the nation saddled with the bur-
len of financing the miserable make
shift which appears to have been fore
ID upon Secretary Garrison from the
White House, and the potpourri of
naval absurdities which is obviously II
he original contribution of Secretary
Daniels. Secretary Garrison confess
IS that his plan is foredoomed TO fail
ire, and Secretary Daniels foredooms
lis plan to failure by confessing him
elf TO be its father.
The nations paramount need, in re-
pect of national defence, is to adopt
permanent policy Of defence formu
lt"d by the best experts Of both SER
ices, presumably the General Staff
nd the General Board. Once such a
ornament policy has been adopted, it
J for Congress and the country to say
ow rapidly it shall be pursued. Our
need on land would seem
D be regular army of 100000 men,
ecruited to serve two years with the
olors and five years with the reserve,
hitch would ultimately provide a re-
erve of 100000 men. Later we must
,ok 20 the raising Of force Of citi
en- soldiers under Federal control into |
'hich may gradually be merged the
little armies that make up the mil
ia of the States All ultimately |
hould be recruited and organized
long the lines Of the Swiss and Aus
ralian systems, with such modifica-
ons as our own peculiar national ne
assities require. II
Our immediate need on the sea is a
efficient number Of officers and men
, man the ships built and building |