New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-12-14
The Cost Of Unpreparedness

The Cost Of Unpreparedness
At last the country is getting some con-
crete evidence Of the cost Of military un-
preparedness. Everybody has known IN
general way that we went into the war
unprepared. The government had neglect
ed, even avoided, preparation, although
for more than two years the chances that
we should be able 30 keep out Of war had
been becoming simmer and simmer.
Since we have been at war with Germany
the i'll effects of our policy of non-pre-
paredress have been covered over TO some
extent for military reasons. We can hard
ly fatter ourselves that the German High
Command has been kept in the dark
with regard to our Deficiencies. But the
public here has had little to 90 on but
guarded references 10 them, unofficial in
character, published in the press with
conscientious regard 20 the limitations Of
our voluntary censorship.
The investigation which the Senate
Military Affairs Committee is conducting
is now disclosing in an official way things
which the country had only guessed at.
At the very beginning We have admis-
sions from the chief Of the ordnance de-
partment of the army that not single
piece of artillery has been furnished by il
to the American forces now in France;
that the armies organizing in this country
are short of artillery, and that existing
1. 4. L. hof
next summer. The Allies are supplying
the expeditionary force in France with
field artillery. Our armies have practi-
caly no heavy artillery now and none in
sight. As for machine guns, the ordnance
bureau will have none available until
April next, owing to delays in selecting a
type and testing it. Delays in remodelling
the Enfield rife will also make it impos-
sible to equip our troops fully with the
new Enfield until they are about TO start
for Europe.
These are disquieting admissions. Yet
it is better that the country should know
the truth; for it is evident that only the
truth can stir US out of the false com
placency with which we have regarded
our progress toward even a moderate
measure of military efficiency. Too many
Of US have believed in miracles so far
as the fundamentals of military prepare
ton are concerned. We have been loath
to discard the Bryan fable about 100000
men springing to arms (and finding arms
ready for them to spring to- between
sunrise and sunset of the day on which
war should be declared.
The blunders Of the past are ines
capable when it comes TO making war.
Great Britain found it so. France found
it so in a lesser degree. We are finding it
so, and with the greater sense Of hui
initiation, because we refused to learn
anything from the experiences Of Great
Britain and France. Ordnance cannot be
improyised. General Crozier told the Sen
ate committee yesterday that from the
time of new ordnance design in Ger
many until its issue to the troops there is
a lapse Of seven years" This is COM
monplace Of military knowledge. The
the country are just beginning to absorb
that kind of information.
There is to-day only an historical inter
est in trying TO fix the blame for our lack
of preparedness when war broke out.
Probably the root of all the trouble was
in President Wilson's message TO Congress
on December 8, 1914. In that message the
President deprecated military reorganiza-
ton, saying that it would mean that ''we
had been thrown off our balance by war
with which we have nothing 10 do, whose
causes cannot touch las, whose very eX-
istence affords us opportunities of friend
ship and disinterested service which
should make US ashamed of any thought
of hostility or fearful preparation"
That was clear misleading of the
future. Yet it must not be forgotten that
in so misleading the future the Presi-
dent was undoubtedly in harmony with
Congress and with the majority sentiment
of the country. The mistake was not all
his. He was following public sentiment.
rather than guiding it. The response
bilty for the creation of the conditions
which now handicap us in making war
must be shared by the great mass Of
Americans blinded for years by de-
votion to the utilities of pacifsm), to
whom Mr.. Bryan's boast about million
men springing 10 arms in a day repre-
scented not pernicious delusion, but n
specious truth irradiated by the senti-
mentalism Of patriotism.
The Hay army reorganization law,
marvel in the way Of military stupidity
and political hypocrisy, was the next