The evening times., 1898-11-17
THE PRIDE OF FRANCE.

Ihe French army. to save whose honor
human beings are crushed like ants and
justice smitten in the face. is really no.
BILE organization Notwithstanding the cor
ruption that may exist among some OF it's
superior officers observes the Chicago
Times-Herald. The army is organized on
laws passed by the national assembly of
lSI2. These have been modified. enlarged
and adjusted by additional laws voted by
various legislatures from 1873 to 1892 To
understand the very deep concern that is
felt about the army by the French people
"a concern similar 10 ours about the vol
unteers-one need only remember that by
law there is universal liability TO arms
and that substitution or enlistment by
payment of money is forbidden. Any
French citizen between the ages of y and
80 VINO has not been pronounced unfit for
military service may be called upon at
any time To become a soldier, either in
the active service or in the reserves
Thus ii will be seen how personal a mat
ter the military becomes for every
Frenchman.
There is "a law tlSS2). supplemented BY
later laws, providing that the yearly
contingent must serve three years in tn :
active service. ten in the reserve psrti-
nent army to the regular army, six in
the territorial army and six in the ter
ritorial reserve. The army in the active
service is made up of all the young men
the flower of France''-who have
reached the age of 20. The reserve T. at
is held Immediately behind this active
army consists of the men who have serv-
ed out their time in the active army
These two branches of the French army
that is, the actiyes and the active re-
serves-are drawn from over the whole of
France and are distributed over the whole
of France The territorial army and its
reserves. however. are assigned to Ioca-
tons fixed by the administration from
time to time.
The budget for the present year shows
that the peace strength of the French
army amounts to $40 044 men OF this to-
tai number 26 fG2 are officers. These fig
ures describe the home army alone end
mean that the nation has that many men
at hand in France. The army in Aigiers
consists of 55.Sl1 men, of whom 2,1g7 are
officers. and the army in Tunis consists
of l3,5iS men, of whom $50 are officers
Add the numebr of the home army TO that
OF the army abroad and the total will be
SIS ,4l3, of whom 29. Isl are officers Includ-
ing all the departments the French army
has 1926 horses in its service If France
were called upon to engage in war with
any European nation at this time she
would be ready TO put into the field 54l,-
026 for the active army alone, and 3 80
Tor the gendarmerie and the republican
guards. That is pretty good lighting
force 10 throw into action at once. We
thought We were doing capitaliy by raising
our big volunteer army in the Spanish
war, but had our enemy been France in
stead of Spain, what another story We
would be telling now France. back of her
superb army, has a grand store of men 10
draw on. The number of men liable 10
military service in France is estimated
thus: The active army and its reserves.
al! well-trained soldiers. ?, ,351 900: the ter
ritorial reserve. 1.lG0,Go9 These give a
grand total of 1880 000. Such a tremen-
dous force as this would not of course
be available at once. But if France were
called upon to put forth its best military
strength quickly she could bring into ac-
ton with no trouble whatever an army
of at least 2,5C0.OO0 men.