The record-union., 1898-05-29
WHY THERE HAS NOT BEEN IN
VASION EARLIER.

1t is of first Importance that the pub
lie mind should be cleared Of all false
notions about the usefulness of the vol
unteer soldier as an invader off hand.
The impression has prevailed to. a re-
markable extent that all we had to do
was to call our citizen soldiery to arms,
march them to the enemy's country,
and proceed to whip the life out of the
other fellows.
This false estimate has been greatly
- encouraged and fortified by the un-
wise statements of the sensational and
thoughtless press, which have led peo-
pie who have not studied the matter
to believe that our gallant home lads
are ready at moments call to engage
in arms with any foreign corners.
In the days of the Civil War the two
forces were much in the same physical
conditions and engaged mainly on
equality. The men on both sides were
called suddenly from the walks and
comforts Of private life They met on
fields more equally than in any other
war in which we have engaged. But
in this contest there is a very different
condition of affairs.
Our men are in the first place to un-
dergo a radical and trying change Of
climate. They are called upon to meet
in largest part troops acclimated to the
field Of action, seasoned to camp life,
and experienced to the extreme in the
hardships Of campaigns which have put
to severest test their physical powers.
1t has become, therefore, absolutely
necessary to get our volunteers into
hardy condition Taken from home
comforts and comparative ease and
thrown suddenly into the discomforts
of camp life, the restricted diet of the
army ration and the hard service of
drill, they are found to be soft, un-
ready and physically unable to endure
sudden climatic changes The most
serious incumbrance for an advancing
army is its sick list Nothing tells more
for defeat than the liability of a large
percentage of the men being reported
for hospital
Hence it is that an "On to Havana"
order could not be given upon the as
sembling of the volunteers. There must
elapse time sufficient to accustom the
men by degrees to hot climate condi-
tions, to army fare, to deprivation Of
meals to the hard physical training
that fits the men for long, hard
marches, for steady runs, for carrying
heavy burdens long distances. to max
ing forced marches. and to camping un-
der difficulties; to habituate the stom-
achs of the men to the simple, coarse
fare of the camp and the field; to IA
miliarize them with the stern discip-
line of actual service; to adapt them,
in short, to the exigencies,, trials, pri-
vations and necessities of the soldier
in real warfare
This requires time. To fail to take
that time, and TO march raw, soft and
unframed men into strange and try
ing climate, would have been the ex-
tremest hight of folly On that point
no army officer of experience entertains
the slightest doubt. especially when on
arrival at the field of action the volun-
teers are to be confronted by trained,
seasoned, accli1nated troops, who have
been Injured TO warfare and all the
hardships of camp and barrack life.
When the Illinois troops landed IN
Washington,recently they had to march.
two miles only, each carrying thirty
pounds of accouterments The heat
was 80 degrees. AS a result, a large
percentage of the men fell by the way,
and ambuFances had to pick them up
and wheel them to their quarters.
When the volunteers assembled at
Chickamauga Park diarrhea af-
fiicted one-zsalf the men, due to sud
den change. and this ran in a large
number of cases into dysentery Not
one of the regulars was so afflicted.
When the First Infantry Of SAM
Francisco was marched from the Pre-
sidio ITO the mail dock the other day.
very, considerable number of the men
gave OUT and some tainted. Yet the
day was not hot, nor the march any
thing near what the troops must ex-
pect when they appear against a
trained body of the enemy in a strange
tropfc land, and whom they are ex-
pected to drive out of their defenses
and force into a retreat.
An officer in command of a regiment
Of volunteers now at the Preside has
found it absolutely necessary to for
bid the bringing of dainties of food into
the camp, delicacies and dishes such
as the men We're accustomed to at
home. This, because he has discov-
cred that he cannot harden his men
on such fare, and that he can accom-
plish nothing with them until they are
hardened to the extent of being able
to thrive on camp fare of the regula-
tion order.
At the Falls Church, Camp Alger,
where some 10000 volunteers with a
few regulars are encamped, the sick
ness is so extensive that the troops
cannot be moved without going out as
skeleton regiments. All this sickness
is of an order due wholly to sudden
change of climate, water and food. What
a crime it would have been to have
thrown these men suddenly into the hot
and malarious climate of Cuba.