St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-11-17
ARMY AFFAIRS.
In His AnnuaI report Adjt. Gen.
Drum DeVOJes n Large >hare of
His attention TO the Militia.

ARMY AFFAIRS.
I'm His AnnuaI Report 4djt. Gen.
Drum DeVOIes a Large >hare OF
His Attention TO the Militia.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16.-In his annual
report of the operations of his office during
the past year, Adjt. Gen. Drum devotes
some space to recommendations touching
the Improvement of the militia. Referring
to the reports of the inspecting officers
made public yesterday, he says:
While Just but kind criticism points out
many defects (nOne that cannot be rehedied
by men exhibiting the military zeal and pride
that animates the state militias), the reports
Enthusiastically evince slowly maturing tenn
Der and character destined TO still more closely
unite the regular arm, and the milltia-the
twin parts of the defensive force OF the gov
ernment
The adjutant general then makes the fol
lowing recommendations:
State encampments, to be of absolute hen
eft, should at least be OF ten DAYS duration,
and established at convenient points looking
to economy in the concentration Of the troops,
should be at Il sufficient distance from the
homes of the members of the command, in
order to avoid business and special influences
which seriously affect efforts at imparting in
struction and
for drills. target practice, guard duty, etc.
Camps should ne diVested OF every appear
auce of holiday character. The programme
of exercises should exclude elementar COM
pany drills and the time OF the encampment
devoted to instructions and practice and skir-
mish and battalion drills and guard duty. As
most of the fighting in the future must be
done in open order, thorough acquaintance
with the skIrmsh drill is OF the highest i'm
portance. Officers should be required to re-
cite upoE the duties of guards and sent1nels,
and instruction in guard duty be given to the
men in primers. So far as fatigue uniform
or dress for field service is concerned, it
would be of advantage to the authorities of
each state to prescribe simple, plain but
Seryiceable fatigue uniform for all its troops,
to which companies might gradually conform
within a limited time, say one year. THIS is
not intended to interfere with the right OF
each command to wear such
FULL DRESS UNIFORM
as il may have selected for wear on reviews,
parades and other occasions of pure cere-
mOny. Obsolete arms and ammu iltion in the
hands of state troops should be replaced by
improved guns, and the same pattern as in
the hands of the regular army. and suitable
ammunition provided. Exhibition drills,
while interesting as showing what degree OF
mechanical precision body OF men can be
trained to assume, are an undesirable feature
of military camps; in many instances the de-
yelODment of extreme SmartneSS in drill i'll
wolves the neglect of some of the most im-
portaut and solid parts OF a soldiers training.
The report Oh the target practice at the
Maine encampment is most creditabe to the
troops participating, and demonstrates what
results can be obtained from careful inStruc-
tion and practical discipline in this important
exercise. The great want is q thorough
systematic course of instruction prescribed
from state headquarters and rigidly insisted
upon and the establishment in each state of
an examining hoard, before whom ignorant
and incompetent officers could Ue brought
with view to their elimination from tho
military service OF state. Every officer
elected should. before appointed be
SUBJECT TO EXAMINATION
by board of officers, of which, if possible,
the reglmental and brigade commanders and
the inspector general should be members.
The material composing the militia OF the
several states is generally excellent, and zeal
and intelligence the rule, but the former
must be wisely directed and the latter syS-
tematically cultivated. The adjutant gen.
eral says that the eportS of the army officers
performing the duties Of professors of tactics
and military science at military colleges show
a steadily growing interest in military in
struction, as evidenced by the increased per
centage of students attending drills etc.,
and the degree of appreciation of the value
of the system on the part of the college
authorities The aptitude of American
youths for military exercises is undoubtedly
good. The adiutant general says that in
order to be thoroughly efficient, officers de-
tailed as instructors in military science
should be made members of the faculty of
the institution with which they serve. At
tention is called to the loss TO the govern
ment arising from the frequency of applca-
ton for discharge from the army, ana the
report suggests that it be in proprietY to
enact legislation, making discharges condi-
tional on reimbursement to the government
of the expense of recruiting and transporta-
tion except in cases where the long and
faithful service of the applicant constitutes
an element of favorable consideration.
REGRET Is EXPRESSED
at the reduction of the appropriations as
compared with the estimates for the support
of the military prison at Fort Leavenworth,
and il is said that as a result, scarcely any
progress has been made in bringing it's
capacity to the point required to afford ac-
commodaton and profitable employment for
MI the military prisoners who should properly
De sent there. The money value of the work
performed by prisoners in the manufactures
was $69, S73, which was within $50 of one-half
Of all the expenses of the prison for the year.
and the opinion is expressed that the prison
will soon be self-suppOrtng In regard to
the unsatisfactory quality of the shoes manu-
tactured in the prison, 1t is stated that the
trouble arose from defective last models, and
in details of construction that have, it is
believed been remedied. Touching the re-
moval of charges of desertiOn, the report
states that at the close of the war there were
100000 men against whose names the
charge of deSertiOn had been entered
Prior to the passage of the law
for their relief 100000 applications for re-
moval had been presented for action, and up to
oct. l of this year 4T.344 applications had
been received. under the law. There still re
main SO, 900 men charged with desertion who
have not filed applications, butt is presumed
that nearly all will do so. The report closes
with recommend. tious that the employment
of twenty-five additional clerks be authorized,
and that a number of clerks be employed
outside of Office hours at extra compensation
TO copy the dilapidated official muster rolls of
the department. In report to the lieutenant
general of the army, Adjt. Gen. Drum
expresses the opinion, based upon an exami-
nation of reports. that the present voluntary
school system in the army is a failure and
from inherent radical defects will remain So.
Those of the men who are the most ignorant,
and therefore in the greatest ne ed of ln-
struction, are the most averse to attend
school, The attendance of this class of men,
he says, should be made compulsory.
The BarIhOIdi statue.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16.-The question
aS lighting the RarAnldi Statua of Liberty