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Army is so constituted that.we could 
enlarge it from a skeleton organiza- 
tion into a much larger body. We 
ought to have more trained officers, so 
as to furnish the teachers to a larger 
body of men that war might require 
us to enlist. 
There has been a good deal of talk 
in the papers, and some reference in 
Congress, to the supposed helpless 
condition of this country in the event 
of a foreign invasion. I venture to 
think that much more has been made 
of this than the facts, calmly con- 
sidered, would justify. We have a 
very good navy, and with the opening 
of the Panama Canal it will be a much 
more effective one. It would be use- 
ful to prevent the coming of an invad- 
ing army across the seas. 
The people of this country will 
never consent to the maintenance of 
a standing army which military ex- 
perts would pronounce - sufficiently 
large to scope in battle with the stand- 
ing armies of Europe, should they get 
by our navy, avoid our harbor de- 
fenses, and descend upon our coast. 
If this leaves us in a position of help- 
lessness, then so be it. For those who 
understand the popular will in this 
country know that it can not be other- 
wise. We shall do everything in the 
way of wise military preparation if 
we maintain our present Regular 
Army, if we continue to improve the 
national militia, if we pass the pend- 
ing volunteer bill, to go into operation 
when war is declared and not to in- 
volve the Nation in a dollar’s worth 
of expense until the emergency arises ; 
if we pass a law, now pending in Con- 
gress which will give us a force of 
additional officers trained in the mili- 
tary art, and able in times of peace 
to render efficient service in drilling 
the militia of the States, and in filling 
useful quasi-civil positions that are 
of the utmost advantage to the Gov- 
ernment, and if we in a reasonable 
time accumulate guns and ammunition 
enough to equip and arm the force 
we could enlist under our colors in an 
emergency. 
This discussion of needed military 
preparations does not sound very well 
at a peace meeting, but the trouble 
about a peace meeting is that it seems 
to me to be just one-half of the pic- 
ture, and I want to introduce the 
whole picture in order that what is 
resolved here and what is said here 
may be understood to be said with a 
view to existing conditions and to the 
practical truth. 
I have said this much in order 
to allay the so-called war scare which 
has furnished pabulum for the news- 
papers during the last few days. 
Beate ee 37 
290000000000 00000000000000 000000000 00OOH 9H000009 000000000000 
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There is not the slightest reason for 
such a sensation. We are at peace 
with all the nations of the world, and 
are quite likely to remain so as far 
as we can see into the future. Just a 
little more forethought, a little more 
attention to the matter on the part of 
Congress, and we shall have all of 
the Army and all of the munitions and 
material of war that we ought to have 
in a republic situated, as we are, 3,000 
miles on the one hand and 5,000 miles 
on the other, from the source of pos- 
sible invasion. Our Army is much 
more expensive per man than that of 
any other nation, and it is not an un- 
mixed evil that it is so, because it 
necessarily restricts us to the mainten- 
ance of a force which is indispensable 
in the ordinary policing of this coun- 
try and our dependencies, and fur- 
nishes an additional reason for our 
using every endeavor to maintaing 
peace. 
Pearls from Palestine 
Che Lost Silver 
Luke XV: 8-10. 
If a woman lose a coin 
Doth she murmur, ‘‘Never mind it?’’ 
She, with candle and with broom, 
Sweeps and searches every room 
Diligently till she find it. 
When the silver she hath found, 
Then she ealleth friend and neighbour 
To rejoice with her, and they 
Sing and dance the night away 
To the sound of pipe and tabour. 
I was like the missing coin 
Into a far corner rolled, 
Hidden darkly in the dust, 
Unseen, idle, gathering rust, 
Useless I though minted gold. 
Jesus, in his earnest quest, 
Sought me, found me where I lay; 
Sends me on love’s errands forth, _ 
East and west and south and north, 
Blest and blessing, every day. 
—Joseph A. Torrey. 
| 
$000000000000000000000000 OOOOOOOOOOOO00 00 0009 OO OOOO OOOO 
I congratulate this association on 
the recent foundation of Mr. Carne- 
gie, by which, under the wise guid- 
ance of Mr. Elihu Root, Mr. Knox 
and their associates, an income of 
half a million of dollars annually is 
to be expended in the practical promo- 
tion of moveme ottessn HTHTTHT 
tion of movements to secure perman- 
ent peace. The wide discretion given 
to the trustees, and their known abili- 
ty, foresight and common sense in- 
sure the usefulness of the gift. 
War has not disappeared, and his- 
tory will not be free from it for years 
to come, but the worst pessimist can 
not be blind to the fact that in the last 
25 years long steps have been taken 
in the direction of the peaceful set- 
tlement of international controversies, 
and the establishment of a general 
arbitral court for all nations is no 
longer the figment of the brain of a 
dreamy enthusiast. 
