Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-10

What the French Are Beginning 60
Find Out In Regard to Their Army.

There is no power on earth better equip
ped for war than France is at the present
moment, says the Paris Figaro. But unfor-
turately all our military organization In
based upon a dangerous sophism, the pre-
ponderance Of numbers. When we REFORM
ed our army We started out upon the idea
that France was vanquished by the numer-
ical superiority of the Germans, whereas
the real cause OF our defeat must be looked
for in the incapacity of our generals. The
events were fatalities manifestly independ-
ent OF the real value of the army itself.
and one cannot reasonably conclude that Il
was the superiority of numbers that 1e-
fected us. Nevertheless. we have allowed
ourselves to be carried away by the magic
of numbers. and in order to get the num-
beers We have reduced the service to an
average of thirty months. Now. short SER
vice makes militiamen; IL does not make
soldiers. The worship which we profess
for heroes has for its only reason OF exist
ence the fact that the heroes are exception
al creatures. There is no longer any army
when everybody is a soldier; there is no
military spirit when the service is a COM
mon duty; there are no more heroes when
every one is mobohzed expressly to become
one Take in the military hierarchy of the
empire the men who represent us in the diff
terent degrees. from the general to the
grenadier guard, the most ACCOMPLISHED
types Of the soldier, Lannes Lasaile. Mar
Dot, Parqufn and Caignet. 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 ideas of human solidar-
ity or Of social progress. and one would
find absolutely nothing in their skulls
which would be worthy of the consideration
of a philosopher or an economist. They were
wicked and terrible, but also extraordinary
enchanters. superb and attractive In the
same way and for the same reason that q
lion is attractive, because he is stronger
and grander than an OK or a sheep.
In order to forge soldiers OF that type IL
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 IL is none the less true that the
trade OF soldier is a trade. just like any
other. in which one excels only through APP
prer uceship 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 a peril for the safety
Of the country; that economy realized by
means OF burroughs and anticipated exemp-
tons amounts to a diminution of our
chances of victory. and that the idea Of
democratizing the army is a pure absurd
ity for the simple reason that everything
IN tne army, from the top to the bottom of
the military ladder, il servitude. hierarchy
ana inequality. This is not merely an indi-
vfdual opinion; IL is the opinion of the
majority of our military men. The military
law under which we live gives us nearly
4Wo.UU of men. and we are accustomed to
penefe, on the faith of sycophants, that
such an army renders US forever invincf-
Die. Every professors al soldier devoted
solely to his profession believes that IL
would be better for our defense IL we had
an army or l,auOo0 men. having all serv-
ed nve years without a days furlough. ex-
ercised from morning till night. indefatiga-
Die marchers. trained marksmen, clad in n
brilliant uniform and proud enough TO be-
heve, mat the soldier Of their stamp -
worth several dozen citizens.