Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1898-10-22

OOfnpdDY, AbldHJd, GeOrpld.
Ten years ago he published a paper
which now reads like prophecy, advo-
eating the improvement of the standing
army and the graduating annually Of
thousands of trained soldiers capable of
leading raw leyies in time of war.
General Kautz was born i'll Germany
and entered the American army as a
private in tie volunteers during the
war with Mexico. After the war he
took the course at West Point and re-
manned in service until his death, pass
ing through many stirring Indian cam
paigns and tho whole of the civil war.
At the end of the war he held the rank
of major general of volunteers and of
lieutenant colonel III the regular army.
His 40 years of military experience in
cluded two years as a volunteer private,
four years at West Point, nine years as
a company officer i'll the Indian cam
paigns, four years as a general of a
brigade and division and 80 years in
garrison and active campaign duty in
command of u regiment of regulars.
Briefly General Kautz's plan for the
improvement of the military force of
the nation was the elevation of the
standard of the common soldiers to a
point which would qualify them as Off
GERS for volunteer forces. A soldier dis
charged after five years service was TO
be looked upon as an "army graduate, "
and the training received in the army
would equal that given in high class
military school. Familiarity with the
military systems of Germany and other
European nations, as we'll as with our
peculiar military needs, qualified him
to be critic and an originator.
General Kautz considered long term
of routine military service merely arbi-
trary, because in Germany the recruit
who has acquired certain standard of
mental efficiency is compelled to serve
but one year with his regiment. Those
held longer are retained for the purpose
of completing their education. The
German army, he said was a school for
the spread of education among the
masses. He declared that the United
States army should be a school for en-
listed men who should not be re-enlist-
ed, but returned to their homes to act
as instructors for the militia.
The whole system of drill in vogue
in this country, the general said, was
out of place. being borrowed from coun-
tries which invented it for the purpose of
keeping large standing armies employed
in time of peace. 1t has no value in the
actual warfare in which we engage.
The most valuable service of our reg
ular soldiers, in the main, is to serve
as machines and afford limited class
of officers opportunity to practice mill
tary administration These are the
words of an officer who had spent near
ly 40 years among regulars when he
wrote them.
The annual cost per man of the reg
ular army is about 81, 900, and the to-
tai ranges between $50, 600, 600 and
$40, 600, 600 This sum, General Kautz
asserted, would support 100 West Point
academies and graduate 3, 600 to 5000
capable officers each year.
By turning the regular army into a
HNAtoDA III NAA1ADNAN HAtil VIC EJitti 81
thought the country would receive back
fair return for the money expended
upon it. His plan was to I'LL the ranks
by recruits drawn from the congression-
al districts pro rata. The candidates
should not be over 2l and the educa-
ton afforded should be one to tempt
the ambitious boys who have bent for
military life and yet are unable to bear
the expense of military education. The
army graduate would return home well
equipped for various vocations in civil
life which would be open to him in the
district where he resides He would at
once take rank as professionally train
ed man and military authority In
this connection the general states that
the actual military training of man
can be completed in the course of a very
few months Having learned to drill,
he can always drill, and having learned
to shoot he can always shoot. Reiterat-
ed practice becomes irksome and me-
chanical.
General Kautz placed much stress
upon the benefit to the soldier, and
through him to tho country, of the ed
uoation to be gained with the army