The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-05-31


one of our young Indian soldiers. When aske
, what the war for. he replied that II wa
, TO make all the world Join the Demoerati
party.
We learn the bright spots, not the dark ones
in story. We gaze upon the stars In gu
armament without thinking Of the dangers ant
, disasters that hidden in the unlit space
: between them. We know that we have beef
! successful in all wars. but think not o
? our stumbling advance TO victory. Napoleon
said The British lose all their battles excep
the last one" In measure this has been tru'
of us We have met the enemy at the gate witt
hasty levies, and not with well-trained defend
ep. The weakness of our opponent has OTTER
been our shield not vigorous, well-ordered
pros ,cution Of the war. At the close OF the
first year of our entry into the present war, We
only held Ave miles of the battle line that eN-
tended 700 miles from the North sea 10 the
Adriatic and a week ago the British prime
minister declared that our aid was only one
fifth of the fighting strength which the enemy
had received, through the collapse of Russia
Before Revolution some little prepara-
ton had been made by some of the colonies,
Here and there colony had disciplined some
of its citizens, who held themselves subject to
a moments call. These were the minute men.
They acquitted themselves creditably at Lex
ington and Bunker Hill. But those two small
| contests were sporadic efforts The men who
| fought in them returned to their homes
and Others took their places, $50 far as their
places were filed None came under a perma-
| nent enlistment for the In many in
| stances they did not remain in arms long
| enough to be well trained and left the service
as soon the period of training ended. They
| did not realize that successful war cannot be
made by farmers scattered over the broad land
| of great country An efficient army must be
gathered in camps and ready at the sound OF
the busle to take its place on the field Of
battle. II one will read the correspondence OF
Washington with the Continental Congress. he
will see how futile our efforts were and that it
was largely through the inefhciency OF the en-
envy and the aid rendered at critical time
by France that Independence was finally
achieved.
The fact that at time during the Rev
dictionary contest was Washington able to
unite under single command at a given time
more than 1900 men, although we enlisted
nearly 400, 600 against only 10000. shows how
inefficient was our conduct of that war.
The of 1872 is repetition of the blum
ders of our first one. We mustered in more
than 900 men TO contend against $1,000
British. We were inundated to our capitol
captured and burned. Although we had 6.40l
defenders against 1900 British, only eight de-
tenders were killed.
The victory of New Orleans, won after the
treaty OF peace had been signed and therefore
unnecessary. the important battle Of
1872 of which we can boast Here the back
woodsmen beat the veterans OF Wellington that
had driven Napoleon's armies out Of Spain. but
the belated attack of Col Thornton's on the
west side of the river perhaps the decisive
factor Of the battle.
II is true that upon the water we made a
better showing. But here again we had made
adequate preparation. and the little gun
boats. mounting single gun with crew of a
few men, the result of the policy OF Jefferson.
were mere toys and gave no good account Of
themselves The naval duels fought by our |
navy credit to the and ships, but |
the and ships were far less in number |
than they ought TO have been, when we had Ia |
years of warning that such war might break |
out at any moment.
We repeated our story of inefTicency in the |
Mexican war. In spite OF the weak and disor- |
gained condition Of the Mexican army, we |
used $4,000 men against only $4,000 Mexicans.
1t was probably our best fought war, for the |
per cent of regulars to the number enlisted |
was greater than in any other Of our wars.
In the of the rebellion enlisted $780, /
600 from the North against 100000 from the
South. Though enlistments were nearly
three TO one of the Confederate armies. we still
required more than four years to subdue the
southern states How little the importance of
the contest was understood is proved by Lin.
coln's call for $4,000 for three months
service. At this time President Davis was
wiser than Lincoln. for he called for 100 900
men for years service.
Some of defeats in the Civil war were
due 20 the fact that the general fastened on
Battle before he was prepared, because Of the
arge number of expiring enlstments.
As we Look back upon our military record. !
We can plainly see that treasures were wasted.
,attles multiplied, and the wars prolonged. in
consequence of our unpreparedness. We know ,
hat in the Civil war we ganed no victories of {
my consequence. and suffered severe defeats,
Cr'ng the first two years of the contest. We :
eally did not gain decisive advantage until /
he capture of Vicksburg and the battle of h
gettysburg in the summer of 1853 and did not v
ight on scientific principles until 1854. It Is I
rte hsd Icrne credit for the battle of An r
ietam and while it not defeat for the I
orthern army. it was certainly not decisive a
ictory. Had soldiers been properly trained b
nd equipped, the war of the rebellion would 4
Il. - -
ears F..
Although there was spread out before us the \
Military lessons Of many thousands Of years.
npressing upon us. If we would be impressed. Il
he necessity of preparation for war, we neg h
cited to prepare We took not to heart, as Ii
merson commands us to, the lessons of the n
ears and centuries against the hours. Take, n
3 an illustration, one nation to prove the adj z,
antase of preparedness In six weeks Prussia q
ad beaten Austria. In 1855. and in FIVE weeks h.
-om the declaration Of war won the battle of ii
edan, the decisive battle of the Frsnco-Prus- b,
an war. In the present world contest she has !,
esn able TO overrun Serbs and Ruulania con- =,
1er the mighty hoets Of Russia, and hold the nj
mics Of Italy, France. and England at hay Il
imply because she was prepared. The only nj
e she has had 70 meet uoon the Land that had II
~ fair show OF preparation was France. And n
was only due 20 that heroic nation that Ger -
an armies In 81 days from the declaration Of :,
2 war beVan their rctrest from the Marine. ii
I'd the kaiser missed hN Paris dinner. ~
In 1914 the kaiser reSzr John Bull as ~
heezy old man with an expanded rirth. strut vi
ne about the derk Of warShip. fcurishing . n
sty trident Of the sea He knew that England
~ resting on the traditions Of the past for e,
tting that the day had rome when a s2-yesr- rii
clerk from = West India Office could win or -
otect an empire. He had fear Of the Brit ~
on land The British regulars Of $50. 900. e.
Is. he said. "conternptible little army" ~
Tough few IN number for such 3 war. that vi
my was a splendid body q troore ard did. a.
fore th-T were almost entirely wiped out n,
ne OF the must magnificent fighting Of the N.
,rld contest But al the millions under the ~
1tish sway, thoCzh thy outnunshere-i Ger a.
auy many fold. could not STAY the march ~
ro1gh Belgium simply hecsuse theT we're un- n
spared Had EnElsr5 had ever a million -,
- - vel pr-rarrd her $50. 90. this var =,
'uld have h--n erded befo-s the N.rre vas -
ached. -r-rhAhly Il never would have ben -,
riarpd =.
Ic-dsy ~ mast r-r-uh1r. tn. that What kii
nd have hesn considered adequate urersrz- 50
= n earlisr ti-nez ~fii not suffcs nce Il - b.
Ao1ger suftris-t 20 xfVe a solder san. a ar
Nesr rask ard q ballet usurh ur1ther can ~.