Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-10-14
AS TO INCREASE IN THE ARMY

AS To INCREASE in The ARMY.
Gen. O.. o. Howard, who certainly
cannot be charged with being a lingo,
makes "a Plea for the Army in the
current number of The Forum. Sew
eral years ago Gen. Howard, in the
course Of his duties as department.
commander, made a report in which
he advocated an increase Of the army,
and he was then denounced by work
ingmens organizations for trying to
foist militarism on the country. He
contends that he was misunderstood.
What l favor" he says, lis only
reasonable nucleus of an army-an
educated staff, commissioned and non
commissioned, together with number
OF trained soldiers sufficient to handle
our guns and to be a rallying point in
case of national peril or Of sudden
foreign war" This nucleus, he thinks,
should consist of about 1000 men for
every state and territory, which would
bring the army up to a strength OF
! 40 600 men. Officers and men, its
complement is now 2S,23S. Apparently,
Gen. Howard is little concerned about
the need of a larger army for internal
service, although he thinks that, what
with care Of forts, posts, armories,
arsenels, depOts and public property,
staff duty with governors, the inspec-
ton of the national guard, assignment
to military schools and colleges and
| occasional riot service, the regulars
are overworked. 1t is to defend the
country from invasion and to fight it's
not improbable wars that Gen. How
ard would make the nucleus larger
than it is.
with modern arms, ordinances and
ammunition, and with modern means
of locomOtion and communication,
war comes with suddenness,' he says.
'"The small cloud of rumor, the gath
ering multitudes flashes and the roar
of artillery" Austria was beaten help
| less in six weeks by Prussia; France,
| with all her passion for glory and the
strife of battle, succumbed to Ger
many in seven months; and Turkey
overwhelmed plucky Greece in a few
short weeks. AS France and Greece
were unprepared for war, so are the
United States unprepared for war,
even with despised Spain, is Gen.
| Towards contention. Perhaps half
of our regular army would be needed
! for coast defense in the event of
war with Spain. What force but the
regulars have we ready to work the
heavy guns and the new ordnance of
our Notifications? Assuming that we
should send an expedition to Cuba,
there would be no trained and sea-
soned troops available but the regu-
lars who could be spared. Thousands
of the national guard would no doubt
volunteer for service: but, after all,
if they were added to the regulars,
the total would be small compared
with the army of professional soldiers
which Spain now has under arms in
Cuba. An English expert, writing of
a possible conflict between the United
States and England, says: However
defective our army organization may
be, it is difficult to conceive that we
could not have 100000 men on the
Canadian frontier long before the
United States could train and eGuip
So 00
England is ready, and the United
States are in no way ready" Like
Gen. Howard, this authority is of the
opinion that numbers do not make up
for lack of organization, training and !
experience. This lesson China learned /!
to her sorrow in her humiliating war
with Japan. Gen. Howard quotes |
with approval from the Service Ga /
zette: "Wartrained troops, men who !
have looked upon slaughter and death |
upon the gigantic scale of the modern |
struggle, no longer exist, and the |
peace-trained conscript has no knowl- |
edge to correct his fear. The machin- |
cry of battle has progressed till the |
possibilities of our modern weapons |
are appalling, Torpedoes, monster |
guns, high explosives, the swift arbi- |
trament of the ram at sea; on land, |
quick-fring guns using the deadly ,
shrapnel are almost untried imple- |
ments. The future battle will be a |
severer trial to the nerves than any
past encounter" Near the beginning
of his article Gen. Howard delivers an
opinion which perhaps would have
more force as a concluding sentence.
Coming from a soldier who is noted
for his devoutness, it is significant.
1T is not WISE" he says, "to tell our
children that public defense by arms is
always intrinsically wrong. II is not
right to tell them that the world has
SO advanced in peace sentiment that
cities and states are now safe without
guards, that absolute reliance can be
placed upon peaceful diplomacy for the
settlement Of all conflicts likely to
arise. New York Sun.
THEY HAD A JOB OFFICE.