New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-18
GARDNER WANTS
REGULARS ONLY
Anti.Defence Men Saving Their
Powder to Attack Appropria-
ton Measures.

hours Of stump speeches on the meas
rre made in the House to-day prepare
tory TO the vote tomorrow. Three
more hours Of speeches Will be al
lowed. after which the House will take
IN the bin section by section under
the fve-minute rule. which promises a
vote fairly early tomorrow. so that the
measure will be in the Senate on Mon
day.
Pacifsts and anti-preparedness men
are saving their thunder PRINCIPALLY
for the appropriation measure, without
which the present authorization Dill
would be almost valueless. The roll
call. however, will show the clear line
Of cleavage between the followers OF
Mr.. Bryan, who believes that the army
and navy appropriations should not ex-
coed those Of last year, and those VINO
advocate something more nearly ap-
preaching real preparedness.
Even that vote. however, will not be
Of as much significance as one which
will come after the bill. passed by the
House and revised upward by the
Senate. goes back TO the House. Then
the real friends of preparedness will
make determined effort to have the
Senate amendments agreed 10, and on
that will come the tug Of war.
Representative Gardner declared IN
his speech to-day that the Hay bill
merely made a noise like preparedness.
but not a noisy noise. 1T is about as
loud as the tick Of a watch, or the stili,
small voice Of a conscience" he said.
at hasn't even walked up Henry Ford.
Words Rather Than Men
81 notice that the bill consists Of
ninety-one pages and over 22,OOO
words" Mr.. Gardner went on-"plenty
OF words, but scarcity OF regular
army men--and yet regular army me,
are exactly what we want and need,
There is nothing on earth mat
p comes within gunshot Of being 'prac-
tically as good as the regular army
man. No amateur soldier can any more
compare with professional soldier
than an amateur plumber can compare
: with professional plumber. The law
(: yer who spends six days a week law
5 yering and one day a week soldering
il pretty certain to be six times as
good a lawyer as he is a soldier. This
q Is the fundamental trouble with your
militia.
Furthermore, I have not been car.
ried away with this idea Of an army D.
has beens or reserves as they are called
that is TO say. an army largely mads
up Of men who once upon time have
done a real turn at soldering. II may
be all right TO have a supplemental
army Of ex-soldiers; but the cheapest
thing in the long run will be TO main
tain regular force of about 100000
men and then train our boys 80 that
they will all know something about how
10 fight IL need be.
81 think nothing at all Of the alleged
liberalization Of the militia provided
in the Hay and the Chamberlain bills.
You can't really federalize your militia
50 long as the states appoint the Of
fcers. and | confess that ] don't see
the logic Of Uncle Sam paying soldiers
that some one else commands Think
Of il! This Hay bill, and the Chamber
lain bill also, for that matter, actually
propose that the state governors shall
continue 20 command these forty-egh 2
little armies while the nation pays g
big share Of the bill. Suppose that
some Governor were to order out his
army % suppress a strike, don't you
think that Uncle Sam ought 10 have the
right 10 say halt II he didn't approve
Well, IL you pass either one of these
bills Uncle Sam will not have word
20 say about It. He can pay the piper,
but he can't name the tune"
Little Interest in Debate.
As member after member added his
approval 10 the plan for increasing the
army during the day interest in the de-
bate tagged II was too one-sided TO
attract q crowd At times there were
not more than a score OF seats filed on
the floor.
Party lines were utterly forgotten.
Mr.. Hay faced the House for an hour,
delivering no set speech, but ready 10
answer questions from any quarter.
Mr.. Kahn, ranking minority member OF
tho committee, frequently aided the
chairman in presenting the committee 5
views. The two divided the debate
time between them, since there was no
one 70 lead an opposition.
Representative Gordon, Of Ohio. a
Democrat, made the first speech FOR the
bill. He had been listed as an anti
preparedness man. but explained that
NE opposition was only 20 a great
standing army.
Representative Mckenzie. Of Illinois.
Republican. paid high tribute 20 the
National Guard and insisted that A
larger standing army than 10000 men
would be useless in times Of peace.
High school military training vas
urge< by Representative Anderson. Re-
publican, Of Minnesota. 81 shall not
raise my boy 10 be soldier, but II his
country needs him 7 shall want him 20
be fitted 20 CO." he shouted amid APP
plause.
Oppose Continental Army.
Representative Olney, Democrat, Of
Massachusetts,, brought the Continental
army plan into the debate By saying the
entire committee opposed 1t on the
ground that u was ian expensive and
impracticabie experiment"
Representative Greene, Republican,
Of Vermont, said be believed much Of
the opposition 20 preparedness was due
20 Misunderstanding Public discus
sion, he said. had created an impression
that standing army Of 100000 men
was proposed. when the bill only called
for no 900 In peace times.
Mr. Quinn. Of Mississippi. became a
preparedness advocate after the scs-
sion Of Congress began lie declared
he was glad American troops had been
cent into Mexico % capture Villa.
"Of course faid Nr. Quinn. we
know that Mexico is not much 20 con-
tend wIth. But We must prepare %
defend The Monroe DOctuns and pre-
pare now"
Repre- tentative Crago Republican. Of
Pensylyania. declared TINT under the
provisions u me bin a. % the National