El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-07-14
Makejnu An Hrmy.


temporaneous'' was never in the cen
ter o: the explosion of powder mill.
Persons who are don't make many re-
marks. Still his proposition is true
for nearly all the great things of this
world. 1t is especially true of a great
army. That cannot be extemporized.
The English say that it takes three
generations to make q gentleman and
the Germans say that five generations
are necessary to the breeding of
modern soldier, that you must have
begun drilling and marching in the
eighteenth century if you cherish the
idea of developing a great army.
That is probably an exaggerated
statement of German thoroughness but
certainly an army cannot be made OF
the best materials in less than one
year. 1t was not till after the terrible
winter at Valley Forge in 1777-177S
that Washington moulded the patriots
into an army. After that he was never
defeated. In the third year of the civ
il war either of the armies could have
annihilated the army of the year be-
fore. On each side regiments were
made by hard work into organizations,
not merely aggregations of men.
When q collection of new recruits
is gathered together they must
learn how to march and how to handle
their muskets. That is small mat
ter, but that volunteers may become
soldiers a permanent set must be given
to character. The recruit must &C
quire the habit of prompt, unreasoning
obedience. He must learn how to
overcome the dreadful ennui of camp
life, the monotony of which is enough
to drive q man crazy. He must learn
to accept the difference between him
self and his officer as part of the ma
ture of things, something to be accept
ed without criticism. He must learn
to trust his comrades, to feel that he
himself is simply unit in the regi-
ment. The physical training no doubt
is something, soldier must
know how to take care OF himself and
make himself comfortable with the
simplest means, he must be able to
sleep on the ground and in the rain, but
after all the character-modificat is
the main thing that makes soldier out
of citizen. The very best raw mater
ial is uot equal to the finished product.
though it can be worked up more
quickly and makes q better article
eral Merritt was no doubt right in being
unwilling to go the Philippines with
out solid nucleus of the regular army,
and General Miles probably under
stands his business when he declares
that one hundred thousand men will
be necessary to the invasion of Cuba.
The Spanish soldiers in Cuba may
not be in what military men consider d
high state of efficiency. Their tactics
may be old fashioned and their Ri file
practice ridiculous, but at least they or
large proportion of them are veter-
ans. Their absurd and futile efforts to
subdue the insurgents gave the impress
sion that they were IN are parody on
an army. But the idea is held by in
telligent men who have been i n q posi-
ton to form an opinion that the COM
manding officers of the Spanish force
did not wish to put down the rebellion
because they were making too much
money out of the war. Preposterous
and Incredible as this seems to the av-
erage American. there may be some
thing in it and it is not impossible that
the Spapiards might put up a good
fight" if they we're cornered by an army
of invaders. 1t is right for our gov
eminent to be absolutely sure of quick
and complete victory when our soldiers
land in Cuba. And we cannot be sure
until we have made an army.
If the irresistib BILE course of events is
forcing Us into position where we
may come into collision at any moment
with one of the great military powers,
it will be necessary for US to have an
army ready made, and not be forced to
QepenQ on raw material OF the pest
quality. An eminent English military
authority points out that we have in
the negroes of the South great re-
servoir of the only kind of material
that can be depended on for service in
the tropics without immense loss of
life. Would it not be reversal of
things if the descendant of the slaves
should prove the bulwark
of the republic: stranger
things have happened in the develop
ment of history. At all events it looks
as if the closing year of the nineteenth
century and the opening of the twenti-
eth century were going to prove piv-
otal period. 1t will certainly call for
prudence. good sense and statesman
ship inthose to whom the administra-
tion of the great republic is entrust-
ed. They who seek at such a time Ell
ther from honest fanaticism or desire
of political advancement or private
gain. to poison the springs OF credit or
deface the currency are public enemies
more to be dreaded than Spaniard DIS,
for they attack the supply train not of
the army alone but of the entire peo-
pie.