The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-01-30
THE GERMAN S0LDIERY.
HOW THE ARMY OF THIS MILITARY
COUNTRY is CONSTITUTED.

s1illion Armed Men Always Ready
tho People Take 1t.
The German boy who reaches the age
| of II becomes liable to service in the
army, and this liability continues until
no is 49, If he is not fit for active service
he is relegated to a reserve force not
called out unless there is danger of in
vasion. For nearly his whole active life,
| therefore, the German lives in species
F.! of military scrvitude that hampers him
should he desire to emiSrate, aud may be
| full Of petty annoyances to him If he
| does not
Under ordinary circumstances the
German lad steps into the ranks at the
age Of 90. For three years he serves
with the co!ors, the next four years he
is in the reserve, and the following five
years he belongs to the Landwelr,
| another reserve more remote than the
| first Of these twelve years the first
three are occupied entirely in severe
military work The most stupid peasant
under system so thorough as Ger
many S must be stupid beyond recovery if
| he does not turn It an alert, obedIent
and well trained soldier. From the time
lie takes his oath Of allegiance to his
military superior, the kaiser, he renoun-
ces the civil responsibilities and rights of
| a citizen With the loss of his vote he is
taught that the sooner he forgets pohtl-
cal matters the better for him as SOL
dier. His life is completely engrossed
| with barrach routine and military ideas.
His only law is the law Of court martial;
his only duty is to Cpey without Ques-
the captain of his company.
With the putting on of his uniform he
becomes one of an army which in times
of peace cenumbers 4GS, 400 men, thoroughly
equipped, admirably trained and ready
to follow their officers anywhere, from
the storming of a Russian redoubt to
charging a mob Of worklngmen on
strike. The soldier Of the German en-
pire ceases to be Bavarian,sa Wurtem-
berger or Saxon when he steps into the
ranks. His military service is personal
to the emperor, from whom he receives
his orders, to the exclusion Of all other
authority. Everything that he sees and
hears in the army is calculated to i'm
press upon his mind that his particular
state and its particular public men are Of
very little consequence compared with
an emperor who has absolute power over
an army such as he belongs to. He also
learns that fidelity to his duties as
soldier is one of the few as we'll as sure
means Of securing later in life position
in that great class of men whose salaries
come from the taxes Of the people and
whose appointments hang upon the fa-
vor of the government.
Every soldier dreams of the day when
he shall possibly be promoted as non
commissioned officer, and at the end Of
his term be given berth in the railway,
telegraph or postofice service, possibly
on the police force.
The peace footing Of the German army,
A66, 100, becomes in time Of war fight
ing force OF nearly 1900, 900, commanded
by 35, ,427 officers. A careful estimate
made by Hugo Hinze in The Berlin
Nation of Jan. IA, 1888, shows that Ger
many has today 3,264, 900 men trained to
arms between the ages of II and As. The
experience of the Franco-German war
has taught that to every 1000 men there
should be at least 24.5 officers in the
active army and reserve, and from 20 to
21.7 to the 1000 in the less responsible
reserves called Landsturm and Ersatz-
home defense only. On this scale the
German fighting force calls for at least
1853 officers, making a grand total
fighting force Of S,341, ,253-an army
gre:iter in numbers than the population
of all the United States when it became
an independent power century ago.
To this must be added 81 900 more who
ere surgeons, paymasters, veterlnarles,
armorers, saddlers, officials of various
kinds and $4,000 horses.
To raise the peace footing of the army,
to treble its size in twenty-four hours, the
most careful system IS observed. Oft-
Gals in every nook and corner Of the en-
pire know exactly where they can find
every able bodied man who has served
lis first three years and is now therefore
! in the reserve. Then they know just
! how many uniforms and accouterments
! are needed and where they can put their
fingers on them at a moments notice
| These well drilled officials besides know
| every horse in their district, what be can
do, and what he can be impressed for;
they have record Of all the farm
! wagcns that may be needed on the
! march; they have minute information as
| to the whereabouts Of every truss Of hay
or bag Of oats, az well as every pig, cow,
or calf that might be needed.
To illustrate: Not long ago (1SSS at
certain small town on the main line be-
tween Berlin and Metz the station mas
| ter, who is also the head of the nlobllz-
| ing district, received an order to prepare
coffee for $500 men at o'clock in the
afternoon and dinner for an equal num-
Der ct G:30 o'clock of the same day.
This order he received exactly three
hours Ecfore the troops were to arrive
and ha,. 10 other warning.
I!.c $500 men came, had their coffee,
a.t. were OF. At 6:30 came another de-
| tachmcnt of $500 men. These were
served with u dinner, consisting of boiled
mutton, broth and vegetables, all boiled
in fourtecnluge pots, kept for the purpose
close to The station. Each Of these pots
cooks c,!ourh Il for 200 men at one time, so
that with fourteen such the dinner for
2,SOo can he served up in short ti1ae
after the materials are produced.
When, therefore, the order comes from
the emperor that the troops are to be
read: for the frontier, every able bodied
man in the country between the age Of
II ard II knows exactly what is expected
of him: the provision trains with extra
horses spring upas if by magic; uniform,
weapons and forage appear from conve-
nient places Of concealment so rapidly
and effectively that one almost suspects
that the part has been rehearsed many