Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-12-02

Lonuou IciegrdPn.
Germany and France recruit their ar
mics by tina law of general service. Every
able-bodied man, with rare exceptions, is
bound to place his time, his strength and
his life at the command of his country
Thus it would seem that the nation which
has the largest population must have the
larg est army. But there is limit impos-
ed by the strain caused by takingaway so
vast proportion of the manhood of the
country for unproductive purposes.
Thus it happens that the whole body of
available youths is never really taken
when they come of age. The laws bind
the hands of war ministers, who are not
allowed to have more than certain
number actually serving at any time with
the peace army. The logged work and
admirable administration of the German
War Office make themselves felt here, and
enable the officers to train soldiers in a
shorter time than the French have hither-
to succeeded in doing. The Germans take
three years as their term of service, the
French five years. Both terms are, how
ever, generally shorter in reality than
in theory, and the German Minister of
War, dismissing large proportion of the
army every year after the Autumn man
elNbTss plChS up WhO WOulu oIHeE-
vice escape training, and gives them as
much preparation as may be in the time.
The shortness of service and this method
of raining extra men enables Germany
to keep up a smaller peace army than
FRINGE, and yet to pass as many, or even
more, men through the military mill. The
German peace army only amounts to $780,
600 rank and file; the French to about
tlY1t hn Ath tbn
Germans call up every year about 152, 900
Young men for service; the French for
their five years service, which alone is
with them full training, only about no.
900. Again, the German troops have,
from the beginning to the end of their
service, the more systematic training, for
it has constantly happened that French
Ministers of War have had to send many
men back to the country ON furlough, be-
cause the money granted for the year
would moi hold out. Indeed it is ex-
( tremely diincult to say how mony men
theFrench army has in its ranks at any
given time. But the German system
really trains all the men it prefer DIS to,
and there can be no doubt that the Ger
man reserves which would be called up
for war are better trained than the French
served in the ranks has been much short
or. If-perhaps we ought rather to say
when-hostilities break out, the two ar
mics will act in the same way, to all out
ward appearance. Both are organized in
number of army corps, irrespective of
troops for home defense, lines of com
munication, and so on. France has
eighteen such army crops, besides the
fDrpas in ALGERIA md Topis Earmnpv
has eighteen crops, also, two of them
namely, the Guards and the Eleventh
Corps-being exceptionally strong.
Speaking generally, each army corps,
either French or German, is quartered in
certain district and at once draws to it
self the reserves in the district to bring
the various regiments to war strength.
But there is this difference, that in Ger
many such corps has been recruited orr
ginally from the district in which it al
ways remains, so that the reserve man
come back, as it were, to an old home
when they reioin, whereas every French
corps is composed of men recruited from
all France, so that on an average less
than an eighteenth of the reserve men
have had their training in the corps TO
which they are called. Any German unit
from company to army corps, may be
considered as a family, with the same
esprit de corps, the same methods of
speech, and the same local traditions. In
the French army, of two men standing
next each other in the ranks one may be
a Breton and the other a Red Republican
from Marseilles. Surely something is
thus lost of the complicated ties which
go to make up good comradeship. Of
cavalry Germany has ninety-three regi-
ments, numbering some sixty-seven
thousand of all ranks, and France, ex-
Guiding seven regiments in Africa, which
would not be available at first, seventy
regiments with about sixty three thousand
of all ranks. The cavalry is always kept
up to practically war strength, and huge
masses of horsemen could, and probably
would, be hurled across the frontier be-
fore single infantry division was mobi-
lied That IS the chief lesson taught by
late campaigns. We may expect to see
IN the next war either terrible shocks of
cavalry almost Immediately after the
declaration of hostilitles, or If the masses
do not meet, then such a marrying of
frontier districts, breaking up of roads,
bridges, railways and telegraphs, and
such general confusion as has never been
known in the history of war. If we look
to the actual numbers of trained men,
Germany can count for her active army.
with its reserve, about $4,000 men, which
the Landwehr and one-year volunteers
Will bring up to more than 100000;
while the Landsturm, which was reor
gained few years ago, and old one
year volunteers will add considerably
more than another million, all these men
having passed through training. We
have not even done yet, for behind these
are still other forces in the way of less
trained men for depots and affiliated
Landsturm, bringing the total force
wholly or partially instructed and placed
by the law in the hands of the War Min
lister, to upward of 3,350,000 There are
$40 batteries of six guns each, or 2,050
guns. On the other hand, the French
claim to have 100000 of men complete
" trained-but this is doubtful, as be-
lore shown-and 100000 more of men
hable by law, but either slightly trained
OF not at all. The French field artillery,
however is superior to the German both
10 number of guns and power of the lndl-