TITE SUNDAY OHEGOTTTAX, POTtlXAND, AUGUST 8, 1915.
3
VP4 4r
TTEPRK
A
T)
1
"7.
i t
vi
iln hi I hi ui
W J lff 'b ' -Ty "
XJ iHx ! I-S If Sit , if- & jf r
' . . t: . . :
IS
: t.
BT SENA BACH.
CONGRESS ion. under tba Consti
tution, ha tha power to declare
war. - Bat the President can make
war any time he please.
President Wilson could start a flg-nt
between) this country and Germany to
. morrow If he chose. And. when once
war was begun, the powers he could
wield would bo well-nlth absolute. It
la doubtful If the authority of the Ger
man Emperor la more all-compelling;
- than his would be. so lone; aa hostili
ties endured.
Mr. Wilson Is the Commander-in-Chief
of all the forces of the Cnlted
States, both on land and sea. He la
the Rear Admiral of the Nary: Georro
Dewey, who holds that title, must take
his orders from the President. Be Is
also the General of the Army the
only military officer who haa a ricnt
to wear four stars oa his epaulettes. If
he) chose to do so.
When, early In the year 1SSS. a war
with Spain was Imminent. Conrress
' made aa emergency appropriation of
$50,000,009. Not only that; It placed
thla enormous sum of money In Mr.
VcKinleys hands, to spend exactly aa he
might happea to see fit. It was not
en required of him that he should
make any accounting for the cash.
Tba reason for this extraordinary
atep lay in the fact that the country
had mad no preparations for war.
Nearly erery thing had to be impro
vised with utmost possible haste.
There was no leisure for discussion or
deliberation as to what ahould be
lon; prompt action was aa Inexor
able necessity. . y
Today the sltuatioa la pretty much
the lime. But there la this differ
ence, tltst the conflict which haa not
yet ceased to threaten la with a first
class power, and not with a weakling
antagonist. It la not 0.000.000, but at
leaat ten times that sum, that might
be required for Immediate and exigent
purposes. Congress would have to
provide tt la a hurry, and Mr. Wilson
would control Ita expenditure.
Further requirements of money
would soon ran npInto the billions..
Contracts would haTe to be made with
out aa hour's unnecessary delay for
thousands of field guns, howitzers and
machine guns, millions of shrapnel
and other shells. Immense quantities
of smokeless powder and high explo
sives. anl other war munitions by
wholesale. Flying machines In flocks
would be ordered;, and. for the Navy,
a variety of emergency demands would
have to be met.
Congress could not attend to such
matters; all It could do would be to
furnish the money. The President
would spend It as ha thought best
taking advantage, of course, of such
expert advice aa be could obtain from
the War and Navy Departments. Every
dollar of it would be paM out in the
shape, of warrants on the Treasury,
signed by Mr. Wilson himself.
Congress would have nothing to do
with managing the war; Mr. Wilson
iff
would attend to that. Seated at bis
office desk In the business annex of
the Whltebouse a semi-detached
building of one atory, 100 feet square,
and painted white b would direct all
the movements of our military and
naval forces, as well as a multitude of
other matters, including the purchase
of munitions and other supplies.
The routine business, necessarily,
would be assigned to subordinates, but
the responsible authority In all affairs
relating to narval and military opera
tions would be the President. He
would hare no time to attend to any
thing else; all civil matters would be
of necessity referred to the Executive
Department barring, of course, the
occasional Item of extraordinary im
portance that might compel his .per
sonal attention. ,
For on thing, he would b called
upoa to appoint thousands of civilians
as officers in the hug volunteer army
that would have to be raised. The War
Department would be expected to pick
them out, largely from the mllltla of
the rtftea, but the President would
have to sign their commissions. All
manner of social and political Influence
would be exerted to obtain such com
missions (as was the case during the
war with Spain), and this In itself
would be a, cause of Infinite annoyance.
The President could himself take the
Held as Generalissimo, If he chose. But
it Is not. to be Imagined that Mr. Wil
son would be guilty of any suoh ab
surdity. . James Madison attempted it,
when British troops were approaching
Washington, and the fiasco he made of
It marks one of the most Inglorious in
cidents In the history of our country.
It will be remembered that, a few
hours later, ha hid in the woods of Vir
ginia to escape capture by the enemy.
Methods of telegraphic and other
communication have been so far per
fected within recent years that the
management of a war from the White
House is rendered comparatively easy.
Thus, during the conflict with Spain,
the President had all the fighting ma
chinery, both on land and afloat, under
his direct control. From his office desk
he could move armies and fleets, as on
a chessboard, with the help of maps
and. the electric spark.
Means for gathering information and
dispatching orders are now available
which during the Spanish War were
not at the President's command most
importantly, the aerial telegraph, called
"wireless." From the windows of his
office Mr. Wilson can see the tall tow
ers of the great naval plant across the
Potomac from which messages can be
- sent to England or France, to San
Francisco and to the Isthmus of Pan
ama. Through this agency he can
communicate directly with any of our
warships at sea.
The wireless system controlled by
the Government, Indeed, may be said
to cover all of the United States. All
along our coasts Its stations are scat
tered at intervals not exceeding 300
miles. Every American warship, of
course, has Its "wireless." The Army
has its installations of the kind at
every post and seacoast fort. And all
of these lines of communication center
at the White House in Washington.
If there should be a fight, the center
of all our military and naval activities
would be represented (as during the
r'A- USA
Clfr c aA-J. Oesf.
conflict with Spain) by a "war room"
in the business annex of the White
House. In this room there would be
telegraphers, many maps and boards on
the walls, with a multitude of pegs of
different colors showing the disposi
tion of troops. Mr. Wilson would have
frequent occasion to survey these maps
and boards whle formulating his war
plana
Durlflg the Spanish War there was In
the War Department, on the second
floor, a completely equipped tele
graphic central station, with 17 opera
tives. The Instruments, handled by
men chosen for their expertness, were
of a peculiar patterisllent, so that no
body might overhear the messages
transmitted. A conduit was at that
time constructed, to carry wires from
this station beneath the Intervening
street to the war room of the White
House. ,
If there should be war with Germany,
cipher experts picked, for their excep
tional skill would be employed In the
Navy and War departments to con
vert all messages into the secret lan
guage used by the Government. There
are, in fact, two such languages, one
for the Army and the other for the
Navy. Each commanding General In
the field would have his "code book."
with which to translate orders con
veyed to him, and likewise each cap
tain of a warship. The code book car
ried by a fighting craft Is kept in a
copper box, and, in case of her capture
or destruction, the last thing to be done
is to throw it overboard, lest it fall
Into the eqemy's hands. t -
If Mr. Wilson were to choose to act
the part of generalissimo in the field,
he would doubtless -wear a, uniform.
The German Emperor appears in such
a capacity, and as everybody knows,
his military costumes are as varied as
they are" picturesque. . On the other
hand, no dress has even been prescribed
for the President of the United States,
in his capacity as commander-in-chief
of the forces. He is lawfully entitled
to design a uniform to suit his own
tastes.
Suppose that be wanted to appear in
regimentals. In all likelihood he would
wear on each shoulder four silver
stars, with the coat of arms of the
United Spates. Such would be the In
signia of a 'full General in ouV Army,
if such a rank existed. The Admiral
of the Navy wears four silver stars,
two of them superposed upon "foul
, anchors" of gold; but the President,
as head of the Navy, would be likely
-to substitute the National coat of arms
for the anchors. In either case the
uniform would be dark blue, with a
cocked hat and considerably more gold
braid than is allowed for anybody else.
The President, as everybody knows,
has his own distinctive flag, even' In
time of peace though he uses it only
when on the water. Over the Whit
House the Stars and Stripes float, as a
sign that he is in residence there; at
other times ' it Is hauled down. His
sea flag Is of blue bunting, bearing
the coat of arms of the Union, the
chief feature of which is an eagle. It
is 14 feet long and 10Vi feet wide
Such is the description of t ensign
hulsted at the masthead of me Presi
dent's personal and private warship
when he goes voyaging. It is a real
warship of 2000 tons, and carries a
fairly, formidable armament of rapid
fire and machine guns. Originally a
yacht, owned by Mrs. Ogden Goelet. of
New Tork. it is called the Mayflower,
arid cost $800,000 to build. It was pur
chased by the Government when the
Spanish war broke out, and four years
later was refitted at an expense of
$50,000.
The Mayflower today is ono of the
most . luxuriously appointed vessels
afloat. The President's suite occupies
the main deck aft, and comprises Bix
staterooms, a dining-room, a reception
room, a library and tw baths the
bathroom adjoining Mr. Wilson's bed
chamber having a tub cut from a solid
block of fine marble, big enough to
splash around In,' with fittings heavily
plated with silver. The dining-room,
decorated in white and gold, extends
the width of the ship, and the passage
connecting It with the reception-room,
is paneled with Valenciennes lace paint-'
ed over with silver to give It the ef
fect of metal. The walls of the state
rooms are covered with flowered silk,
and the library la finished In Flemish
(Concluded on Pag 5.)
.fill iii
' m ; ' -rnfa'ff I. - I is avv" -.as. iJJIW"
air ! i pliCliki ii -i
Its. ZhlVr lLDo eZf-
4