Evening star., 1936-04-05

planes.
Men in the Flying Corps, their lips
sealed, feel that Senator Nye, trouping |
the country and denouncing the NUM-
tions makers as instigators OF war,
has done the Air Corps infinite dam
age. They say: If the munitions
makers, on one hand, start the wars,
pity the poor bow and arrow makers
of Ethiopia and the f1recracker
manufacturers of China, and all the
rest of the poor devils who must stave
of the attack
That is why the members OF the
Military Order of the World War |
men who saw service in all branches |
of the Army-are out to make America |
not only conscious, but proud Of its |
Army. The Army has a record be-
hind it that bears close study. That
record is an honorable one. 1t dates,
too, from the days Of George Wash
ington.
Because America is so fortunately |
situated, with the two great oceans |
on either side. friendly nations to the |
south and north, so many persons
believe We are always safe from at
tack Well, we used to be; but the |
airplane being what it is, and going |
where it is headed for-to new
high degree of perfection-nobody is
safe. That is the way military
strategists at the War Department |
look at the problem.
Warfare means grim business, and |
1t is not child's play. AS proof of
it, the War College-down at the
edge of Washington-is conducting |
classes every day in the year. Matricu-
lated there are men who passed high
In their studies at West Point. One |
of them admitted the other day: II
thought I knew it all when I was
a first lieutenant He is now a
colonel, and a smart colonel, too, and |
he admits he doesn't know anything. |
Actually, he knows plenty; but ne
has yet a long way to go-if he is
to keep abreast with the latest de-
velopments in the military profession.
You see, there is more to the Army
than meets the eye. You see a pa
rade down Constitution avenue and
you think you've seen Uncle Sans
fighting forces-merely because there
is display of Infantry, Cavalry ana
Artillery.
ITO A MAN who makes military life
- his life there is well of knowl-
edge that he must fathom. He must
90 back to the days of Hannibal
and Caesar and find out what kind
of campaigns they waged. And he
must know how the simplest inven-
tions are mighty likely to have pro-
found influence on warfare. AS an
example, Genghis Khan, that old
Mongol conquerer, one of the greatest
cavalry leaders that ever nved-Khan
of the United Mongol and Tartar
tribes-believed he had call to con-
quer the world; but he would have
gotten nowhere had not some one
invented the stirrup. When the STIR
rup was added to the cavalry equip
ment of Genghis Khan's army the
riders were enabled to do tricks on
horseback. No bareback riders could
equal these feats. So the old man
about upset all the Oriental fighting
customs in the eleventh century.
What happened then can happen
now, the Army man says. Some one
may come along with an invention
that will enable airplanes to dart
through the skies at the rate Of 500
miles an hour-airplanes lighter than
the present ones and capable Of car
rying more weight. Then, look out
down below.
The Army is always on the look
out for new inventions. The Army,
whether you see it or not, is always
on the job. For that is the job of
the Army-to protect the lives and
properties of the American citizenry.
On Army day all the Army asks is
that those who pay the bills stop
and take an account Of its steward
ship. When the books are looked
over it will be found that this pro-
lection comes mighty low-an things
considered.
There was no Rudyard Kipling to
extol the virtues Of the United States
Army-a job that was done to the
Queens taste for the British Tom
mies-and so the poor old American
Army Is forced to get there as best
It can, until q war comes along.
Then all hands join the forces, for
it is true that in time Of war we all
Join the Army-whether we want
to or not-from the boy who shoulders
a rifle to the housewife in her home.
That being so, Army day Is every
body's day.
Here comes the band.
WHILE the bands are playing and
wv hearts are happy there will be
no thought Of war even though the
war machines go rumbling by; but
that is mistaken assumption. Only
half the world knows how the other
half lives. Few know when the mill
tary men of belligerent nations are
going to throw down the gauntlet. 1t
was that way in 1914.
As illustrative q this point, an