THE COAST ARTILLERY JOURNAL - Air Defense Artillery

WEAK SPOT IN MILITARY PROGRESS 263
The citizen15of our country do not favor a large army in time of peace, but
they have often expressed their desire that their small army be highly developed
and highly efficient. Let us not fail to heed that mandate! If we are not to fail,
we must keep up-to-date. Our research and development must keep up the
proper pace. But a spade and a rake are poor substitutes for a ploW'. Probably
about one per cent of our money, brains, and man power is being d.evoted to
research and experimentation. The ninety-nine per cent goes for plans, train.
ing, routine duties, supplie~, and other activities of the Regular Army, the
National Guard, and the Organized Reserves. It would appear that the rights
of our citizenry and the best interests of national defense demand a revision
of the ratios--a better effort in the field of research, experimentation, and development.
This field of effort should be an outstanding element in the
justification for our peace-time Army. It is an important, it not a vital, phase
of our preparedness.
I III
lI lfl
a:"" It is amazing to discover how little our citizens underi
stand of this dramatic history of purely civic accomplish-
""~::"I ment. It is equally amazing to most of them when they do
learn the facts.••. After the San Francisco earthquake
and fire in 1906, it was the Army that took charge of
disorder and administered the forces of order. In the
Galveston disaster of 1915 the Army made a record for
heroic achievement. Similarly the constructive value of the
War Department was felt in the Mount Pelee disaster and
during the Ohio and Mississippi floods of 1912. There is
a huge file of grateful letters received by the Department
for its work in these instances and other similar.-Secretary
of War, John W. Weeks.