Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1916 — PREPAREDNESS TALK AT COMPANY SMOKER [ARTICLE]

PREPAREDNESS TALK AT COMPANY SMOKER

Citizens As Guests of Company M Discuss Adoption of Plans of President Wilson. Members of Company M, a number of citizens and a number of young men who are prospective members oi the company gathered at the armory Friday evening and after playing Beven-up for some time listened to several short addresses on preparedness. ; Major Healey, who was first called upon, expressed himself as believing that every citizen owed a duty to .the government that he could not fill by merely considering himself patriotic. To offer to die for one’s country when the call for defensive services comes is not nearly so ideal in its duty of citizenship as to offer during a time of peace to acquire the training that wll make them a factor that can successfully cope wth 'the enemy. Thoughtful heads of homes insure their lives as a protection to their families. They insure their homes and their businesses against fire for the same reason. Why should not a nation provide the necessary protection by training its citizens for its defense? He spoke of some of the duties of the modern soldier, things he must learn and learn so well that discipline and obedience become second nature before the citizen who offers his as a soldier is able to return very much in the way of service. He spoke of the reforms from the medical standpoint, how the knowledge acquired since the SpanishAmerican war had resulted in removing many of the dangers of typhoid and malarial fever, how knowledge of personal hygiene as instructed in the army aids every soldier in keeping well; how his instruction in. matters of combat lessen his dangers in campaign and why the great mass of patriotic but untrained persons who would respond to a call for service would constitute a mob that would suffer extensively before they could be trained into an army. He urged it as the duty of every young iman to enlist and take the training that will prove the patriotism of. which we citizenship.

Attorney Honan spoke of the need of increased preparedness and said thae he regarded military training as an excellent thing for young men and advised them to become members of Company M. He told of an incident in his early life when himself and a friend went to New York and “went broke.” After spending a night in the police station they decided to join the army. His friend, who was quite small, was unable to pass the physical examination, so they came back to Indiana. That was the nearest Mr. Honan ever came to being a soldier, although he drilled with a squad when the Spanish-American war broke out. He had always felt that he would answer the country’s call at any arne but he realized that training is the necessary thing to make an adequate and effective field force. Mr. Honan expressed regret that differences of opinion had caused Secretary Lansing to resign from the cabinet and expressed confidence that the president and congress were going to do what would be best for the country in extending the military needs.

Representative W. L. Wood, of Parr, spoke of the necessity for preparedness and said he believed that thinking men generally the country over were convinced that a greater army and navy and a dependable secondary force, such as the militia might afford, was necessary. John O’Connor spoke of the weakness of China at the time Japan in 1894 marched throgh it simply because it was not prepared to* resist. He told of the blockade at Venezuela in 1892 and of the action of President Cleveland in enforcing the Monroe doctrine. He told of his service in the navy many years ago and of what the navy would be called upon to dq if the United States were attacked. He told of the development of the navy and spoke of our pride in our fleets during the Spanish-American war when the Oregon made its record trip from the Pacific ocean. He pushed a chair to the center of the armory and said: “We will .assume the chair to be the Nevada, one of our great modern deradnaughts. We will assume that the vessel is surrounded by every vessel that participated in the naval engagement with CerVera’s fleet during the SpafiishAmerican war, including not only all the United States vessels but the Spanish vessels also. They form a circle twenty miles out from the .Nevada and close in at a fixed time. They are every one destroyed before they can get within range of the dreadnaught. But suppose that they could get within range, they would send their heaviest projectiles against thearmour oftheNevada without being able to penetrate it.” The lesson is the need of a great navy ,to protect our coast and of great coast defenses, and finally, Mr. (/Connor said, "It will be up tq you boys and