Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-26
Woodrow Wilson
CHAPTER XVII
AS | KNOW HIM
BY JOSEPH P. TUMULTY.

CHAPTER XVII
(ContinueO
Upon comforting with the presi
dent in the matter of preparedness
l found that he had been slowly anC
patiently revolving it in his owl
mind and was then considering tn
ACCESSIBILITY of taking a direct mes
sage to the people concerning the sit
uation and was only awaiting thu
psychological moment to strike.
On January 81, 1915, the prestden
commenced his tour of the NORTH
and middle west, assuming the lead
.ership of the movement for pre-
paredness that had been started by
his opponents, and called attention
of the country to the critical worlC
situation and to the necessity for
America putting her house in or
der" In st. Louis he declared thai
America must have comparably the
greatest navy in the world. 1t was
noticeable in his speeches that hi
never employed the term universe
military service" and that he was
careful to explain that there was tt
be no militarism in the country.
Resignation of Garrison
When the president returned from
his preparedness tour, he found him
self at the center of conflicting views
as to method; on the one hand Rep
resentative Hay, of the military af
fair committee, advocated the usl
of the national guard as the new
army; on the other hand, Secretary
Garrison advocated an increase Of
the regular army to $4,000 men an6
new continental army" of 100000
men, with reserves of state militia. Il
was the recurrent conflict between
the army and congress, between the
military departments desire for 6
strong force and congress fear Of
"militarism." The Garrison plar
met with decided opposition in the
house, and upon the presidents re
fusal to lend support to his secretary
of war in the program he had out
lined in his report Of 1915, Mr.. Gar
rison resigned. Immediately all the
enemies Of the president centeret
about the retiring secretary and pro
claimed him a very much abused of
fetal. The letter which the presi
dent addressed to Secretary Garrison
is as follows,
The White House, Washington,
January IT, 1915.
MY Dear Mr.. Secretary:
am very much obliged to you
for your letters Of January IL
and January IA. They make
your views with regard to ade-
quate measures of preparation
for national defense sharply
clear. am sure that I already
understood just what your views
were, but I am glad to have
them restated in this succinct
and striking way. You believe,
as I do, that the chief thing
necessary is, that we should have
trained citizen reserve and that
the training, organization, and
control of that reserve should
be under immediate federal di-
rection.
But apparently I have not
succeeded in making my own
position equally clear to you,
though I feel sure that have
made it perfectly clear to Mr..
Hay. It is that I am not ir-
revocably or dogmatically COM
mitted to any one plan of pro-
viding the nation with such
reserve, and am cordially willing
to discuss alternative proposals.
Any other position on my part
would indicate an att tude to-
wards the committee on mill
tary affairs Of the house Of rep
j resentatlves which I should in
no circumstances feel at liberty
to assume. It would never be
proper or possible for me to say
to any committee of the house Of
representatives that so far as my
participation in legislation was
concerned they would have to
take my plan or none.
4 I do not share your opinion
that, the members of the house
who are charged with the duty Of
dealing with military affairs are
ignorant of them Or Of the mill
tary necessities of the nation.
On the contrary, [ have found
them we'll informed and actuated
with a most intelligent appre-
citation Of the grave responsible
ties imposed upon them. I am
sure that Mr.. Hay and his col
leagues are ready to act with
full sense of all that is involved
in this great matter both for
the country and for the national
parties which they represent.
My own duty toward them is
perfectly plain. I must welcome
frank interchange of views
and a. patient and thorough
comparison Of all the methods
proposed for obtaining the OBJ
jects we all have in view. So
far as my own participation In
final legislative action is con-
cerned, no one will expect me to
acquiesce in any proposal that
I regard as inadequate or illu-
sorry. If, as the outcome of
free interchange of views, my
own judgment and that Of the
committee should prove to be
irreconcilably different and
bill should be presented to me
which I could not accept as &C.
complishing the essential things
sought, it would manifestly be
my duty to veto it and go to
the country on the merits. But
there is no reason to anticipate
or fear such a result, unless we
should ourselves take at the out
set the position that only the
plans of the department are to
be considered; and that position,
il seems to me, would be wholly