Why Defend the Nation?/National Defense—Its Purposes

by Frank David Ely

CHAPTER III.

National Defense—Its Purposes

THE community desire of the country is that we be let alone in all that pertains to government. This Nation is homemade, and we are proud both of the product and of the handiwork. If there is any fault to be found with either we wish to find it ourselves, and anyone who reads our press or who listens from the galleries to our legislatures or to our Congress will soon be convinced that we are masters of that art. Admiring the real attainments and successes of other nations and individuals the whole world over, cognizant of our weaknesses but also of our ideals, and imbued with a feverish desire to improve, we are well pleased with our own Republic; and we are more than pleased—we are convinced that no nation, no other form of government, compares with our own in affording to freemen a desirable place of residence and one in which we can enjoy our work and amass a competence for old age.

We have said that the Nation is “homemade.” Mr. Gladstone said of our Constitution that it “is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.” This intended compliment has aroused a storm of protest and some indignation over its imputation that the Constitution was made off-hand, the product of invention. As a matter of fact the Constitution was the outgrowth of over two centuries of purely American experience gained with some sixty-nine forms of government, including all the old Colonial charters and the many constitutions of 1776 or immediately following, from the first charter granted to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 down to the framing of the present Constitution in 1787. Each Colony knew intimately its own experiences as well as many of the experiences in government of its neighbors; and all the experience gained was ultimately availed of when the representatives of all the Colonies met to frame our present Constitution. Some claims are advanced that our Constitution is based on the English and Dutch torms; but a careful study of the history of the times together with the actual product achieved, and the comparison of this, clause by clause, with the several constitutions in effect among the Colonies, refute such claims.

With the best of good will toward all peoples we hold no jealousy of their possessions or achievements, but glory with them in their successes; and we harbor no desire for aggrandizement. We want only what we win in commerce and business under rules that are fair to all nations; and as opposed to aggrandizement we stand ready to buy and pay for those other material things which excite in us, either nationally or as individuals, the desire for ownership, and which are open for purchase.

From the side lines in city and town, from the workshop and the farm, we have observed the effects of foreign diplomacy, listened to the smooth words of foreign representatives and to their inspired echoes from domestic stool-pigeons, and deplored much that has been apparent, and later proved, falsity. We are impressed with the fact that, though we possess influence, we have little real control, moral or other, over the motives or ambitions of foreign powers. We have always shown good faith and have exercised great patience; and because of our excessive good nature and forbearance and our national trait of listening to the very last word from those of our countrymen who “don’t believe it is loaded” we have been forced to shed the blood of our sons to prevent the unholy disruption of whole peoples, including our own. We can nowhere see in the attitude of the rest of the world any absolute safety for ourselves other than in our own inherent strength. We have observed the steady narrowing of the oceans, our former safeguards, but safeguards no longer. We desire, in common with all nations, and as right and essential to growth and welfare, the freedom of commerce with all the world, and we deny the rights of special privileges which bar us from equal opportunity and a fair share therein. We believe in competition in trade, based openly on values and fairness, and in the right of nations to protect what is actually their own. We believe in the sacredness of treaties, and in the utter inviolability both of these and of the spoken word, given in bond.

In the light of these convictions, we are impressed with the great wisdom of our forefathers in “providing for the common defense” and we regard that provision as absolutely vital to this free government.

In our utter abhorrence of war and all that war entails in suffering, want, hardship, and privation we have constantly invoked the real friendship of all civilized nations, and of their people as individuals, and sought their aid in all that might serve in the honorable avoidance of war, which we recognize as an effect as distinguished from a cause, and therefore avoidable through wise leadership and right conduct. To this end we have been a party to every conference that has been called to consider international measures for peace, and we ourselves called the Peace Conference in 1921 of all the Powers. And our own representatives to that conference led all others in proposing drastic reductions of fleets and of armament, proposals which met with not unready acceptance and which, in the present impoverished condition of much of the world, is of vast direct benefit to every living human being, and to all posterity for decades to come. No other nation has ever accomplished so much.

Because for its successful prosecution National Defense demands the services of every man and the use of every dollar, no nation can during peace maintain ample forces devoted solely to readiness for defense without unwise drains on all production and occupation. Power in defense lies in the will of the people, in the national morale, and in the national ability to rapidly convert all the potential powers in finance, industry, and manpower into elements for combat and for supply. No longer can regularly maintained forces alone afford adequate insurance to the Nation. War has utterly changed. Modern transportation and distribution make possible the accomplishing in weeks what formerly occupied months or years, or indeed was beyond accomplishment. A nation now at war must be all at war, else it is lost. It is felt that the late and lamented President Harding founded the greatest movement for the prevention of war, and one worthy of the award of the Edward Bok prize, when he enunciated in one of his speeches on the tour which ended in his untimely death his conviction that in the next war into which we are forced we will draft every man, every industry, and every dollar for the prosecution of the war.

The term “draft” is not used in any sense of confiscation. Obviously, every man cannot fight, every factory turn out war munitions, every dollar be laid in the vaults of the treasury. But the services, use, and credit of all will be available to the government as may be required, with any necessary adjustments to follow after the war has been terminated.

Why should that action secure peace? For the simple reason that when the opponents of preparedness—the opponents of national insurance—realize that in the event of war they too must serve, and possibly must fight, they will change their tune; for such being the requirements on all persons and property, it will be well for them if the Nation can be made so ready for defense as to render attack on us most unlikely. And that most sane condition popularly called “preparedness” is the very condition which the men and women who fought the recent great war do most ardently desire, realizing the utter impotence of all other measures advanced for war prevention and being unwilling that this Nation shall remain exposed to dangers of attack while utterly unprepared. With the removal of all opposition, which the late President’s suggested method would accomplish, really sane measures insuring future defense should prove relatively simple and easy of accomplishment, to the Nation’s greatly increased safety.

Employing every resource of the Nation, success in defense demands the very highest in organization, leadership, and equipment, and further demands just and kindly consideration of the human element as never before; this to assure the upbuilding of confidence and of that high national morale without which no war of proportions can again be successfully waged. When severity is demanded by temporary conditions it must be founded on justice, and that fact must be apparent to all who are fair-minded. The human factor is of predominant value and must never be misused. Napoleon’s estimate was that in war the moral element is to all others as 3 to 1.

Such organization and leadership, together with a thorough knowledge of the art of war, its strategy and tactics, and the ability to direct and command all the forces of war, and for the peace training of the civilian elements of our forces for Defense, require the maintenance of a minimum force of highly trained officers and men who shall be competent as leaders in the event of the occurrence of a major emergency. This demands no swashbuckling, no saber-rattling—far from it; but it demands all and more than the Nation now has of regular forces, military schools, arsenals, laboratories, proving grounds, training camps, etc., or the equivalent of these agencies, and all located well within the national territory. It demands more. It demands a healthy emulation of the military “Spirit of '76” in our youth, and the unqualified recognition of the fundamental truth that no free people can hope to remain free who can for long be fooled by the advancement of such fallacious ideas as that a free people can possibly be too proud to fight when the Nation is in real peril. Such teaching is at variance with the Scriptural one that “Pride goeth before a fall,” and if maintained would soon undermine that high patriotism so essential to national pride and would justly make us the laughing-stock of the virile world.

Conclusion.—The primary purposes of preparedness for National Defense, concretely expressed, are:

1. To render attack on this Nation unlikely to occur, under any provocation, through the extreme improbability of success by any attacking power, due to our evident strength and readiness in defense; and
2. In event of actual attack, to insure the covering of our coasts and frontiers by First Line troops where essential, until our Second Line forces, the units of which are already authorized, partly officered, and capable of quick mobilization and ready expansion, can be mobilized, expanded and sufficiently trained to warrant their active participation in a successful defense.

Other than the use by States of their National Guard as a police force there is absolutely no need for other military forces than those thus required for our defense.

“WE hold the conviction that the public interest in National Defense, so essential to its growth and development, is real, and that silence over matters of defense is the result of over-confidence and misunderstanding rather than apathy; and we believe that the changing character of our population and the complexity of modern life, with its diverting economic, social, and political questions, render necessary frequent reiteration of the vital importance of National Defense.”—Extract from Memorandum, January 30, 1923, to the Chicago Association of Commerce.