Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-04
NEW LIGHT ON EURoPEs ARMIES
Are Numbers worthless After Alta
Cry of Alarm In French Military

Circles.
From the Figaro.
There is no power on earth better equipped
| for war than France is at the present mo-
ment But, unfortunately, all our mill
tary organization is based upon a danger
Gus sophism, the preponderance Of num-
bers When we reformed our army. we
started out upon the idea that France was
vanquished by the numerical superiority
Of the Germans. whereas the real cause OF
our defeat must be looked for In the In
capacity Of our generals. The events were
fatalities manifestly independent of the
real value OF the army Itself. and one can
not reasonably conclude that 1t was the su-
periority of numbers that defeated us.
Nevertheless, We have allowed ourselves
to be carried away by the magic of num-
bers and, in order to get the numbers. we
have reduced the service to an average OF
thirty months. Now, short service makes
militia men: 1t does not make soldiers. The
worship which We profess for heroes has
for its only reason of existence the fact
that the heroes are exceptional creatures.
There is no longer any army when every
body is soldier; there is no military spirit
when the service Is common duty; there
are no more heroes when every one is mobi-
lized expressly to become one.
Take in the military hierarchy OF the en-
pire the men VINO represent US in the diff
ferent degrees from the general to the
grenadier guard, the most accomplished
types of the soldier, Lannes, Lasalle, Mar
bot Parquip and Coignct. They were of
unequal value. but their souls were the
same. They were pretorians. They had
only one trade. one passion, one worship,
one end-war. Their moral horizon was
constantly obscured by the smoke of bat
ties They had no idea of human solidarity
or Of social progress, and one would find
absolutely nothing in their skulls which
would be worthy Of the consideration of a
philosopher an economist. They were
TIL
enchanters. superb and attractive in the
same way and for the same reason that a
lion is attractive because he is stronger and
grander than an OK or a sheep.
In order to forge soldiers of that type, 1t
would be necessary to return to customs as
much at variance with our habits of life as
with the new conditions of warfare. But,
for all that, it is none the less true that
the trade of a soldier is a trade. just like
any other, in which one eXcels only through
apprenticeship and application; that the
strength of armies is prOportionate with the
training of the soldier; that numbers are
nothing IL they are not made valuable by
enthusiasm; that the reduction of the term
OF service may become peril for the safety
OF the country; that economy realized by
beans of burroughs and anticipated exemp-
tons amounts to diminutiOn of our
chances of victory, and that the idea of
democratizing the army is a pure absurdity,
FOR the simple reason that everything in
the army, from the top to the bottom of the
military ladder, Is servitude, hierarchy and
inequality.
This Is not merely an individual opinion
II Is the opinion of the majority of our
military men. The military law under
winch we live gives US nearly four mil
lions OF men, and we are accustomed to be-
lleVe. on the faith of sycophants, that such
an army renders us forever invincible.
livery professional soldier devoted solely to
ms profession. believes that it would be bet
ter for our defense if we had an army of
MSIHs hundred thousand men, having all
exercised from morning till night indie
iauSable marchers trained marksrnen, clad
IN d DrlLant uniform, and proud enough to
worth several dozen citizens.