particular section of a nation, could carry the people into an effective war are past, since the advent of universal and compulsory military service.

The struggle is really one between democracies, for in each country the people are back of their government. In England the organization of government is so loose that the powerful trades union organizations dominate production even to the nation's detriment.

In Germany the most effective leadership is in control. Corporations, labor unions, like individual German citizens, are subordinating themselves to the national purposes. Hence their strength.

Not only in war, but in the struggle for commercial mastery that must follow the war, success will depend upon effective national organization. We in the United States have important lessons to learn for our future.-Sept. 25, 1916.

UNPREPAREDNESS

This paragraph is fraught with a lesson of the highest importance to the American people in this portentous moment in history. Back of the failure of "at least one of the machine guns" is a state of affairs which requires a drastic and prompt remedy. This machine gun which failed had been manufactured

by presumably patriotic Americans; inspected by presumably competent Americans; cared for under a rigid system of military discipline by presumably faithful Americans.

The equipment whose failure put our soldiers at a disadvantage at a critical juncture of unforeseen events broke down not under the stress of long usage but under the initial pressure of the first test.

Like our submarines which have failed to work or have gone down with all their officers and men, never to come to the surface again except as coffins, the machine gun at Columbus revealed a fatal defect of construction, or inspection, or organization.

Like the military aeroplanes which are either worthless or are deathtraps because of the lack of training in our air service, amid scandalous circumstances the machine gun at Columbus betrayed a deplorable lack of tensile strength in some link of the human chain upon which the country relied.

These are not disconnected or chance incidents. They are related events, symptomatic of an essential condition in our national organization. Machine guns must not fail to do their work when the occasion arises for their employment to maintain the dignity of the country and protect the lives of its citizens. Submarine boats must not break down in ordinary maneuvers in time of peace. Aeroplanes must not be a source of danger to their operators because of the lack of training in the aerial arm of the service.

Unless the conditions indicated

by these events are remedied without delay, the country may have reason to regret bitterly the state of chronic inefficiency which has made them possible.-March 11,

1916.

PATRIOTIC NEW YORK
ATHLETES

Events of the past few days have proved the patriotism of New York's athletes and the value of

their training to fit them for service in a national crisis. Their response to the country's call has been astonishing.

The mobilization of the National Guard for service at the Mexican border has put an end to athletic competition here for the period of that service, just as effectively as the great world conflict put an end to athletics in Europe, and for the same reason; because the athletes were among the first to offer themselves for the grim competition of

war.

In the metropolitan district alone 1,500 athletes are already included among the mobilizing troops, and of these fifty-three are champions in their respective fields. The list includes a dozen Evening Mail Modified Marathon winners.

By a rather strange coincidence those in this army of athletes who, but for the European war, would have represented America at the Olympic games this summer, would have left New York for Berlin at almost the moment the mobilization order was issued here.-June 22, 1916.

PROVIDING FOR THE

FAMILIES

The amendment to the army bill, providing for the appropriation of $500,000 for the support of the families of the national guardsmen who have been called out for duty on the Mexican border, looks very much like a small drop in a very large bucket. Many times $500,000 will be needed for the purpose if the government is to carry out an unquestionable duty even on the most modest scale.

Private generosity is doing a great deal to supplement the work which impends upon the government, of taking care of the dependents of citizen soldiers on active service. Many employers, individual and corporations, are pledging the continuance of full pay to employes who respond to their country's call and are still further encouraging enlistments by assuring their workers that their employment will be open to them on their return from the border.

Various women's organizations are also taking the initial steps in organized work for the relief of any distress that might occur among the dependents of guardsmen on active duty.

But all these provisions cover a very small part of the total number of men who are leaving their homes at the call of their country. It is primarily the duty of their country to provide for their dependents. The country should perform this duty on a reasonably generous scale. -June 24, 1916.

MARCHING MEN

There is something about the tramp of many feet in unison that stirs the blood. The sturdy sound suggests united purpose. It gives hint of potential force. There is even a suggestion of menace in it.

The streets of New York these days and nights are resounding with that tread of strong men, ever marching forward-to trains, to ships, to the unknown. Thousands. of the best blood and the keenest brains of this great city-the pick and cream of its young manhoodare in that khaki-clad succession of detachments hastening forward at

to the tread of soldiers in the streets

clean limbed, clear eyed, keenbrained young men going?

Where are these men going?

The Russian soldier has created words to the simple notes of the retreat. The call is singularly effective. It consists of a repetition of three descending notes in three different scales, ending in a low, long-sustained hoarse finale. It is the call that is played over the bier or at the graveside of a soldier. The words are a repetition of the single phrase: "Tui kooda ?" ("Whither thou?")

That is the question, old as the consciousness of the human race, which obtrudes itself as one listens

The answer to that question must be an inspiration to the growing generation of girls and boys. These soldiers are marching to the highest purpose which can inspire the heart. They are marching to sustain the honor of their country. They are marching to restore, if fate has so decreed, a menaced civilization. They are marching, finally, at the simple call of duty.

A man who is incapable of responding to the appeal of duty is not worthy of the high heritage of his citizenship. The marching thousands are made of the stern stuff which has won freedom, vindicated right, shattered the chains of tyranny throughout the world in all time. June 29, 1916.

THE CONTINENTAL ARMY

The plan elaborated by Secretary Garrison and approved by the President for the creation of a new army of 400,000 men, in addition to the augmentation of the regular army by about 35,000 men, looks wellon_paper, at least.

In some respects the project for the creation of the new force of 400,000 men bears a close resemblance to the plan so successfully operated in Switzerland, which summons its citizens to the colors for stated periods during a term of years, and thus carries out its purpose of creating the "nation in arms" without too serious a dislocation of the industrial system of the country.

Mr. Garrison's plan provides for the enlistment of 133,000 men in each of three successive years for a service of two months under the colors for the first, second and third years at the pay of the regular army, and a subsequent liability to service for the remainder of the six-year term.

There is one essential difference between the Garrison and the Swiss plan, however, and the success or failure of the proposed defensive organization will depend entirely upon the effect of that difference. In Switzerland the "continental army" is recruited by compulsory service and the military obligation in the little Alpine republic is enforced as rigidly as it is

anywhere else on the European continent. Our continental army is to be manned by "contract," as Mr. Garrison puts it.

Will the United States be able to enroll the 133,000 citizens each year which will be necessary for the maintenance of the projected force, when under present conditions neither the regular army nor the national guard organizations of the various states are able to maintain their respective personnels without great difficulty?

Does it seem wise to enter upon the contract system when the last of the European nations to employ that system Great Britain abandoning it?-Oct. 18, 1915.

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1,500,000 MEN FOR DEFENSE

It is an imposing plan of defense that is disclosed in the advance digest of the report of the general staff at Washington. The publication of this document in its entirety at an early date is urged upon the President by Secretary Garrison as a valuable contribution by experts to the data available on the subject which is fast assuming a dominant place among the problems of the hour. The Washington dispatches summarize the recommendations of the general staff in its essential features as follows:

It is recommended that the regular army be increased to 250,000 men permanently with the colors, with reserves of 300,000 fully trained men. Behind this