Judsonia weekly advance., 1916-04-26

lute preparedness would mean the pos session by Uncle Sam of a regular army big enough to do things on the instant, they urge the rooted objection of the American people to a large standing army.
 Men Must Be Prepared.
 The main point, as army men view 1t, is that this ride of Colonel Dodd and his 400 troopers shows what real pre- paredness means for the individual, and it is further urged by the men of the service that this physical condi- tion which is necessary to make men indure under all conditions cannot be attained by National Guardsmen or by volunteer forces until they have been given months of daily training after the same manner that it is given to the men who follow the flag as regu- lars.
 Apparently the effect will be here after to impress upon the country that real preparedness consists in prepared ness of men. It takes continued serv- ice to keep men hard and fit for work which may come unexpectedly. The sixty-four-year-old colonel who made his f1fty-five miles in seventeen hours and then fought for five hours has been an active soldier for forty-four years, this time including his service as a cadet at West Point. Dodd is one of the few officers of high rank in the American army who never has had Swivel chair" service except for a period of time which is negligible. Regular Is Always Fit. It is learned from officers who have made study of the whole prepared | ness situation that 1t is their belief that if congress should authorize & | regular army of 250,000 men, which would mean an army all told of about 50,000 men, the people could rest | content that this country would be safe from foreign invasion. It is not | at all likely, judging from what one hears from congress, that such force will be authorized for good many years to come, but admission is made by the lawmakers that the mainte- nance of an army of this size would cost less than to support a more elab- crate soldier-raising scheme which in- wolves simply partial preparation for | service of men whose main pursuits are found in civil life.
 The army men say, and they point to Dodd's achievement to sustain it. that the regular of all branches is fit for instant service in the field. He is trained daily in all military branches and the physical exercise which he gets, the regularity of his hours and his substantial and good food keep him ready for emergencies. This naturally enough is not true of the civilian sol dier who gets month or so of train | ing every year and has the rest of the time to do what he likes with him. self
 Brave Army Post Women. An army post after the troops have been ordered into the field is perhaps one of the best places in the world at which to find text for peace propaganda. The chances are, however, that the women and children of an army post would object to having their manifest anxi- cites made the subject of discourses.
 Army women and children say
 good-by' to husbands and fathers with cheerful faces, and if there are tears afterWard it is more than pos slble that resentment would come If any use were made of them In what might seem to be an attempt to turn the militant ones from their duty.
 The cavalry the other day was or dered from Fort Myer, which is just across the Potomac from Washing. ton, to the Mexican border with the possibility, perhaps even the proba- bility, that the service tour might be | extended into the field where other cavalrymen already had taken up the | chase of the Mexican bandits. The quarters at Fort Myer still are occu pied by the families of the fighters. When women of an army post thus are left behind with all the anxieties and uncertainties connected with the case they make great showing of courage. Bridge parties, teas and Kindred social affairs still are the or |NS AAAehhy o u Io pldy OO and many a possible trick overlooked by some ordinarily expert woman bridge player when she sits at table with her thoughts on the border in stead of on the game
 The condition of things at Fort Myer today is duplicated at many other posts in the United States The men have gone and the women and children have stayed. The newspa- pers are read eagerly enough by the ordinary civilian in order to get news from Funston, or Pershing, or Dodd, but the army women take the morning and the evening paper the instant that they can get it and read the head lines, with something that is not far removed from dread.
 In Washington and at Fort Myer there is not evident in army circles the dreadful anxiety that was so mani fest during the Spanish war. The cas- uoltias in 'QS m tho hatf1eiald were