II

THE MILITARY OBLIGATION OF CITIZENSHIP

I always have impressed upon me at meetings of this kind the evident failure on the part of members of the conference to appreciate the position of officers of the Army and Navy with reference to the military situation. The officers of the Army and Navy are the professional servants of the Government in matters pertaining to the military establishment, and its agents in the conduct of military operations when such become necessary. They do not initiate wars. You are mostly business men engaged in trade and commerce. Ninetenths of all wars have their origin directly

or indirectly in issues arising out of trade. You the people make war; the Government declares it; and we, the officers of the Army and Navy, are charged with the responsibility of terminating it with such means and implements as you may give us.

Being more or less familiar with the requirements of the military situation, we naturally try to impress upon you the necessity of a reasonable degree of preparedness, both in the way of personnel, proper organization and material resources. We realize far more fully than you how necessary organized preparation is, especially in these days when our possible opponents are so thoroughly equipped and entirely ready for military activity.

There is a tendency at all these conferences to invoke the advice of Washington, Jefferson, Adams and other of our presidents and statesmen, given in the past to our countrymen on many matters, but I

have heard no reference this year or last as to their advice on the question of military preparedness. You all, of course, know how earnestly Washington, Jefferson, Adams and many others urged upon our people the vital importance of preparedness as the best means of preventing war. Washington frequently urges this upon the attention of our people, as does Jefferson in messages and in his letters to Monroe. Adams states it tersely to the effect that it is the only means by which we can preserve peace. The soundness and correctness of this advice is apparent to all soldiers and it has been again and again brought to the attention of our people. Light-Horse Harry Lee, of the Revolution, said:

"Convinced as I am that a government is the murderer of its citizens which sends them to the field uninformed and untaught, where they are to meet men of the

same age and strength, mechanized by education and discipline for battle, I cannot withhold my denunciation of its wickedness and folly."

Those words were absolutely true at the time they were uttered and they are equally true today, and I want to impress upon you who know so little of war, that those of us whose business it is to know something of it and the requirements in the way of preparation, are most deeply concerned, not only from the standpoint of military efficiency, but also on the broad general grounds of common humanity, in establishing a system under which our young men may receive that degree of training which will better fit them to discharge with a reasonable degree of efficiency their duties as soldiers in the defence of the country in case they are needed and thereby tend to reduce to the lowest possible terms the cost in blood and

treasure and to make such expenditure as is inevitable, efficient and of value, instead of wasting precious lives without avail. Our President in his last message states:

"It will be right enough, right American policy, based upon our accustomed principles and practices, to provide a system by which every citizen who will volunteer for the training may be made familiar with the use of modern arms, the rudiments of drill and maneuver, and the maintenance and sanitation of camps."

There are several things which have rendered preparedness necessary to a greater extent than ever before; the first is the great improvement in transportation. In the days when Washington, Jefferson and Adams were urging upon us the necessity of preparedness, our possible enemies were without anything like the military establishment of the great powers of today. Transportation over the sea was by sailing