The Washington times., 1916-01-22
ROOT FAVORS.
GARR|SONPlAN.
FOR DEFENSE.
Declares People Need to Have
True Spirit Of Patriotism
Awakened in Them.

Elihu Root. in a letter read before the
Ing called the prepa redness plan OF Sec
rection and stated that the America n
10 have the true opirit of America n
patriotism awakened in them"
Frederic l.. H,Iidekoper, Of Washing
over many of he "fascos and failures
OF American military annals.
Gen. E. W. Nichols. superintendent
Of the virginis Military Institute. Lex
inston, Va. recounted the past service
said this showed what could be done
along lines of preparedness.
Mr.. Root wrote:
1T Is idle to talk Of developing the
National Guard itself into an adequate
army for national defense, and any at
tempt would inevitably result In the
failure Of the whole movement and the
waste of all the energy and effort de-
voted to It."
State Troops For State Purposes.
The national guard Is primarily
State troops for State purposes" Mr..
Root believes, and he thinks they must
continue to be so. He said the power
to raise them and to appoint their offi-
GERS rests with the separate States.
Under the enlightened policy OF the
militia act OF January q, 19oe." he said,
they have been htted to render most
useful service. primarily in coast de-
Tense in cooperation with the national
they are rendering a most useful service
by training in he elements OF military
service a great number of young Ameri-
cans to whom the President may turn
when he seeks suitable men to be ap-
pointed officers in the national army"
He characterized the idea that these
forty-eight different bodies Of troops.
with officers appointed by forty-eigbt
different governors" could be the basis
Of developing mobile national army
as quite absurd
The proposal 10 create an adequate
national arm of defense involves =
good deal OF a shock to many Amer
leans who do not fully appreciate the
reasons for the great enlargement OF
our military forces he continued.
they are jncredulous as to the neces-
sity; they are dIsinclined to incur the
expense"
Discussing Secretary Garrison's plan.
MAKE all the progress in the right d.
There are rood things In secretsky Gar
rison's plan. Tho doing Of them would
be progress In the right direction"
Mr. Root urged tho same sort Of =
constructive program :or the navy that
he advocated for the army.
. Mr.. Huidekoper said authors OF his
tories and especially school text books.
have have painted IN slowing eolors sue
former wars. but said that almost
without eAcertion they have suppressed
with studied care the disasters which
we have so often suffered and tho
so frequently owing to the total absence
of proper military policy"
Braddock's defeat he termed "a bless
ing in Disguise" He said 1t bred In
American colonists a contempt for the
European method Ct fighting. and sho ;k
their belief in the inyincibliity OF Brit
ish trooIs.
"The less we Americans say about the
war Of 1917" said Mr.. Huidekoper. the
better, because more flnscos and failures
harpened during that war than during
almost any ether on record"
Possibility of Invasion.
Dwelling on she possibility Of invss-
when people talk Of the possibility
of any nation invading the United
States let them remember that. on Au-
gust e. 1913, the army defending Wash
1nEtOn was routed AT fldOenSDuTk WIN
a loss Of only eight killed and eleven
wounded.
Americans point with pride to the
battle OF New Orleans" he said. but
there again historians have CLOSED
over the facts
or Secretary Garrison's military pro-
gram Mr.. Huidekoper said:
This scher:s resembles a bit II Gruy-
ere cheese. 1t contains some solid ma-
terial but is full OF holes. The con-
tinental army contemplated therein is
based upon an excellent idea but, in
my opinion, Is unworkable. The organ
lied militia. as such, Is relegated to
one Of the last lines Of defense, where
II properly belongs"
In citing past services OF military
schools. General Nichols said he would
confine himself to the two oldest. Nor
wich University and the Virginia Mill
tary Institute. He added:
The services Of these institutions
have been so conspicuous that brief
outline Of their activities during the war
periods of our national history will be
suggestive of what could be accom-
plished along lines of preparedness. es-
pecially from the viewpoint Of a reserve
corps of officers. If a proper national
support were given them as we'll as the
numerous other institutions, State
fostered and privately supported scat
tered throughout the country. The out
line as given will necessarily suggest
! baI uaIua m naftanal s.eok