The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-11
An Argument for a Large Army.

An Argument for q Large Army.
Pretty nearly all of the volunteers want
to get out of the army. As far as we are
able to discover not more than 10 per cent.
of them are willing to remain in the serv-
! ice ana take their chances of doing garri-
son duty in Cuba, Porto Rico or the Phil
! ippines. The pressure, which the friends
of the volunteers who want TO be mus
tered out are bringing 10 bear on the Pres
| ident, is so great that he is yielding to it
| to such an extent thai it is not improbable
that not $1,000 volunteers will be in the
! service when Congress meets.
And The volunteers are not to blame for
wanting to return TO their homes. Many
of them. probably the majority, left posi-
tons which were paying them comfort
able salaries These positions are still
| open 20 them in most cases but with few
exceptions they viii moi be held for them
if the prospect is that they will be an the
service two years. Their employers can
not conveniently hold the places for them
that long. though they would doubtless
! make an effort to do so if war actually
existed. They would make great sacrifices
if the services of the volunteers were
needed in the field
A large proportion of the volunteers,
however, are still needed. Until Cuba is
provided with a government of her own,
and the relations of Porto Rico to this
country are adjusted and 1t is definitely
known what is to be done with the Phil
ippines, we shall need a much larger army
than our regular army is at present. The
outlook is that we shall need quite a large
army for several years, and it may be per-
manently Ii may take a long time to es-
tablish an intelligent and stable govern
ment in Cuba, and if we decide to retain
the Philippines we may have need for
large army to keep the natives in subjee-
ton
Therefore when Congress meets the
question of charging the army is likely
to be taken up at once. Those who have
been inclined to depend upon volunteers
will have little to say in support of their
position in view of the disposition shown
by the volunteers to get out of the service
before having served a fourth of their
term of enlistment. 1t will be asked are
the volunteers TO be depended upon, ex-
cept for actual service in the field? No
one doubts that they would command the
admiration of the world in battle, but a
government has duties other than fighting
for soldiers to do. and, as already pointed
out, If the territory which We have wrest-
ed from Spain remains in our possession
we shall have need for pretty big army
for a long time, if not for all time.
The chances are, therefore, that Cong
ress will look with favor upon PROPOSE
ton to permanently enlarge the army
The time it takes to make soldiers out of
volunteers and the unwillingness of vol
unteers to remain in the army when there
is no fighting TO do viii be advanced as
arguments in favor of that proposition. 1t
will not be surprising, therefore, ST Con-
gress passes some such bill as the Hull
bill before the beginning of a new year
1t is known that Gen. Miles strongly favors
a very considerable enlargement of the
army and the abandonment of the volun-
teer system except in emergencies.