Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1917-03-02

\
twenty years ago, but as. one reads the
names of the members of the two
/ houses of congress who were in office
at that time he reads largely list
/ of the dead or the retired There are
some men in the present congress, how
ever, who had voice in declaring war
against Spain, but their number is
! small
Most of Them Dead or Retired
Thomas B. Reed of Maine was
! speaker OF the house of representatives
when the Spanish trouble broke. IL
the house at that time were Nel&bn
! DingIey of Maine, author of the Ding
| ley tariff bill Jonathan r. Dolliver of,
| Iowa William FL. Moody of MaSsachu-
SettS later TO become secretary of the
navy, attorney general and a justice
of the Supreme court; Charles A. Bou
! telle of Massachusetts, who was chair
| man of the committee on naval af-
fairs, and John A. L. Hull of Iowa,
! chairman of the house committee on
military affairs.
Joseph g. Cannon of Illinois, who
still is in the house of representatives
was in the Spanish war Gays chairman
of the committee on appropriations.
and it was under his committee rule
| that congress in twenty minutes voted
to place $50,000,000 in cash in the
hands of President Mckinley for the
prosecution of the war. OF course it
cost this country much more than that
before the conflict was over.
In the senate at that time Nelson w.
/ Aldrch was chairman of the commit
tee on finance, and Cushman X. Davis
of Minnesota was chairman of the com
Wittee on foreign relations. On this
latter committee at that time were
Frye of Maine, Cullom of Illinois,
Lodge of Massachusetts, Clark of Wy
oming and Foraker of Ohio. Lodge is
still a member of the committee and
/ Clark is still in the senate. Eugene
Hale of Maine, who is still living but
is out Of congress and confirmed in
valid, was at the head of the senate
committee on naval affairs while Gen.
Joseph Hawley of Connecticut was the
chairman of the military affairs com
mittee.
Like City in War Time.
All sorts of rumors of outrages
against government property and Of
attempts to obtain knowledge Of
military and naval movements have
been circulated in Washington for
days. No matter how substantial these
rumorS may seem to be, no newspaper
man writes concerning them. 1t is
realized that it is a dangerous thing
and a most hurtful thing to cast suspi-
cion upon any naturaliZed citizen or
any unnaturalized one without proof
| positive that something besides mere
/ suspicion attaches. The effect of
! spreading suspicion, the officials know,
would be to arouse resentment and
perhaps actually to make enemies Of
men of class which desires to bG
| friendly.
! Washington is like a city in the
! midst of war time except for the alb
| sence of marching troops. 1t ought
! to be understood that no one in Wash
{
/ of the navy, or of any other service,
! wants war When a word is written
which seemingly is war word it
| should be studied carefully. The stu
alton has been that officials here be-
/ iieve war was inevitable. No one here
/ wanted war He simply feared that 1t
must come
Military officers seem to think that 1t
| may be necessary one day and perhaps
| Immediately to raise an army of 500.-
900 men. This number they may get
/ if the need comes but the great neces-
! SHY will be for men who have had
| sufficient training TO act as instruct
| ors. IT is an easy enough thing TO say
/ that the regular army's rank and file
can be drawn upon for drill masters
and for teachers of the more advanced
! forms of military duty, but every man
| in the regular army may be needed for
! instant garrison service if not for
/ instant fighting service
| Civilians May Be instructors
There are in the United States thou
sands of men in civil life who have
seen service in the regular army A
public appeal will be made TO those
men to come forward TO serve their
country in IFS stress time The Platts-
! burg and the Fort Sheridan camp
/ men, or those of them who have shown
sufficient training. vii, be asked to
take places as instructors In the pr-
I mary departments of army service
! within the camps of the volunteers If
/ the country must raise an army
The whole visible supply of men Slrf-
I ficiently trained to do instruction work
will not be equal TO the emergency.
Men can be trained in three months
time 10 point of ability to serve fair
I ly satisfactorily in the ranks, but they
cannot he trained unless there are men
/ TO train them. So it will be asserted
that our neglect of preparedness meas
ures may prove our undoing or if I'M
doing he averted. may add months TO
/ the time necessary to give US force
1 of men adequate in numbers and suf1-
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