UNITED STATES DEFENCE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 276, 26 December 1914, Page 10

UNITED STATES DEFENCE.

A COLONEL'S CRITICISM. UNIVERSAL TRAINING REQUIRED By Cable. — Press Association. — Copyright. (Received December 26, 9.20 a.m.) NEW YORK, December 24.

Colonel Husband, of Chicago, Adju-tant-General of the Central Department of the United States Army, has advocated the universal military training of young men, owing to the utter inadequacy of the forces. He says that if the whole army were assembled there would be insufficient men to man the guns on a war footing, and there would not be enough to protect those guns a-gainst the enemy. New York's guns, in the present condition of things, , are more likely to help the enemy to capture the city than to provide protection.

Colonel Husband has outlined a scheme of service, largely on the Australasian model, whereby youths would be taught essential military knowledge and protected against -*he false history taught in the United Stages schools American children ought to be taught that America has never really won a I war against a foe worthy of their steel. j Britain, during the colonist revolt, was too much occupied with her own affairs in 1812, and Britain really won,, but quit without insisting on her rights. The civil war was merely a contest between two mobs of untrained men, while the fights against Spain and Mexico were trifling. If the Americans were trained they would make magnificent troops, and they were all ready to die for their country.