Daily Kennebec journal., 1916-03-22

doctrine protectorate over the nations Of
South and Central America, much Of the
feet must Of necessity be away from the
home waters; q trained reserve to re-
cruit the losses Of the first line at the be-
ginning Of the war. and to I'LL the new
armies that would be needed If the war
assumed greater proportions. and trained
officers to command these reserves; ade-
quate plants. situated well within the in
terror Of the country, away from any OF
it, boundaries to manufacture war NUM-
tions Of any and all kinds, either owned.
maintained and operated by the govern
ment, or privately run under government
supervision: large supplies of these NUM-
tons must be manufactured and kept on
hand for immediate use; and last but not
least, the war department would have to
be 50 organized that, in case Of war
the government may Immediately take
over and operate in connection with their
present working organization, the rail-
roads Of the country so that mobilization,
concentration and maintaining Of its ar
mics could be successfully carried
through. further branch of the duties
Of this department would be 50 to keep in
touch with the manufacturing plants of
the country that in case Of war all Of
such plants turning out products neces-
sary for the carrying on Of the war, could
in the same way as the railroads. imme-
diately be used for the benefit of the
government.
Involves Great Changes.
This plan Of real preparedness would
make great changes in the internal ad-
ministration Of our government. 1t woulc
be tremendously expensive. 1t would take
years to complete its development. 1t
might and probably would involve some
kind Of compulsory military and naval
training. for volunteers will not join the
colors except in time of war, in any
great numbers, and then 1t is too late,
with their lack Of training. for them to
be Of any military or naval use. AS an
example Of this, let me give the enlist
ment in the U. S. army for the past few
years.
In 1912. the enlistments were 1852 In
1918, $685. In 1914, 6o27. In 1915. 1925 For
the first two months and half Of the
present year the recruiting has been at
the rate of zoos for the full year. The
enlistments at the Boston recruiting sta
ton. for the month of January of the
present year, were exactly 1S. Enlist
ments in the New York district which
takes in part Of New Jersey, during the
past week, with the immediate prospect
of war with Mexico, varied from one to
10 or IL day. During all Of these years,
the government has been making an ef-
fort to bring the army and navy up to
their authorized strength and has not
succeeded. AS all recruiting officers will
tell you, men will not enlist In times of
plenty like the present, when all can get
work, even with the immediate prospects
Of war to spur them on. That our citi-
zens would enlist, and enlist in large
numbers, should war actually be declared,
no one who knows the American people
can for moment doubt. but the time and
the only time to train our troops Is be-
fore the war shall have actually begun
If they are in any way to prove effective.
That the same would apply to the recruit
ing of the militia as well as to that of the
regulars, may or may not turn out to be
the case. Under the old National Guard
system it has always been found impos-
sible to bring the companies up to their
full required strength in times of peace. |
the proposed system Of paying
the guard small annual stipend will |
change the result remains to be seen. In |
all probability it will not
I do not believe that all Of this program |
IS necessary for US. do not believe that |
It is necessary that we should make our
selves absolutely safe. 1t is highly possi-
Bile that at the close of the war, none Of |
the fighting nations will be in a condi-
fion to take on a new war with even a |
tolerably prepared nation. But some
parts of the program are necessary and |
Immediately necessary We are learning
Just now the melancholy effects Of our
ack OF preparedness in the Mexican
trouble. Ten days ago this country was
invaded by small hostile force. An
American town was raided and a number
of our soldiers and citizens were killed.
The delay in mobilizing and concentrating
1 sufficient force to retaliate illustrates
our utter lack Of preparedness in an
emergency. The working out Of a fav-
orable plan of mobilization and concen-
ration by the federal government IN con-
1ection with the railroads is an impera-
I've necessity for our government, and
he training of an adequate number Of
roops is no less so.
Cost Less Than War.
The cost Of any real system of pre-
'aredness will undoubtedly be great, but
however. great that cost may be, it will
n no way compare with the cost Of any
var with any belligerent power or pow
rs that we may get into. And this
much is certain. If we do succeed in
'etting really prepared. we need fear
lothing from any foreign nation or ma
ions on the broad face Of the earth. Our
'oice will be heard in the councils Of
he nations and no country. however ar
ogant, will dare to transsress the obliga-
ions of internal law that we uphold, and
hould international disarmament take
lace at some time in the future, and
hould the voice of an armed and pre-
jared America be the deciding voice in
Is favor. as may well be the case who
hall say that our sacrifices shall have
een In vain?
So much I have said tonight to show