Evening journal., 1916-09-16

ciencY and then perhaps we'll have
to hunt a new toy.
Before that day comes, let us hope
someone will arise and point out what
really constitutes preparedness" As
yet no one has defined it correctly.
Millic1s Of men and billions Of dol
lars are daily juggled in the public
print in an effort to tell us what
preparedness" may be. Men Of note
speak at length In terms of battle
ships and cruisers, regiments and
guns. aeroplanes and submersibles
and think they define preparedness. -
They do not. They do not touch a
fraction of the real meaning behind
this mystic word.
Il is high time that the press OF
this country undertook the task OF
teaching us that guns and men. ships
and soldiers and all the panoply of
war mean absolutely nothing-unless
they have behind them real pre-
paredness. Now what is real pre-
parednessw
Today Victory wears a new garb-
superior gunnery and superior masses
OF men, individual valor and highly
ornate generals are all OF little worth
in modern warfaSe unless, away back
over the rim OF the world far from
the clouds of battle there are thou
sands Of sweating men working in the
factories, in the locomotive cabs,
about the oil wells and in the coal
mines. The poetry is gone from Vic
tory-today It is a sordid. sweaty
thing. the result not of heroes blood
alone. but of heroes blood mixed part
for part with salty sweat. Today the
man behind the gun is not the soul
stirring figure of Revolutionary days,
but a grease-stained engineer busy
weaving the mantle Of victory from
threads gathered from every town
ship in the country and debauched
upon the field Of battle as munitions,
bandages, automobiles, gasoline, food
and clothing, coal and chemlcals-and
so on through all the alphabet Of sup
plies. without the support OF the
toil-stained veterans of the shop,
those million men and those man.
moth battleships are as so much junk.
This, sir, is the salient fact which
we have overlooked in striving to de-
fine preparedness"
In typical American haste and en-
thusiasm. we have adopted this pre-
paredness child as the companion of
our hearth, forgetful Of its appetite
for food, raiment and a gigantic food
of militant toys. An army and a navy
are like the point Of a drill, which
meets the wall of metal, battles with
il, conquers II and emerges victorious
but emerges VIGOROUSLY only If be
hind II are the powerful machine, the
betting, the line shafts, the engine and
the engineer with his hoard of help
ers, all working in perfect unison for
a similar end-the victory OF that drill
point. And in that victory the drill
point is only the instrument. Ms
ultimate success depends on a stream
OF hidden things that work away
deep in the bowels of the factory
Likewise are our army and navy but
instruments or agents, whose every
act and final victory hang upon forces
unseen and. to date. unheralded. Have
we made clear what we consider Ia
be real preparedness
Why has so little been said about
these indispensable and unseen fac
tors? Perhaps IL is because the pop
ular view contains all. the poetry OF
| preparedness. Perhaps 1t is because
this unseen side calls up no visions
OF military bands, no tapping flags
no martial scenes and holiday hur;
rah, but rather the unpoetic vision Of
the sweaty backs OF labor. Yes. and
perahps there is another reason
Some short-sighted individuals take
the position that the Government
should manufacture every war nipple
ment and war munition "to eliminate,
as they say the incentive OF the dol
lar-making individuals to urge the ma
tion to war" These folks apparently
forget that the mere piling Of battle
ship on battleship and battalion upoI
battalion does not in itself constitute
preparedness; they forget that muni
tions today are only one OF the man.
requisites of successful battle-the!
forget the need Of hundreds of things
each as indispensable to successful
combat as are munitions themselves
And why do they claim only muni
tions for the Government--the manu-
facturers OF much besides munition
are as likely to gain from war as ar
the munition makers-why not max
the Government the sole and onl,
manufacturer of everything pertain
ing to military activity and let it owl
the railroads and the farm lands
and so on ad infinitum, since to do 81
would only be to carry their though
10 its logical conclusion?
But let's put aside all else and con
slider for a moment. only the feasabil
ity OF Government-owned munitiol
plants. How many OF us realize tha
10 produce Just the gauges necessar,
10 manufacture the 100000 shells
daily required by a respectable artil
lery force I'm action. would swamp IN
facilities of the three largest plant
I'm this country now making these ar
ticles-it would swamp them until tn
wear 1921 A. D.-and the cost woul
he approximately S1S000,000. o.
again-as the American Machinis
points out, in event of even med
INN sized war, we would need II
times our present force OF workme
in the Government arsenals and IL
times our present number OF ma
chimes fitted and instantly ready 10
nunition manufacture. Yes. NOR
than that-we would need three me
sweating in a factory for every sol
der and sailor at the front-in shor
IL we plan an army OF million mel
we must also plan another army {
49,. ,,.fffs,,, r,,on ~ ennn0rt tho mi