The American Army
It is clear that the United States administration must soon go to Congress and ask for an extension of the terms of the conscription-law. President Roosevelt himself has declared the need for extending the one-year limit on the service of conscripts. If this is not done the men who are now with the colours will be sent to their homes at the end of their year of service and replaced by a new batch of untrained men. Mr. Robert Patterson, the Under-Secretary for War, has informed Congress that the President contemplates retaining both con- scripts and National Guardsmen with the colours, and desires the removal of the limitation of conscripts to 9oo,00o. It is not likely that the President at this moment of world-crisis could tolerate a state of affairs which would involve what he describes as the " disintegration" of the American Army. Even as it stands that army is far the smallest of those at the disposal of the greater countries of the world. Already there are new obligations to be faced—for example, in Iceland—and the military needs of the Philippines are urgent. Every effort is, of course, being made by German propaganda to construe this and other steps taken or contemplated by the President as evidence of his determination to drag America into the war. The Berlin radio has started a violent campaign based on an American report published in a Stockholm newspaper to the effect that Mr. Rooseveh intends to present the American nation with a fait accompli by firing on German warships. But this sort of propaganda lacks novelty, and will impress Germans More than, Americans.
