Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-01-18
SON OF GENERAL MCCLELLAN SAYS
1T IS INEFFICIENT.
DEMANDS ITS REORGANIZATION
DECLARES THAT WE ARE WOEFUL-
LY UNPREPARED FOR WAR.
Army Little Better Than q Clumsily
Organized National Police Force
Vigorous Speech by MIR.
Lewis Against ~Increas.
ing the Army.

Washington, Jan. 17.-This was Distric,
Of Columbia day In the house. but only
three bills of local importance were passed.
The remainder of the session was devoted
to further consideration of the army ap-
preparation bill. The debate was particu-
larry notable for u vigorous speech by Mr..
Mcclellan, of New York, a son of General
George B. Mcclellan. attacking the present
army organization as obsolete and ineffl-
Cicnt. He asserted that we were woefuliy
unprepared for war should a crisis come,
and commended for modern methods in or
ganiZation, equipment and supplies which
would enable the United States to meet an
Emergency
The army. he declared, was little better
than a clumsily organized national police
force. top-heavy with the gold lace of staff
officers. many of whom had not seen more
active service than falls to the lot OF a
member of the police force. The army
should. he declared, be entirely reorgan-
ICED. He said this in no spirit of jingoism.
but for the purpose of calling the attention
of the country to the fact that we were
paying a large price for a very inefficient
army, utterly unprepared for war. while a
very small additional expenditure. with
proper reorganization, would work Won
ders. Mr.. Mcclellan went into Il detailed
discussion of the various branches of the
service. Our infantry formations. he said.
would have been considered excellent in
the seventeenth century. He criticised par
ticularly the organization of the cavalry.
AS indicating the poor quality or condition
Of the mounts purchased for the cavalry,
he said we were each year replacing Is per
cent of the cavalry horses. while in Europe.
Austria, for instance, but u per cent of the
cavalry horses were replaced annually. One
of the gravest defects in the present or
ganization, he said, was the lack of a prop
erly instructed and competent staff. In the
modern sense of the word We had no staff.
Our ammunition plant was, he said, hope
lessly deficient. At the present rate of ac-
cumulated reserve, he said, at the end of
five years we would only a enough am
munition to supply the infantry for two
days at the firing rate of the battle Of
Gettysburg.
Mr.. Lewis, Democrat, of Washington,
made a vigorous speech against any in
crease of the army. He created something
Of an innovation by taking his position in.
the area in front of the speakers rostrum
and speaking to the house face to face, as
to a congregation. He charged thai the
trusts were in control of the country and
constituted the mailed hand of power be-
hind the DEGREES of the courts. If the army
were increased, the people would, he said,
be justified in asking whether it was not to
be used to barricade the courts and break
down everything that means the freedom
of the government He differed. he said,
from the leader-Mr. Bryan-whose cause
he had followed to the pit. He was not
willing to subscribe to the idea that free
silver was the single end to be fought for.
There was necessity, he said, for a return
to the true Democracy which had for its
end the freedom of the individual as an
individual. Mr.. Lewis quoted a telegram
which he said Senator Hanna bod Va
ceived from Frankfort, Germany, signed by
A. Seligman. as follows:
Il congratulate you on your election, II
is most satisfactory to me-"
That message, he said, came from the
man who helped to place a mortgage of
$4,000 900 on this government. Its Inso-
lence. he said. had no parallel in history
save In the message sent by Pontius Plate
to the executioner of Jesus Christ, congrat.
ulating him that his work was well done.
Mr.. Grosvenor interrupted to ask If Mr..
Lewis was aware that Mr.. Seligman was
an American citizen.
Il am" responded Mr.. Lewis. HE is an
unpatriotic American Citizen Applause on
the Democratic side.)
Mr.. Grosvenor recalled the fact that Mr..
Seligman, with the credit of his house.
rendered invaluable aid to the Union cause
during the war. To this Mr.. Lewis replied
with the statement that Mr.. Seligman mad
removed his residence from this country
at a time when he feared the income tax
law would compel him to pay his share
to the support of the government.
He is the last man. said he, whom I
should take pride in calling an American
Citizen"
MI. Hull. Republican, Of Iowa, chairman
of the committee on military affairs, ex-
pressed concurrence in the views of Mr..
Mcclellan to the extent that he believed
that the army should be ~reorganized, as
the present organization was obsolete. The
discussion of the needs of the army was
continued by Messrs. Wheeler, Democrat.
of Alabama; Clark, Democrat, of Missouri;
Cox, Democrat, of Tennessee; Marsh, Re-
publican. Of Illinois. and others. Without
completing the hill the cumnjffeo aroea