The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-18

1 age of the regulars. 1 am afraid that in
/ the next war the regulars will not make
any superior showing.
! Our armies have always been volunteer
armies. and at the commencement of all
our wars the regular organization has
been found defective through a pro-
longed peace. and always has required
I the intervention of congress. which soon
merged the regulars with the volunteers.
making regular out of the latter and a
volunteer out of the former l hope we
VIII not repeat in the next war the
plumbers made in the early days of 1872
when the old officers who were sent to
oppose the British, made in nearly every
! case, flaScO of their operations, and
not until new and comparatively mex
perlenced men were given command was
there anw success with our armies. An
ideal volunteer army is one modified in
few months and fitted with young Off
GERS from the regular service and the
national guard in equal proportion, and
directed by an intelligent and progressive
head. Is there any reason for SuppoSing
that if war were to be preciDitated in
the next year. our war department is in
very much better shape than ii was UNI
der Buchanan, or than the English war
office was at the beginning of the
Crlmea, or the French war office IN lSfOE
Our war department may be today as
efficient as the Prussian was in 1870.
am afraid it is not. and that if war was
declared tomorrow it would be found our
organizations were defective and Unpre-
pared, and that it would be a continual
case of court martial. No one would
dare TO pretend that any Of our state
organizations are ready for war. TO go on
a long campaign. They are ready TO do
police duty a a riot, so is the regular
army but our best national guard or
ganiza tons are in no shape to be thrown
against an aggressive and intelligent
enemy. What should be done at once is
to double the number of both the ma
tional guard and regular batteries and
add three machine gun batteries to every
brigade regular and volunteer. If it is
not thought practicable, and 1t probably
is not. then the war department should
get the complete equipment ready for
these batteries so that they would be all
ready to be manned and horsed at
moments notice. If war was thrust
on us. such as 1912 or the civil war, /
am afraid it would play havoc with
great many of the views held of both
the regular forces and the national guard,
and that both organizations would be
completely remodeled or superseded by
volunteer army. | believe that a COM
mittee of congress should investigate our
whole military system, and that it should
be entirely remodeled. if the committee
found ii necessary, and that they would
find it necessary | have not the slightest
doubt. 1t is needless to particularize. but
when trouble comes there Will be a howl
very much like the one heard after Bull
Run. There is weak Organization
brigades. even regiments of regulars.
maneuvre together. Militia brigades do
vancouver. but generally under officers
who are distinctly of the old school. who
do not believe that the conditions of war
have completely changed and that all
battle tactics have been completely revO-
lutioniZed. and that our so-called new
drill regulations are now behind the
times and that in arms and equipment
we are 20 years behind the times. These
statements are perhaps q little too
strong, but foresight is better than hind
sight" and if we have to meet an enemy
that is our equal in civilization we want
to whip him and do it economically. That
we can beat any combination of enemies
| have not the slightest doubt. Our
military resources are such as to make
us by far the most powerful nation on
the earth something that is not generally
understood but was fully appreciated 40
years ago by Sir +. S. Creary. in his
Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World
describing the American victory at Sara
toga where he shows conclusively that
nothing can stop the United States from
becoming the greatest military power
in the world. Englishmen sometimes for
get Sir Edwards word and do not pay
enough attention to his description of
the American victory. and unfortunately.
many Americans do not read his excellent
work or learn its lessons. To summarize.
our national guard officers have an
amateurist devotion to the mere ne
chanical routine drill that is deSpiSed by
nearly all educated soldiers, and too few
national guard officers are military
students in the best sense. As Colonel
Maurice SAYS they call drill-fiOOr work
practical and the study of campaigns
theoretical, while just the reverse is the
case. This evil. of course. is not serious.
as il is largely corrected by the fact
that our regular officers are students and
keep no with the times; but our regular
army organization, not due to the fault
of any class of men particularly, but TO
the fact that peace has prevailed with us
for 50 wears. has got into a state OF de-
cav What is needed is d complete re-
modelling of our whole military organl-
zation cutting off all dead wood and
antique methods and giving us, not
poor imitation of the system of some
other nation, but a military organization
the best in the world. With this shaking
up, the student officer who IS
in touch with all the new
problems of war will succeed the drill
mechanic Our soldiers will be governed
by men of progress and high military
intelligence. officers schools will then be
devoted TO actualitieS OF war and not to
petty interpretations of the drill book We
will then pass from a fifth class military
power to a firSt-class one, and instead of
following European nations will at least
keep abreast of them. and if possible
lead in the military art as our people
In concluding, l wish to touch on
the matter of mobilization of troops
at short notice. | have always
National Guard at certain periods at
which operations on the field could be
carried out under conditions similar to
the conditions of actual warfare. I think
prevail of everybody. The jealousy of the
fathers of the country against amass-
in large standing armies was not fear
OF modifying national guard. On the
contrary. they favored the gathering to-
cether of large bodies of militia. The
question of mobilization for field work
would certainly carry out that view and
should have the support of everybody
who believes in maintaining the strength
of the National Guard in contradistinc-
ton to standing army Commanders
at present have no opportunity to bring
out the qualities in them. The weakest
of our organizations are able to take
care of themselves in the matter of minor
drill. but in q larger and broader field
we want to make our mark. Command
ers have no opportunity OF putting into
practice what they may have studied re-
garding operations on a large scale. |
find that among the high officers there is
a lack of information as to these opera
tiOnS. CommiSSary and quartermaSterS
departments are never ready for sudden
call and we all know that men won't
fight on empty stomachs and exposure to
the elements without shelter and cloth
ing will not conduce TO a mans best
efforts. The camp outfit should be at
headcua rters in readiness for the mem
be- of the guard to buckle on his garb
and be prepared for the enemy. Every
citizen who enters the National Guard
takes his life into his hands, and the
state owes him something for that sac
rifice. 1t should guarantee him susie
nance when it orders him into it's service,
and to perfect the organization of that
necessary to have mobilization at least
every other year. The careful selection
of officers for the commiSSary and quar-
termasterS departments especially