The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-10
FUTURE OF THE ARMY.
MtIes' Intention to Present Re-organi-
 zatton Plan to Congress

zation Plan to Congress.
 Washington, Sept. 9.-Speaking g. of the future of the army, General Miles said to-day that there were number of matters which required careful and de- liberate consideration with respect to the army organization, and that un- doubtedly steps in that direction would be taken as soon as practicable. The matter of mastering out the volunteer general officers in correspondence with the general reduction of the army by be taken up at an early date, and that undoubtedly would cause a rearrange- ment of the department commands.
 With respect to the reorganization of the army, General Miles said that the experience of this war had demonstrat- ed what military authorities understood before-that the establishment of a standard was necessary to the entire efficiency of the army. He said it was his intention to recommend @ plan of reorganization to congress and that he believed the necessity for it would be recognized by the public and by con- gress. The acquisition of territory ob- vious1y made 1t necessary that there should be larger army, and the expe- rience of the war had demonstrated the necessity of establishing standard and having the troops thoroughly trained to the military service. It was desirable, he said, that the army should be or ganized on the basis of one soldier to every certain number of inhabitants. It was recognized by military authori- ties before the close of the War of the Rebellion that the establishment of a standard was desirable, but from time to time the army had been reduced un- til 1t had reached number dispropor- tionately small to the size of the coun- try and it's population. He thought that one soldier to every one thousand population probably would be found to be about the right ratio for a standard, and that the army, the standard being adopted, would increase, according to the recognized needs of the government, in an exact ratio to the increase of the population.
 It was very important and this had been clearly demonstrated in the war with Spain that there should be a full complement of non-commissioned off, cers and men as well as of commits stoned officers who were trained to the hardships of military life and who knew how to take care of themselves and to look out for their own health and con- fort in a campaign. He said that it was important to .the efficiency of an army that they should have training for the endurances of marches, methods of protecting themselves against severe weather and disadvantageous climate conditions and that there should be a sufficient number of n-commissioned officers thoroughly trained in the knowledge essential to a soldiers life and to the care of the men. He said that it was just as necessary that SOL diers should have proper training as it was to train men to build house or to have a man skilled in his profession to perform any professional service. It was essential that an army should be composed of soldiers, trained to their profession, commanded by efficient off, cers in every grade and controlled strictly according to military princi- ples. That military operations should he directed by military men, he said, was too obvious to need to be stated.