I cite (his as a familiar fact; and it il
lustrates my proposition, namely—that Ger
man successes caused the military class to
• adv and imitate German methods.
This being so. Prussian militarism has long
! eon a fixed idea in the heads of American
military officers.
From the General Staff at Washington
Jy. that idea has permeated the whole rnili
..ry system. From that source has come the
i impositions which overthrow the American
■ stem and establish the German.
The American system embodied in the U.
\ Constitution is based upon State militia,
■o be called into national service when needed
> repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or
• vercome resistance to the laws.
Mr. Webster set this forth with absolute
dearness in the great argument from which
1 ((noted last week.
But the virtual abolition of the States, as
> n rollers of volunteers, to be handed over to
,p general Government when legally re
positioned: the substitution of a national
■ nscript system which enables the Govern
ent to press into service the citizens of the
tates: the scornful disregard of Governors
rid the arbitrary subjection of the citizen to
military use. either at home or abroad—all
■his constitutes a new system, and its essence
is Prussian.
Thus the idea of the thing. which has long
been in the minds of our military men, has
at last produced the thing itself.
Therefore when Dr. Gambrell, or any one
else, talks about our going to war against
militarism, he might as well talk about the
old woman who went to hunt for her spec
tacles when she had them on her head.
