The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-11-02
The Moral of Fridays Parade.
Philadelphia Press.


Few men who saw the splendid dis
play of the National Guard of this |
State and New Jersey, on Friday last, |
realized how important, in military |
sense, the parade was in its mere de-
monstration of the number which can |
he gathered over night, without fuss
or strain, by two of the five States
which have fairly an efficient National
Guard. Including the New Jersey
National Guard, which fell short that
of this State in efficiency and numbers,
but still would compare favorably
with most displays which could be
made in other States, the total effective
force present, exclusive of the staff of
the general commanding division,
ZOO men, well armed, fairly drilled,
and lacking first and chiefly in the ex-
perience Of their officers. This is half
as large in mere numbers as the Eng
lish force General Sir Garnet Wolseley
has in Egypt, it is II third as large as
the force Wellington commanded at
Waterloo, it is larger than the force
Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga or
Lord CORVALLIS at Gorktown; only
in few instances did General WASH
ington have as many troops under his
in',I.~ ~'iiNte ordore, and lac NugnL most
of his battles with half this number of
effectives. General Jackson COM
manded fewer men at New Orleans,
General Taylor won Beuna Vista with
half this number and the highest of
Chapultepec We're stormed by smaller
army. In fact, we must come to the
last war before we find American
generals habitually commanding as
large force as was under the orders of
General Hartranft Friday.
1t goes without saying that admir-
able as the appearance and excellent
the equipment of this force it was still
a mere skeleton. 1t lacked a commits
sary, had no staff, it was made up
altogether of infantry had next to no
cavalry or artillery; but even with
this abatement the muster was an eX-
traordinary display for population of
Il little over 1890, 900 10 make. COM
pctcnt critics considered it a splendid
feat when England, with five times
The population, gathered 80 900 men
for days review at Windsor. The
n rcling force Friday was nearly Il
ffth as large, and it was brought to-
geillcr by Il volunteer staff, while the
English review had in all its prepare
ton the supervision of the Horsv
Guards, and even the staff of the regu-
lar English army did rot dare to ven
tue TO feed :he men it had brought
together. Judged by every standard
then, the review of last week capped
the display of last March ut Washing
ton, by showing that the force which
aroused the admiration of regular
army officer there is ready for action
But the grievous fault of our entire
military organization is that it is !;
mere rope OF sand. Two States put
in line 100 men Friday. renTsylva
MIA, New jersey, New York, Massa
rhustts and Connecticut could gather
at any point on the North Atlantic
coast 5000 effective men, varying in
efficiency but still crcditable. This j.
from four 10 five times the force the
same states could have gathered in
1861, and vastly better drilled but
each State organization is as independ.
Cnt OF lis nciyhbur and Of the war de
partnIcut us them. In case of war;
this force must be our first and chiei
reliance. Not on fifth the SAME
number of regulars could be gathered
in fortnight. Yet the regular army
stuil,-whOse first duty this should be
has never worked out Il plan for nObi
lZing these forces, made no prepara
ton for bringinglllem into a common
organization, provided no genera.
scheme of subsistence, taken abso
luteiy no single step towards turning
ths splendid material into an army
| war comes, and some day one
skeltur rush as in 1861, the same empty
reliance on u civilian staff at five Ol
fix State capitals, the same clashins
orders, the same confusion aud at last
after weeks of ruinOus delay, our regu
lar army staff will slowly pull itsel
together over problem. which should
have been met and mastered {p thes'
years of leisure.
Part of this is sheer incidence, par
army contempt for anything but regu
lars, part the wooden routine Of oul
army, which never sees anything bu
ruled forms aud orders. Much is due
to the absence of military science, stat
or line. Amazing y fe" ofour Off .er
study, and few or none Of our genera
officers encourage it. Most of all, this
lack is due to Il paIsyingI sense that the
public does not care and that it make.
no great difference anyway. But i
ought to b. possible for an energetic
8 cretary Of war to change all this, ant
hay away in the war department a
Washington aud get prepared at eacl
State capital the pau and the orders
by which, at the Presidents proclama
tion. these scattered foces might finC
themselves an army.