Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-29
BRAZIL CAN GIVE
1,785,OOO MEN
But Her Chief Aid to Allies Will
for the Present Be
Food
By ANNIBAL BoMFIM

| take n step wnlCn nau long Deeh uoSh w
by every one From the very first days OF
the war in Europe the Brazlians showed
their decided sympathy for the cause OF the
Allies and their horror for the German
crimes We all knew that this war was
being planned by Germany and that 1t was
started by her. The few Frenchmen who
lived in Brazil and left to go to war were
cheered by large crowds as they departed
as IL they were our own boys
Before the first month Of the war had
passed the best brains of Brazil, from the
spheres Of craftsmanship, the universities
commerce, army and navy. journalism and
all the other literary arts, got together and
| organized the "Liga Brazileira pelos AL
| lados"-"Brazilian League for the Allies.
| II is an association intended to help all al
| lied nations in every possible way. IL mas
| been working ever since and has helped
| great deal Besides holding bazaars and
| giving concerts to raise money for various
| relief funds, 1t has done the most wondertul
| work as a propaganda against everything
| that was German, and It has been watch
| ful detective against the German plots. one
| Of It's good works was the showing up OF our
| former Minister of Foreign Affairs Doctor
| Mueller, as friend Of Germany and COM
pelling him to resign his position TO Doctor
|
| the war.
All these facts show how all classes of
| Brazil have been wishing for our effective
! cooperation in the struggle. Why is IT,
then, that not until last week had our
| Parliament been asked by the President OF
| the republic to declare officially that
| state of war exists with Germany? The
| reason Is very much the same as that
| which kept the United States from taking
| the same step a long time ago. when every
ana Epn ,arfa ...n1 hat had
| taken. The Government realized that the
| country was not yet prepared and that 1t
| was better to take some precautions before
| the final step was made
Brazil has however, been making war
against Germany since the beginning OF
| this year. When diplomatic relations were
| broken on April 10 all the German ships in
| our ports had already been occupied by
| Brazilian sailors as a preCauton to pre-
vent their being damaged by the crews. A
| few days later they were ConfisCated, and
| today four Of them have already been re-
| paired in the Brazilian shipyards and are
| sailing under the Brazilian flag. one of
! them is the Curvello, formerly the Gertrud
| Wroeman, The Brazilian navy is cooper
| ating in the work of policing the southern
| Atlantic against German raiders
| As l said in a previous article, this war
| clught Brazil struggling with the most
| serious crisis Of her history caused by the
bad administration Of our former President.
I everything WIS ulSOIBdHlEcu anu inc army
was in a worse condition than any other
| service The ConsCription law had been
| voted, but never enforced the officers were
| more interested in politics than I'm their ca
| reer. and we could hardly say that we had
| an army The standing army in peace time
| had been reduced from 5000 10 10000 men,
| and these were Of the poorest kind. our
| present President, DR.. Wenceslau Braz, has
| striven TO reform those conditions and has
been successful At the end of 1916 the
| first regular draft was made and our army
| became 10000 strong and formed of fit
| and chosen young men, who will be the
| instructors Of the great army to be made.
1t would have been madness to enter the
| war before those men had had enough ex-
| perence to teach the great army to be
| organized when war was declared Because
| the maintenance of large standing army
was too great drain upon the finances of
| the Government, 1t was necessary TO form
| private military clubs and train the men
under semimlitary discipline at their own
| expense. The members of those clubs car
| ried on during the day their own individual
| business or profession and trained for MILL
| tary service only at night and on Sundays
| After they had been six months under train
| ing they could apply for an examination
| and, II they passed It successfully, they
could be considered members OF the First
Reserve Force and be free from draft
| A powerful patriotic campaign, preaching
| preparedness through these Shooting clubs"
| succeeded in gathering virtually all the
| Brazilian young men of military age into
/ their membership. A year ago there was
| not single little town in Brazil that had
not its shooting club. Each club that was
| formed had to be registered at the War De-
| partment, where IL received a number and
| had an officer appointed 10 give instruction
to its members At the beginning of this
| year Shooting Club No T. In Rio de Janeiro
was turning out about $50 soldiers a month
| for examination. on the War Depart
| ment's list there are more than 200 of
| these clubs registered.
Another source of men for the Brazilian
| army lies in the police force of our twenty
| States. Each State has its private mill
| tarized police force, which can be requested
| by. the Federal Government in case of war
and is to be used as the Second Reserve
Force of the army. This force is only about
| 10000 strong.
Putting all the forces together, Brazil
could raise Immediately an army of 15O, 600
men fairly we'll trained and most Of them
| capable of becoming the finest soldiers. for
| they are young men who were trained at
| their own expense, led simply by the patri-
| otic desire OF being prepared when war
| should come
II the war lasts long enough to need ALL
| the men that we can use, and If we have
time enough to train and equip them, Brazil
can put an army Of 1,7S5,OOO men in the
| field.
| / do not think. however that such a
| strong military help will be needed Fur
| thermore, our men would have to undergo
| a special training in order to stand the
cold European weather and II would take
too long a time The great help which
| Brazil can give and which has been given
ever since she broke diplomatic relations
| with Germany, and even before is the
sending of provisions. We have been send
ing food to France. England and Italy.
| Three OF our boats have been torpedoed
off the coast of France while doing that
work We export hundreds of tons OF
frozen meat every month we do II to such
an extent that there is shortage I'm the
home markets and a resulting increase in
the cost OF living.
| Although the Brazilians are doing all
they can to help the Allies, much is vet
to be done We have one of the largest
and richest countries of the world but
we have not yet learned how to use onr
hidden treasures. Our population IS com
| paratlvely small and up until a few vea re
ago the Brazilians had no ambition N
better their situation in life If a man
had a roof to live under and enough food
not TO starve, he was contented. This wa :
caused by ignorance. Lately conditions
have changed and all are desirous 10 do