The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-27
WAR INTERPRETIVE
Continued from Page One)


mates of the army's minimum re-
quirements by a aggregate of ST.
600. 600, 900, with the result that the
land forces had been forced to use
up world war SURPRISES and had
accumulated a deficit of modern
equipment.
His implication was clear that if
national defenses had not been per-
mitted to deteriorate there would
be far less necessity for wasteful
haste to meet a world crisis.
The complaint is as old as the
nation itself. 1t is notorious that
since Bunker Hill the navy as well
as the army has subsisted on a
feast-or-famine basis, while little
regard was paid to the constitu-
tional mandate to provide for the
common Defense"
Preparedness pleas and the ad-
vice of nearly every president have
often been ignored.
The precedents are being upset,
however, by the vast defense prep
arations in progress now. Hitherto,
the nation usually waited for &C
tual var before taking major pre-
cautionary measures, and then
paid dearly in blood and treasure.
Official records list the ups and
downs of the armed forces.
In the revolution the colonies put
1916, 1858 men under arms, mostly
short-term volunteers, who opposed
the British professionals represent
ing a small fraction of their num-
Der. Six years after the peace, the
United States army numbered just
80 men.
In the Jefferson administration,
when militarism a popularity
made synonymous with monarchy,
the navy was all but abolished.
The army was such that the war
of 1872 was an almost uninterrupt-
ed series of reverses even though
the armed volunteers out-number-
ed the British about IA to l.
The 1848 war with Mexico was
something of an exception. The
United States had a small but
trained force under arms. All but
1000 of the 1000 who captured
Mexico City were regulars.
When the civil war started there
was an army of 1851, virtually
all of whom remained loyal to the
union. Military men advance the
argument that if it had been 100,-
900 the war would have ended in
short order.
Following American tradition,
the 1898 war with Spain was fought
with VIGOROUSLY ill-trained volun-
teers.
After this conflict the army was
maintained at a few more than
100, 900 regulars; but it was vir-
tually without reinforcements
when war with Germany was de-
clared in 1917, although relations
had been strained with Berlin for
almost two years.
The navy was on the way up at
the time, however. The 1916 ex-
pansion act contemplated possibly
the worlds strongest sea force.
The 1920 national defense act
embodied a resolution to keep the
defense establishment on a more
even keel in peace-time. The reg
ular army was to be maintained
at 280, 900 men and warships re-
as they passed the age of
usefulness.
But in a little more than a dec
AIDE the army was down to 115, 600
and there we're years after the 1922
limitation treaty when not a
single new American warship was
started, though other signatories
to that treaty were careful not to
let down their guard to such an ex-
tent. BY 1888 funds were so low
mat an official order was issued to
retire battleships to idleness in ro-
Now the army is going back to
go, 900 men, backed by the ma
,ioral guard, and reserve weapons
are in prospect to expand the land
forces in an emergency to a mil
ion men.
General Marshall told congress
ne hoped world conditions would
,ermit the costly pace of rearma-
nent to be slowed down when ex-
sling deficiencies were corrected.
He and other military spokesman
lave stressed that such a deficien-
~ should not be allowed to accum-