The record-union., 1899-04-26
The VOLUNTEER IN BATTLE.
ADJUTANT GENERAL PEELER'S
TRIBUTE TO THE BRAVE.
Interesting Facts About Men VINO
Left Their Homes to Fight
for the Flag.

The following interesting facts were
presented by Adjutant General Peeler,
at the Army and Navy League ceie-
bration, at Pythian Hall on FRIDAY
night 1t was in response to the toast
''The California Volunteer Soldiery,
and was briefly reported in Saturday s
Record Union:
No man can do full justice to this
subject, for it contains the individual
and collective achievements of nearly
25,C0O men, but 1 shall direct your at
tention to a few thoughts which have
occurred to me, and in doing so | make
no claims to advancing any new IDEAS,
for as the old adage runs, there is
nothing new under the sun.
A volunteer is one who enters the
military service of his own free will,
but did it ever occur to you that the
regular army is also made up of vol
unteerS?
BY the Act of 1792-the national mi
1itia law-every able-b man be-
tween the ages of IS and 45 constitute
the militia of the United States, and
from that militia is drawn the regulars
and all other military forces of the
United States and all these forces are
essentially volunteer troops.
The youth of Is who enters West
Point is not compelled by his Govern
ment to take this step; in fact. in many
instances he finds it quite difficult to
persuade the Government that it needs
him.
The enlisted man who enters the army
between the ages Of IS and 35 does so
voluntarily, and l believe this volun-
teer military service exists in but one
other of the great Powers of to-day.
On all the other great Powers a num-
ber of years of military service is ex-
acted of their citizens either in the
active or the reserve army)
While, therefore, there is this re-
semblance between the volunteer and
the regular army, yet there is a marked
difference, which has been well stated
in a recent report of the Secretary of
War: '"The distinction between the reg
ular and the volunteer is sharply
drawn. The regular enters the SER
vice because he prefers the life of a
soldier. Not so the volunteer He en-
ters the service for an active cam
paign, and when that is over and the
enemy surrendered he at once desires
to return to his civil duties
If, then, our military service is prac-
tica1ly all volunteer service, why have
any but a volunteer army? Why have
a regular army at all?
sometimes think that the early
statesmen of the Republic were men
gifted, almost, with Prophecy, so well
did they lay the foundation walls of
our Government They saw the ne
cessity of educating a part of the citi-
zens in the military profession. They
recognized that the vast body of citi-
zens should not be interrupted in the
peaceful pursuits of their civil, COM
mercial or agricultural life, for these
are the wealth producing occupations
of governments.
The regular army was constant ne
cessity; the volunteer army an occa-
sional necessity only. They founded
that little military school on the banks
of the Hudson (to educate its officers,
but not without opposition. for the
States were extremely jealous in those
early days for fear the General Gov
ernment would encroach upon some of
their States rights, and the school
struggled along on scanty appropria-
tions for several years before its sue
cess was assured.
But they went further. They said
that While the general body of the citi-
zens should be permitted to follow un-
interruptedly the pursuits of peace yet
there should be some middle ground, by
which these citizens could obtain some
knowledge Of the military art without
having to devote their whole life in ac-
quiring it, and thus be not entirely
unprepared to meet those crises likely
to occur in the life of a nation winch
its small standing army, however we'll
disciplined, would be unable to meet
Hence we have the National Guard
systen-a system entirely volunteer.
and destined in my humble judgment