The San Francisco call., 1898-12-25

COmmlttee or the House, to-day nIeQ with the clerk his report on the bill for the increase of the regular army. After detailing the amendments adopted in committee, all of which have been set out in the Associated Press dispatches. the report says:
 The bill fixes no maximum strength for the entire army. Assuming that the Gov ernment will require about 100 900 men for the defense of the frontier, for coast defense and to maintain our authority in the islands, for whose good order and gov ernment this nation is now responsible, together with a reasonable reserve force, the bill provides regiments of cavalry and infantry sufficient to give the num- Der required for each arm of the service batteries, with two regiments Of artillery for field batteries
 The committee believes the organiza- ton as provided for in this bill will make the most efficient military organization, at the lowest cost to the taxpayer, of any organization proposed by any bill before Congress.
 The organization of the cavalry, as provided in this bill, is substantially the same organization now provided for by law. The change in the present organiZa- tion is in making sifteen captains in place Of twelve, and in providing for com mlssary of the regiment. By this increase of rank the adjutant, quartermaster and commiSsary are given the rank or captain, and a commisSary sergeant is also added. The fifteen first lieutenants provided have three extra first lieutenants for each regiment, to be available as squadron adjutants. It also provides for the crea- tion of a band for each regiment by en- listing the men as musicians, while. under the present law, they are enlisted in the regular force and enrolled as musicians. The organization of artillery provided for in the bill changes from the regi- artillery, and as the artillery arm has so grown in importance the committee feel justified in submitting the full reasons for the change.
 tion to the work that the army was to perform may be best understood by a brief reference to its history. Our pres ent system dates back to 1921, when the first four regiments were organized. The fifth regiment was added in 1861 and the sixth and seventh in 1898. Now, when the arm was first organized-that is, in 1S2l-the question of coast defense was not nearly so important as 1t is to-day, and. consequently the question of organ ization was not so important. Moreover, this relative unimportance of both func- tions and of organization continued for many years-in fact, down to 1861. On the other hand, there were questions be- fore the country that made the services of infantry of very great importance, and hence we find the artillery almost con tinuously used as infantry Thus in the Mexican War the Fourth Artillery was used as infantry. It was armed and equipped as infantry and served as such T during the Seminole troubles, on the plains and elsewhere, even in the forts. When the Civil War broke out in 1861 all the foot batteries heretofore armed and equipped and serving as infantry were converted into light batteries, only to re- sume their infantry equipment and duties after AppomattoX.
 In the bill under discussion the number of artillery units Cbatteries) were ob- tained from consideration of the number of gun positions to be manned. You must batteries you have gun positions. Further. these batteries must be, grouped in sufficient guns in that harbor. Evidently the idea of the regiment does not come forward here at all, and for good reason-there Is no relation between the regiment as a unit and between the work to be done by the artillery. In other words, the es- sential of artillery organization is the cording to the necessities of each case, necessities differing from harbor to harbor.
 The conditions are entirely different for infantry and for cavalry. In these each individual carries a weapon, which is not the case with the artillery when used as such. The fighting strength of infantry or cavalry is measured by the number of weapons it can bring into line, but no such measure can be uniformly applied to the artillery.
 Experience has shown that the regi- mental organization is suited to the in- fantry and to the cavalry, the unit se- lected, namely, the regiment, being the greatest number of muskets and of Sabers, respectively, that can be directly controlled by one man, and this unit is a necessary one. But evidently no such necessity exists in the artillery. Why, then, perpetuate system that Is essen tially a relic of the past and wholly out of harmony with present and with future conditions. There is no sentiment con nected with the maintenance of the regi- mental organization, because, as already explained, the chances are against an off, cer's serving wholly in one regiment. For the purely local feeling for the regiment alone has been substituted a strong feel ing of pride in the army as a whole, a feeling born of the desire to see this long neglected arm of the service at last rise to a full realization of its opportunities and its duties.
 Let it be borne in mind how complicated is the artillery service; how many differ ent kinds of guns 1t has to serve, that in future 1t will be charged with the torpedo service and that the nature of artillery service in general will depend entirely upon locations that differ from harbor to harbor and 1t is at once evident that an arbitrary division of the personnel into regiments is inherently vicious. The corps system on the other hand, gives the artil- lery the adaptability and fiexibility that are demanded by the ever varying condi- tions of its service.
 In respect to the number of batteries recommended by this bill one argument only need be brought up. If the neces- sary personnel is not to be provided. why are millions appropriated every year for guns and for the complicated ordnance of the present, which cannot be trusted tc untrained men?
 By June 30, 1899, 195 batteries of coast artillery will be needed for the guns actu- ally installed. The bill asks for IA such batteries According to reliable obserrva- ton the deterioration of electric machin- cry in our coast forts when uncared for is 8 per cent per annum. of other ma chinery 20 per cent, and of guns and car riages 25 per cent. A battery of two l2- inch guns complete with all its machinery costs Sl46. GOO; If uncared for the yearly loss would be about S44 GOO.
 In the organization of the infantry reg iment the change has been made in the number of enlisted men in a company from 1o6 to 145. The object of the in crease is to provide for an adequate force at the very lowest cost to the Gov ernnent It has not been the object of the committee to sacrifice efficiency. for economy. but taking the number of men necessary to carry out the purpose of the object, we believe that an organization on the basis of 145, which would give us but 112 privates. is more efficient in ac- tual service than one of 126 privates, as proposed in the Senate bill The largely increased number of regiments which would be made necessary by the reduced ,l&<@x, 70 x1rix, +ofl