The San Francisco call., 1896-04-05

ing these, which are computed at 36O
yards we have an entire total of 40.972
yards, or a distance of twenty-three and
half miles from front to rear of an army
corps on single road. But it is impossi-
BILE for column of this length to keep
from stretching or "lengthening out, as
it is technically termed, and so the best
authorities make an allowance of SO per
cent to the total, which added gives
length OF thirty-two miles altogether.
General Mcclellan says: "If l had marched
the entire army. 100000 men. on a single
column instead of on five different roads,
the column with its trains would have
stretched out fifty miles,
Now, why must we add this SO per cent?
If roads were all broad enough and in good
condition, columns could all march with
far greater front and the depth be vastly
reduced. But in this country, at least,
there are few roads where there is room
for a column of greater width than set of
fours to move and leave sufficient space
for the dnimpeded progress of orderlies
and staff officers, or for vehicles which
have to go in an opposite direction.
Now, having the data of an army corps
at hand, it is easy to compute that for
armies. A modern army consists of from
three to six army corps. More than six
are considered unwieldy for one COM
mander The Germans so found in 1901,
while less than three makes it hard for the
and leave his corps intact. Therefore,
considering that in case of a great war.
such one as we might have with Great
Britain, we know that we would raise at
least five armies. These would operate as
follows: The first one on the extreme
northeast boundary, of three army corps;
the second one would operate on the
thlckly populated part of Canada, the
neck of land that juts down between Lakes
Huron and Erie, and from where our
greatest danger would come. This would
be the largest army, and would consist
OF at least five corps. 1t would be fol-
lowed by another army, to hold cap
tured places. This third army might
consist of Independent corps, since
1t would be designed to operate only as
garrison forces. The fourth army would
operate on the northwestern boundary,
and would consist of three corps. The
fifth army would be the large one of six in
dependent corps, which would be kept
within striking distance of any seaport to
repel any attempted invasion or to assist
in any assault against an enemy's feet or
landing columns. Thus we would have at
least fifteen army corps, number of men
amounting to $50 900, and all these would
come at the first call for volunteers. 1t
would be mum ber OF men that, compared
with all available, would hardly be no.
ticed. 1t certainly would not hinder any
commercial, manufacturing, agricultural
or business pursuits. 1et 1t would be q
sufficient number to repel all the men that
Great Britain and France together could
transport to this country, and to capture
Canada and hold it, and to capture Cuba.
If these men could all be put in one
column with their baggage trains they
would form a line nearly 500 miles in
length. 1t is therefore not too much to
say that were all Europe united to attack
America the United States alone could
raise, organize and. given time, arm also,
4 200, 900 men. This number would be
sufficient to have single continu-
GUS line of men touching elbow to
elbow and reaching from the most
northern part of the coast of Maine clear
around to Mexico, then again from Seattle,
in Puget Sound, another continuous line
reaching out to the Pacific, and thence
down to San Diego. Or, to put it in an
other way. they could be ranged along the
northern border, beginning say at Port
land, Me-, and striking the Canadian bor-
der just to the northward of st. Adams,
VT, thence following the boundary line
by the shores of the Great Lakes along
through Minnesota, Dakota, Montana,
Idaho and Washington to Puget Sound.
And there would be of these soldiers
even then over 100000 left, while
there would still be 100000 men left
in the country not called out. And what is
/ more wonderful still is the almost absolute
belief among the better informed that this
immense mass of men, in case of danger,
would rise and act as one man, all actuated
with one common impulse-the safety Of
the country and the honor and fair fame
of "Old Glory