Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1897-10-06

Notifications, barracks. camps and ord
nance works of all classes. In an in
terview before he sailed, Gen. Miles
said:
When l left Washington the war between
Turkey and Greece had assumed such proper
tions that it looked as though the neighboring
provinces would be drawn into it, and possibly
c<le or TWO OF the great powers of Europe. No
one realized at that time that Greece had as
sumed hostilities when she was wholly unpre-
pared for war, nor did anyone anticipate that
Turkey would in 45 days mobilize q great army
of 600, 600 men When arrived at Constanti-
nople an armistice had been declared and war
was practically over, although the armies have
remained in hostile attitudes and it has taken
three months to agree upon the conditions Of
peace for q war that had been fought in five
weeks.
But as my mission only partially concerned
that war and as the president and secretary of
war had authorized me to visit such countries
as might think advisable for the purpose of
military observation. continued my Journey
looking over all the principal armies of Eu-
rope. many of the most important military es-
adjustments, the principal gun factories and
foundries. where the material of war is con-
structed from the most minute caliber projec-
tiles to the heaviest arruor plate. have seen
all the armies nf- Euro pc except the Spanish
army and II Spain should declare war against
the United States 1 may possibly have an op-
portunity OF seeing that OF something over
5000 900 men under arms, 1 have seen nearly
900, 900 in barracks and in garrison and in field
lnaneuvers besides nearly 1OO. 900 men engaged
il the construction of war material
What have seen does not indicate that the
millennium is at hand. when swords will be
beaten into plowshares." There never was
another time In the history Of the world when
such energy. ingenuity and wealth have been
devoted to war purposes. The resources and
ind Gfri0C Nf nNln,
to maintaining large standing armies and for
midable navies.
Fortunate are the people OF the United States
that they are walled in by two great oceans
yet this fact would not warrant them in any
policy other than keeping a reasonable percen-
tage of the population fully equipped and in
structed in modern appliances and methods Of
war.
To the suggestion that officers of the
United States army were at disad-
vantage in being without opportunities
to drill large armies, Gen. Miles said:
There is no school of war except war The
din erence between cartridge and leaden bull
let's is as marked as that between spectacular
scenes Of the drama and the real living issues
OF life What might seem to be practical in
maneCverS might be wholly impractical in con-
dition OF actual hoStilitieS There are hum
dreds If not thousands, Of men in the United
States who have been engaged in the same
maneuvers with brigades, division corps or
arms in practical drill nearly every day for
four years and at the same time have been in
more desperate, hard fought battles than any
men in Europe.
To the question as to whether the
United States, under its present mill
tary policy, would be able to cope with
European power, Gen. Miles replied:
In any population. 1t is estimated. one man
out OF five is capable of bearing arms That
would give us an army of l., 900 OO0 Our people
are strong physically and generally intelligent
and we'll informed. Besides that. each citizen Is
sovereign and personally interested in
the welfare Of his government and serves
voluntarily without being forced into serv-
ice by military despotism. We have
many thousands of men still living
who have seen more war. participated in
more battles than any man in Europe. But
1t is another thing to equip an army with modern
appliances for the defense OF coast where we
would have to use high power guns and modern
projectiles. which it takes years to construct
while smaller arms are not to be made in few
days or even weeks Modern rifles are differ
ent from the squirrel guns. with which our
revolutionary fathers went to war. The range
of modern arms is very great and projectiles
weigh o pounds to a ton Of steel The rapidity
OF the rapid fire machine guns, the Maxim and
Gatling. is 400 to 900 shots a minute. Although
these are American inventions they are largely
used in the European service.