Arizona republican., 1898-09-12
WAR IS A SCIENCE, HE SAYS.
The Noted Warrior Gives His Impressions of Fighting in 1898 as Compared With the Days of the War
 of the Rebellion.

Camp Wikoff. Alontauk Point, Sept live must have an army"
 These words were spoken by Major Gensral Wheeler today, net in dis paragemelt of the shattered, though victorious army now at Camp WikoT, but as a concise statement of the les son of the war.
 Probably no one today understands better than General Wheeler what vast changes modern science has wrought in the art Of fighting. and it is because he understands this that he cmpha- sizes the military ned Of the country.
 General Whee.er S remark was called forth by reference to the next meet ing of congrss, in which the general will sit, and which will have to con- sider the important question Of the reorganization of our army General Wheeler would in any case have Q far reaching influence over the deiibera- tions of that body in reference to mil .taTy affairs, but lis position will ba far more important than that merely Of Q member whose wide experience entities his opinions to great respect General Whee.er has been invited by Mir Hull, the chairman Of the military committee, to assist in the prepara- ticn Of the new army bill. The gen. erals words, therefore, have a peculiar significance, for it is more than prob- able that the changes which congress will make in our military system will De carried ous along the lines suS- gested by him.
 General Wheeler discussed his views aS co1sideraoee length, recounting by Way Of illustration some of his ex- periences in Cuba and comparing them with those Of the WAT of '61-'65. It is difficult for one to realize when talking to General Wheeler that this slight. fragile looking man, whcse manners are uniformly mild and gen tie, whose speech flows in the softest cf tones, accompanied by simple ges- lures, is he whom they call lighting Joe." It is only by a sentance new and then that one realizes the truth of this soldiers nickname. But il needs only few G, these sentences to convince one Of the vigor of any pol icy the general might advcea.e.
 Mir. Hull has asked me to meet him shortly before congress opens in Decemher,' sald General Wheeler, ard assist in the work Of drawing up the new army Ill.
 fCT we HtiSt nave an army. The experiences of this war have shown that The secretary Of war said to me recently that he thought we should have an army Of 100000 men, and MT. Hull will draw up a bill on that basis ''
 General Wheele- did not say IL n so many words, but he mado T. easy to infer frcm what he said that. he should net consider a considerably larger 5Iyic ic1H HI In plain why a regular army has become necessary. The reason is the difficult ties experienced by volunteer troops under mCde-r methods Of fighting.
 This war has made very clear to me" he said, the cruelty and futii- ity Of taking men from the counting room and putting them in She battle field when fighting is carried on as it is at the present time.
 You see, our tactics have changed completely since the war of 1S6165. Formerly we used to wait until we were within clOsa range-two or three hundred yards at moSt-befoTe we op- cned fire, and fire in such cases was pretty generally effective. Now WE open fire at 800 yards, and unless the officers and men have a great deal of practice the firing at tha. distance is pretty certain to be ineffective. It takes long training to learn to get the range at such 8 distance, ard success depends more upon the officers than upon the men.
 You see. the way they do is this: They learn how much they can see Of a man at given distance; then when they see 50 much they estimate the distance accordingly. It takes years oE practice to learn to do this. but the regular officers get surprisingly skill ful at it, and can tell almcss exactly from a mans appearaEce how far away be is. All they have to do then, when they have estimated the distance, is to tell the men to fix their sights for the proper number of yards. And when the men fire they hit the target, or come pretty near it.
 Now, the volunteers have not suffi- cient training to enable them to fire with any degree Of accuracy at dis tance of 800 yards. The probability is when they fire at such a distance their shots will fall 300 yards short.
 ''In the war Of '61 the men were using weapons with which they were familiar, rifles, and even shotguns. Hut ill the volunteer regiments that