[266]. A good many people are beginning to wonder whether the reaction against the old-fashioned methods of dealing with offenders has not been carried too far. Persons charged with crime are now given a fair trial with liberal opportunities for appeal. When convicted they are frequently given indeterminate sentences and then, after a short term of confinement, are released on parole. In prison they are well housed, properly fed, given various privileges, provided with motion picture entertainments, and given other forms of recreation. The complaint is made that we have made the path of the transgressor altogether too easy and that the sort of punishment which is now meted out to offenders is inadequate to serve as a deterrent to crime. The increase in crime, particularly in the larger American cities, is by some attributed to this leniency of treatment.
[267]. One of the first of these courts, and the best known of them all, is the Juvenile Court of Denver, Colorado, which was for some years presided over by Judge Ben B. Lindsey. For a time the success of this court seemed to be remarkable, for Judge Lindsey possessed the knack of getting wayward boys to tell him the truth; but in his zeal for giving them a chance to reform he appeared to many citizens of Denver to be unduly lenient. The Juvenile Court was retained, but another judge was put in charge of it.
[268]. In number of divorces the United States, unhappily, leads the world. More divorces are granted each year in this country than in all other civilized countries put together. This is one of the things which gives us no occasion for boasting, because it points to a serious weakening in the stability and strength of the family as a social unit. Not only is the number of divorces very large, but it is rapidly increasing year by year. Fifty years ago the number per annum in the United States was only about twenty thousand; now it is over one hundred and twenty thousand. On the average there was one divorce for every thirty marriages in 1870; today the ratio is one in ten. At the present rate of increase it has been estimated that by 1950 no fewer than one-fourth of all marriages will be terminated by divorce, and if the same condition of affairs should continue until the end of the twentieth century, one-half of all the marriages would eventuate in that way. This would indeed be an ominous outlook were it not that conditions are likely, sooner or later, to undergo a change. When a social problem becomes very serious, as this one is now becoming, it is the habit of society to seek out and apply appropriate remedies.
[269]. Since its foundation in 1788 the national government has spent, in round figures, about sixty-seven billion dollars. Of this entire sum fifty-eight billions have been spent for war, that is, for maintaining the army and navy, for carrying on the nation’s various wars, for pensions, and for interest on war debts.
[270]. Theodore Roosevelt, Fear God and Take Your Own Part (N. Y., 1915), Ch. I.
[271]. History is full of examples to support this statement. When Carthage proved unable to defend herself against Roman aggression, the victors left not one stone upon another. Look at Poland, ripped apart during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by her avaricious neighbors and now restored to nationhood by the armed forces of France, England, Italy, and America. And what of China today? Are her four hundred million people happier and more prosperous because they happen to be citizens of a defenceless country?
[272]. The War of Independence was won by a volunteer army. On the conclusion of peace this army was disbanded, but the absence of a defence force was deemed a serious danger. Accordingly, when the constitution was framed in 1787, it provided that the new Congress should have power “to raise and support armies.” During Washington’s first term a Department of War was established in the national government and a small regular army was created under the supervision of this department. The size of this army was not above five thousand men of all ranks, barely sufficient to keep the Indian tribes from giving trouble. But the Napoleonic wars in Europe led Congress to increase its size as a measure of precaution, and during the War of 1812 an endeavor was made to raise the regular army, by enlistment, to about 35,000 men. Recruits, however, did not come readily because the war was unpopular in some parts of the country, and it therefore became necessary to call out the militia organizations of the several states. After 1816, when peace was made, the regular army was greatly reduced, and until 1860 it remained small with the exception of the years in which the United States was at war with Mexico. The Civil War necessitated a considerable expansion of the regular army, but the larger portion of the fighting force was obtained by calling out the state militia and by raising regiments of volunteers. When the war was over, Congress fixed the maximum strength of the regular army at 25,000, and there it remained until the outbreak of the war with Spain, when it was more than doubled. In 1916, during the World War, but before the United States entered the conflict, a further increase to a maximum of 175,000 was authorized. This figure subsequently rose to 225,000 but in 1921 it was cut down by Congress to 150,000, at which point it remains today, although a further reduction is now being considered.
[273]. Prior to 1916 the national guard could not be called upon for service outside the United States, but only for defence against invasion and for the suppression of internal disturbances. But in 1916 it was provided by the National Defence Act that whenever Congress authorizes the use of armed forces in addition to the regular army, the President may draft any or all members of the national guard into the service of the United States and may employ them outside American territory.
[274]. Theodore Roosevelt was serving as Assistant Secretary of the Navy when the war with Spain began in 1898. He offered to raise a volunteer cavalry regiment of cowboys from the cattle country and his offer was accepted by the government. Resigning his position in the Navy Department he organized this regiment of Rough Riders and became its lieutenant-colonel. The Rough Riders went to Cuba, where they gave a good account of themselves.
[275]. The actual organization and disciplining of the army during peace, as well as its movements and operations in war, are under the immediate direction of the General Staff. This body consists of a Chief of Staff, who is appointed from among the high officers of the army, and numerous other army officers who are detailed for this service. The General Staff is so organized that in the event of war one section of it can take charge of operations in the field while the other keeps building up the army at home. General Pershing, who commanded the American Expeditionary Forces in the World War is now Chief of Staff, his principal assistant being Major-General Harbord, who commanded the First Army overseas.