The Prescott daily news., 1916-04-08
WASTING OR SAVING
 LIVES IN WASHINGTON?
Where Civilian Judgment h.
 viteS Warfare.
CITIZENS DECREED TO DEATH

General Upton, America's Foremos'
 Military Authority, Declares That
 Wars Are Invited and Battles Wor
 or Lost Under the Great Dome al
 Washington Al of Our Armed
 Struggles Have Been Attended b> Unnecessary Sacrifice of Life ane
 Treasure.
 PART i.1
 That more lives and more money caI be wasted in Washington this winter than have been destroyed in the great est battles in the European war is the unavoidable conclusion of every one who reads Upton's Military Policy of the United States" buried for years in the government archives and at last rescued from oblivion by Elihu Root when tbe latter was Secretary of War
 In the present national crisis this work-merely paper covered govern ment document-rises to the height of great beacon by whose light both the pacificist and the advocate of adequate preparedness may clearly see the route to the nations safety AS the author, distinguished veteran of the Civil War. has long since been dead and the book was both written and published years before any of the present-day events claimed attention, its deduc tions are free from any suspicion of bias
 Ky q reinnrkable assembling of facts in their logical sequence it is plain that our lack of military knowledge has produced and prolonged wars, and has wasted hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars.
 Brushing aside the mass of popular histories Of the United States as not only misleading. but as dangerous in the impressions that they give Gen. Upton presents q startling array of facts, He shows for instance that tn, Revolutionary War should have been ended in two years instead of seven and that the Civil War need not have been tough, at ail-that had we been adequately prepared in lSGl thp four years struggle would have been avoid ed
 Our want of military policy, he writes. has been tested ilorc than century and while military men are Ulitol as to its dangers our final sue. cess in eGch conflict has so blinded the popular mind Gs to induce thc belief that as nation we are invincible."
 With the greater mass of people, who have neither the time nor the in clination to study the requirements of military science. no error iS more com mon than 10 mistake military resourcea for military strength, and particularly is this the case with ourselves.
 "Encrrous and unnecessary sacrifice Of life and treasure has attended all our armed struggles"
 We have rejected the practice of European nations and with little yaria ton have thus far pursued the policy of China" and instead of saving money and lives and producing peace as the paciiists have thought to be the fact. this policy gave us. from the Declara- tion of Independence down to~the time of writing one year of war for every three years of peace!
 Fears Prolonged the Revolution. It lS the policy of some nations at the present day to carry on in secret among the peoples of rival nations a propa- ganda of unpreparedness. Thus the paciiists may become the tools of their country's enemies. Such policy may have been employed during the ncvu. lution, but ill any event. the war had not been under way long when there arose among the colouists a strong feeling of jealousy of what they called standing army, Il fear that such an army might be detrimental to the wei fare of the new republic.
 "Jhe intense feeling of opposition al. most wrought the ruin of our cause. says Upton. Since then this feeling has been diligently kept up and has formulated itself into the maXin that standing army is dangerous to llhcr. ty. The annals of the RcV0lu ton show conclusively that for the lack of well disciplined regular army enlisted for the war we were continually Gorced to call out double and treble the number of raw troops.p That the opposition to an army of sufficient size did not wreck the cause of independence is due to the circum stance that England was busy witl. wars on the European continent. that she was there fighting for her very life just as she is today, and her people did not know or foresee the value of this country.
 Even with the enemy thus handi capped the Americans would not have won had it not been for the aid extend