of transportation, and on the other hand we have consequently a shortened period to get ready combined with the necessity of familiarizing ourselves not with the simple weapons of our fathers but with the complex and intricate weapons of today requiring a high degree of skill in their use; the unprepared, unready defense labors under greater embarrassments than ever and the prepared aggressor has more in his favor than ever before.

The officers of the Army and Navy are as I have said not the persons who make wars, their task is to conduct them as efficiently as possible, and by efficiently I mean not only efficiency in the ordinary sense of the term but efficiency in all which pertains to the saving of life. We do not want to see the youth of this country sent to arms untrained and unready to meet equally good men who are trained and ready and while we may all earnestly hope

that war will be no more, we are convinced that for the present at least such is not the case. We must judge the future largely by the past and however earnestly we may hope to avoid war there is nothing in the history of the past or the events of the present or the promises of the future which justifies the assumption that we shall not be again confronted by war, and those of us who know what war means want you to approve those moderate, reasonable and necessary measures which will tend in the first place to prevent war, and in case it is unavoidable will tend to make it as short and as little costly in blood and treasure as possible.

If you were living under conditions which rendered it necessary for your boys and men to furnish the crews for the life boat service you would see to it that they knew how to row and swim so that they would be prepared for the dangers of the

work which you knew would some day come to them and if any one pressed untrained boys into such service you would say that it was little short of murder. This is what Light-Horse Harry Lee said with reference to the untrained troops of the Revolution, and it is what those of us who know something of war and of the necessary preparation therefor say will be the case if the youth of this country are again sent into war unprepared to efficiently discharge their duties. We are working not for war, but for preparation in the first place against it and in the second place for preparation which if it comes will render it as short and bloodless as possible. While cherishing our ideals and hopes for the future and continuing our efforts to bring about desired results in the way of world peace, we must not be misled or unmindful of the actual conditions which surround us today and will surround us for

an indefinite period of time; in other words, we can not without jeopardizing the best interests of our country fail to make proper preparations against possible war; such preparations will exert the largest measure of influence for peace, and in case war is forced upon us, will enable us to conduct it with the least possible expenditure of blood and treasure.

III

THE CIVIL OBLIGATION OF

THE ARMY

It is always an inspiration to meet a body of enthusiastic youngsters who have the world ahead of them, and if one can do anything to make more clear the responsibilities and obligations which confront them and suggest a way to meet and overcome them, it is a duty which should be performed. What I wish to say to you may sound a bit harsh and inject an element of seriousness into this occasion which will tend a little to take from it the spirit of joyousness. I am going to say something to you about your obligations to the country as soldiers, for you come of the stock