Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-25
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| WASHINGTON LINCOLN, WILSON:
Three War Statesmen. Gen. John
McAuley Palmer. Doubleday, Doran
| g. Co.
War is merely special form of
! political action
| Soldiers and generals and armies are
| merely the instruments through which,
under certain conditions, statesmen
must attain political ends"
| The Revolution, therefore. but the
agent of securing to America political
| independence. The Civil War likewise,
but the factor of the Federal Govern
i ment sent out to maintain the Union.
| The World War, as well, but barricade
| of fighting men lifting between imperial
! designs and the advance of democratic
nationalism.
! Such, broadly, the foundation upon
which Gen. Palmer has built this mill
! tary history of the United States. A
| concrete demonstration drawn off from
war itself. An expert treatment found
| ed upon deep research on the one hand,
! upon personal military experience and
! observation on the other. An illuminat-
| ing survey by virtue of it's range and
| its cloSe-knit identification of war with
| the civil life in whose behalf it is, for
the time being, the most vital and Signif-
icant part.
| War is the most. exigent of all ma
! tional manifestations, the most exact
| ing and arbitrary. 1t deals in great
magnitudes. Under such pressure it
| tends, as matter of course, to override
! civil matters, even to rival the govern
| ment itself at points which, in peace
| times, 1t would have no reason to APP
| proach. Such has been the way of war
| throughout history. This tendency,
| during war, to dislocate the properly CO.
I ordinated functions of the government
/ becomes here, also, vital point in Gen.
Palmer's study.
| A war ended--any war ended-the
next step is toward plans for national
| defense in the fture The Official mind
| is open that way. So is the public mind.
Mistakes are then most outstanding, in
! V1ting to better legislative measures for
national safety.
So following the Revolution, Wash
| ington, about to give over his command.
called upon his most efficient generals
Tor views in this matter of defense.
| These, with his own, he transmitted to
the Continental Congress.
! Then, in the course of events, George
! Washington became the first President
Of the United States. Before the Con-
! gress was his plan, the substance for
| new legislation in behalf of "a we'll
! regulated militia" to stand as the Ma
| tons chief bulwark against invasion.
| Not its sole bulwark, but the chief one.
Among Washingtons military aides
Baron Steuben had been most COM
petently alert to the major adequacy of
citizen Soldiery. Indeed, he is here
cited as "the inventor of the National
| Guard" He so ably supported WASH
ington in this outlook that the militia
bin' was the result.
| However, the Revolution was off and
| politics was on-just as it is today and
| ever has been where the prime object of
each minority appears to be to discredit
the majority by way of its Executive
and let the country go hangl For four
/ years from now, or two-and so on.
| Washington's bill was defeated in Con-
gress. 1t was, moreover, buried with
many another piece of repudiated
craftsmanship going to keep this one
| company. When Gen. Palmer began
! the research that eliminated in this
remarkable study, he sensed a some
thing missing. So he went upon the
trail. Under his energy the forgotten
| bill came to the light of day. More
| than that, it has served the author and
the book in manner for which read
/ ers and students cannot be too appre-
CAatAtCAy grateful.
! Did you on Sunday night, over the
! Columbia network, hear DR.. Julius
Klein ON 1.-THE Worlds Business? The
! point Of that talk was, fittingly, of
course, George Washington-our first
| great American business man, our first
| expansionist, as well as first soldier and
President. Quite in the current vein
and spirit DR.. Klein shows him to have
been the practical man in every matter,
the safe and sane man, whether COM
mandlng an army or managing his real
estate business or pursuing his profess
| sion of engineer. A man of careful
| plannings, each plan fitted to the par
ticular issue before it. A man of strict
! accountings, of wise economies and
/ shrewd investments. A man of vision,
| too who, looking on into the wide
| West, saw not the wilderness but farms
! and homesteads, thrift and growth
! saw all these linked into common ex-
| change and intercourse by great and
| growing system of riverways and canals.
| Looking outward in this fashion, he saw
| clearly that in time of national danger
| 1t would be these luSty growing hordeS
OF settlers who would stand as the coun-
| try's best defense. Splendid war stuff
| here-training, teamwork, collective ac-
tAOAi -b1ACAlp biAc JOO QOEc, DdCk 10 The
| nome, back to productive work again
hope you did hear that talk. For,
moving from it over into Gen. Palmer's
great book, you come face to face with
| This wise, sane man-George Washing
ton, our contemporary.
X y n
It is upon the Washington vision of
defense that the author of this book
builds. Not-no, not by any means
does he use this in depreciation of a
duly organized and supported Army
establishment" But he does make clear
that had the original plan become fact,
then the Army as such would not, in It's
| definite role of teaching. training lead
ing, commanding, have become subject
to many of the accusations that have
been set against it. In effect, the study
is that of the evolution of our defense
theories and practices--that is, it is
| this If SO dramatic. so immediate an
effect can be looked upon as a study
| yet, that is exactly what 1t is The
high point of this book is the Civil War,
that spot where neither the project of
washington nor the inspiration of Elihu
Root had come into the war situation
! And, let me say to you, If you want to
follow the disasters and agonies involved
In saving this Union of ours, don't fail
TO read Gen. Palmer's story of the Civil
War. And you must want to follow
these. Lincoln becomes even more
tragic, If this be possible, under the
graphic and sympathetic projection of
him by the author. Rivalries, misin-
formation, headlong activities, both in
advance and retreat, confusion, deep
fears, follieS inconceivable-every dire
eventuation possible pile Ossa upon
Pelion in this national cataclysm of the
Civil War. No sense of organization
upon which every army must depend if
1t continues to be an army and not a
rabble. No sense of subordination
among those of the higher ranks, and