MILITARY PREPAREDNESS

"How can this country be best defended?" is the question in the mind of every thinking American today. The present conflict in Europe has shown how deplorably weak our army and navy are, even for defensive purposes. Countless suggestions and policies for a larger navy, an increased standing army, a well-organized reserve corps, and, lastly, universal military service, have poured forth through the press in superabundance. Whatever may be their plans, the majority of men in authority agree that adequate steps should be taken for the improvement of our military position. With the theories of all the different methods of modern warfare being proved day by day across the water, we as spectators surely have an enviable opportunity to profit by their experience in settling our serious problem of unpreparedness.

Fostered by the tradition of the Union Army in the Civil War, a confident feeling has grown up among the people of this country that a large army could be raised in a short space of time. General McClellan's army of the Potomac in 1862 in trying to advance averaged one mile per day, while one day the whole army retreated five miles to meet its provision train. In 1864 Grant had a body of seasoned men who accomplished something by one kind of fighting.

These facts and many more which one could find on examination expose the fallacy of our ability to produce a million soldiers whenever the President calls for them. If the call should go out today, we would do well to have a million soldiers in 1918. No doubt our resources are great and our patriotism unbounded, but an untrained citizen is not a soldier as was proved by the first three years of the Civil War.