twenty-five years ago Congress began the policy of increasing the efficiency of the navy by adding to the number of fighting vessels and providing for a thorough training of the men. The war with Spain showed that the efforts of our statesmen to improve the navy have not been in vain. We have a navy upon which we may rely. Our ships have endurance and speed, and our guns fire quick and straight. In its fighting strength our navy ranks third among the navies of the world.

State Defense. For the defense of life and property within its borders the State relies upon its citizen soldiers, its militia. The right of the State to support a militia is guaranteed by the Constitution (134). In a few States the organized militia consists of several hundred men; in most States it consists of several thousand men. In times of war, as we have seen, the militia is under the control of the President, but in times of peace it is subject to the orders of the governor. When the laws of the State are resisted and the local authorities are unable to suppress the lawlessness, the governor sends the militia to the assistance of the local forces. If the militia is unable to suppress the law-breakers, the State legislature, or the governor, may make application for aid to the President (121), who, if the case seems to warrant it, will send troops of the regular army to the scene of disorder. If the lawlessness interferes with the operation of the federal government, as with the carrying of its mails, or if it obstructs interstate commerce, the President may send federal troops and suppress the lawbreakers without waiting for an application from the State authorities.

Local Defense. Besides the militia there are two other upholders of law and order within the State. These are the sheriff and his posse, and the local police force. The posse (posse comitatus, the county force) consists of all the able-bodied men in a county (or city). These the

sheriff may call to his aid at any time to suppress violence, although men who have not been drilled and disciplined are not likely to render efficient service. The local policemen and constables, of whom there are nearly one hundred thousand in the United States, are the every-day guardians of the public peace. They are “the eyes and ears as well as the hands of the body politic; not only the means of governmental apprehension, but of discovery; the agents of prevention as well as of cure."

Civil Government and Martial Law. It should be noticed that in the United States those who wield the sword are under the control of civil officers. The general obeys the President, the officers of the militia take their orders from the governor, the police are controlled by a board of civilians. This subordination of the military to the civil power accords strictly with American notions of government. We have no place in our system for martial law-law which is administered by soldiers, and which is at variance with the principles of civil liberty. By suspending the writ of habeas corpus citizens may be temporarily deprived of their civil rights and placed under martial law, but this can be done only in the name of the public safety (64). A State cannot maintain armed troops in time of peace and thus threaten the permanency of civil rights (76). Neither can the federal government in times of peace harass the people by quartering soldiers in the homes of citizens without their consent (135), and even in times of war such quartering must be done under the authority of civil and not under the authority of military law. Thus, while we make ample provision for the defense of the nation and the State, we have taken every precaution to prevent the instruments of defense from themselves becoming a menace to civil government and to civil liberty.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. What causes compel a nation to provide a defense against possible foes?

2. What military powers does the Constitution give to Congress ? 3. What has been the policy of the United States in reference to a standing army? What are the disadvantages of a large standing army?

4. What does the Constitution provide in reference to the militia? 5. What are volunteers? What is a draft?

6. Name the principal officers who conduct a war and state their duties. How is the sea-coast defended?

7. What has been the policy of the United States in reference to its navy?

8. Describe the militia system of a State.

9. What is a posse comitatus? What are the functions of the local police?

10. Explain how the military is kept subordinate to the civil authority of the United States.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. What have been the most fruitful causes of war in the past? 2. In which century in the history of the world have the greatest wars occurred?

3. Name five great military heroes. Should the incomparable honor which is accorded to military heroes be set down as one of the causes of war?

4. What does the United States spend each year upon its army and navy? What is this State's share of this amount? Compare this with the amount spent by the State for its public schools.

5. Why should Iowa as well as New Jersey contribute to the support of the navy?

6. Name a war which has been a blessing to mankind. Explain. 7. What is said in the constitution of this State in reference to a militia? In reference to the subordination of the military to the civil power?

8. Of how many men does the entire militia of this state consist? Of how many does the organized militia consist?

9. What services has the militia of this State rendered in recent years?

10. Which could we more safely dispense with, school-houses or battle-ships? Could we have one without the other?

11. Contrast the evils attending war with its beneficent features. 12. Do you sincerely wish that there will never be another war? What things can you as an individual do to help the cause of peace?

XXXIV

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

International Affairs Regulated by the Federal Government. The management of international affairs is a service of the highest importance, and the power to direct foreign relations is a sovereign power. In the United States all power in respect to matters of an international character is lodged in the federal government, the organ of our national sovereignty. International affairs have never been regulated by the State. Under the Articles of Confederation negotiations with foreign countries were conducted by the Congress; under the Constitution States are expressly forbidden to enter into political relations with foreign countries (72), and the management of international affairs is given to the President and Senate (95).

International Law. Progressive nations have not isolated themselves from other nations. Ancient Egypt refused to defile itself by contact with other peoples and its civilization soon perished. The Greeks and Romans, on the other hand, went among strangers, traded with them, learned from them, made leagues of friendship with them, and thus developed a civilization which became the inheritance of all succeeding ages. The states of Europe, which were built upon the ruins of the Roman Empire, could not live wholly to themselves. In spiritual matters they were one; their universities were places whither all might repair, and students from England found their way to Salerno, and scholars from Italy wandered to Oxford;

their commerce caused cities so far apart as Riga and London to unite for mutual protection; above all, their incessant wars made a policy of seclusion impossible.

Out of this intercourse between the countries of Europe there gradually came into existence a body of rules which states in their dealings with each other recognized as binding. In modern times these rules have received the name of international law,1 and have been accepted as binding by all the civilized nations of the world. A few of the most important of these international rules are the following:

(1) A state must protect the aliens within its borders from violence to person and property.

(2) Ambassadors and ministers are exempt from arrest and their persons are sacred. The buildings they occupy are extra-territorial. (3) The high seas must be regarded as belonging to no nation.

(4) The territory of a maritime state must be regarded as including the sea to the distance of three miles along the coast.

(5) A state is sovereign in its own territory and must be permitted to manage its internal affairs in its own way.

(6) A neutral state (one not engaged in war) must prohibit belligerent operations within its territory.

(7) Property taken in warfare belongs to the state, not to the individual captor.

(8) A belligerent may station ships at the ports of an enemy and forbid the egress and ingress of neutral vessels. (Blockade.)

(9) An enemy's goods upon a neutral vessel must be spared.

(10) Whenever possible, enemies must be taken prisoners rather than killed.

(11) Non-combatants and private property are privileged. (12) Weapons causing needless pain are not to be used.

The above rules are not positive laws, for they have not emanated from a legislative source. They have sprung from centuries of custom, from numerous agreements between nation and nation, and from the moral judgment of

1 International law may be defined as the rules which determine the conduct of the general body of civilized states in their dealings with each other.-Lawrence.