The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-01-05

Is This An Opening
"A tack? . ~.

y the,regular army failed is the opinion Of T
Nation, which also takes the ground that the re
nlar army regiments station in, Hawaii and 9th
overseas departments are being wasted" Ina
much as this is the first statement by any pub
cation of national prominence to attack the id
Of a strong garrison for the land defense of H
waii, the editorial opinion Of The Nation on tn
subject is republished herewith in full
What the Nation pointed out weeks ago is now uni.
versally admitted: the national guard has collapsed
result Of its service in Texas Wherever the troops
have returned the story is the same. What Is hap
penng in Illinois is clearly illustrated by the reen.
lstments in three Illinois regiments totallng from
1850 TO 5000 men, who were supposed to take the
federal oath for reenistment under the Hay Act for
period Of six years. In the First Infantry fifty
officers and 176 men in; in the Second, forty
nine officers and 322 men, and in the Third Infantry,
ffty-three officers and 341 The rest felt that
in justice to those dependent upon them they could
not risk further border service.
With the facts thus granted, what is to be done :
The senators and representatives who have just ar
rived in Washington utterly at sea. Senator La
Toilette reports that his daily attacks upon the whole
preparedness idea appauded more than anything
else during his campaign for reelection Senator Bo-
rah has already introduced bill repeating all Of the
Hay Act relating to the militia. But beyond that
WHAT 49,. 49,. p"
Superficial thinkers and professional militarists
are saying that this universal servce-without,
of course, considering either the financial social
cost or the fact that this would make over the United
states into nation in which militarism dominated
everything else. Many newspapers are putting forth
this idea; those that do not, confess themselves at
loss, as legislators, to make really con
structive suggestions They are bafled not only by
the problem Of the militia but also by the total fail
IRE to get men to enlist in the regulars Secretary
Bakers report shows that the increase in the army is
so slight rs to be negligible. '.i ~. - e..
Obviously the first thing do is not to do anything
hastily With this example Of the results Of quick
legislation under great pressure before us, congress
should do what il should have done year ago;
take plenty time consider the whole situation.
TO sound public sentiment-real public sentiment and
not that manufactured by defence leagues and paid
press agensand above all else to begin by reform
ing and stituting the present inefficient regular
army The Nation insisted last winter that real
preparedness could out Of the Hay law because
IL was merely building superstructure upon rotten
foundation For that ridculed and abused
and accused of insulting the army. We reterate
every charge that we made at that time and we in
sist that until the regular army itself be made
one hundred per cent efficient ii is useless to talk
Of adding more ..-..> !
To this end the first step would be a rigid nvesti-
CATION of the army as at present constituted and ad
ministered, II only to cut out the enormous waste
Of funds and to bring about the introduction Of bus
ness methods and ordinary, everyday military Ell
cheney; some system by which men shall be held res.
ponsible for the effectiveness with which they work.
Today no army officer is punished for failures
for which he would be discharged from any ordinary
clerkship. No colonel is punished matter how
unmilitary his regiment may be. The withdrawing
Of the Thirteenth Cavalry at Columbus proves that.
Granting that because of prosperity
time TO induce to enlist could have to pass,
the fact remains that there is s something radically
wrong with the army when it enroll in the face
of Mexican troubles and all the preparedness
citement only 1867 in October, 1916, against
2466 in October, 1915, and 3493 in October, 1911.
rms year much more money was spent on the recruit
tional stations, liberal advertising motion pictures,
etc AZ the time the Marine Corps mlitarily far
more efficient than the army and Offering about the
What the army needs is to be turned into a training
school out Of which men can get something than
military drill Morerthan one army officer believes
that in this day of killing by machines the army should
teach trades to vastly greater extent than In
creased pay there will doubtless have to be.
Here, in the reorganization Of the regulars, is
first constructive task Another is the strengthening
of the home army itself by bringing from abroad reg
ments nov stationed overseas whose position frequent
ly suggests considerations other than purely military
Why should regular regiments be wasted in Hawaii,
Porto Rico, Alaskaf Hawaii be defended only by
the heet the feet is defeated the islands bound
70 be cut on. Had the cavalry and infantry regi-
ments now there and in the Philippines and Pana-
ma-where there are the best coast defenses have
been withdrawn and put into Texas, the necessity
Of calling on the whole of the national guard would
never have arisen-always provided that the Mexi-
can border had been efficiently patrolled, a com.
petent police force would have PATROL
ed it. s...
Again, in the development of a constabulary as eff.
cient as that in Pennsylvania the Philippine lies
another possibility Of real constructive legislation
both for congress and for the several States With
constabulary at hand for ordinary breaches of the
peace or mob7volence bar to enlistment in the
militia would be removed. But first and foremost
should be the restoration of the national guard to its
former position as purely State organization. 1t
can still be made vastly effective body than
Il II the spectre of federal control passes
the steady growth in efficiency of the New York and
Massachusetts troops proves that The difficulty was
that when the preparedness mania yielded to we
would not wait for the slow processes of reorganiZa
fion 10 continue We had to have second line in ser
vice within thirty days,
Now, many think that we get that reserve and
lighting force within thirty days if only turn to
transcription II took 1l5 years to bring the German
army up to its present efficiency, but that overlook
Fortunately there plenty of signs besides Senator
Ia Follettes and Mr. Bryan testimony that the Am
erican people do not wish to be stampeded into mill
tarism. But plainly the military problem that con
fronts Washington is TO challenge constructive
statesmanship Of the highest order.
The Nation has many times during the Wilsc
expressed views that later dev
opments have shown to be those of the Pre-
dent For this reason, if for no other, the O