The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1899-12-01

ton, l admit, might point to the fact that
we ought Immediately to have with
drawn from our advanced positions, but
purely military considerations have some
times to be subOrdinated to the interests
OF the empire. and, although many good
lives have been lost in the cause, they
have not been wasted.
The acceptance of the offers of Sir
William Mac Cormack, DR.. Frederick
Trevcs and other eminent civilian sur
geons for service in South Africa has
drawn attention to the serious under
manning Of the army medical staff The
total strength Of the department is only
$40, which is 20 per cent. below the fig
ureS of forty years ago. and actually 50
officers below the absolute minimum de-
cided upon in 1874 This state of affairs
is due doubtless to the insufficient COM
pensation offered.
Return of Dcserters.
Deserters from both the army and the
navy continue to give themselves up, ill
order to be returned to their regiments
and ships for active service. Scarcely a
day passes without the London mugis-
tr;tes having to deal with Il half dozen
or so cases Of this character, and as the
deserters walk out of the dock in charge
Of a military escort they often turn to
the magiStrate with Il hearty God bless
you. OF L ndllk you, SIT.
Many CT them come from foreign coun-
tries, Including the United States.
Several small detachments Of county
yconahry are going out. independent of
the war office, to the seat of war, on
chance of joining the imperial light horse
Lord 1ons'alc and Lord Harris, both
ycomahry officers, are aiding this move
ment. The heavy loss among the British
officers in Natal have led the Military
It.urD,l to hat he hn
abolished. not only Oh account of its use
lcssncss. but also because it's glitter at
tracts the aim Of al enemy and indicates
the officer.
Her majesty, it is reported, has person
ally conveyed to Field Marshal Lord
Garnet WolSeley an expression of her
qualification at the manner in which the
whole machine worked since it was first
set in motion by the Boer ultimatum, es-
pecially in the matter of mObilzati ton.
Apparently the Queen has not forgotten
the existence of the c0mmander-in- chief
4 lapse of memory to which the public is
now rather prone and which, so it is said,
the Marquis Of Lansdowne committed in
tentionally.
s. More Severe Test.
Although agreeing that the mobilza-
ton, so far as it has been carried, is we'll
done, the foreign military attaches are
anxious to see the effect of more severe
test. Said one of them to the correspond
ent of the Associated press today: When
England calls out second and third
army corps, as l believe is quite posi-
ble it will be time enough to say the
mobilization system is excellent as at
present seems to be the case Should a
third corps ever be wanted, I think you
will find the percentage Of reservists who
answered the first call reduced by nearly
50 per cent
Although no orders have yet been re-
warships, there is little doubt, Judging
from the activity on board them that the
frst-class protected cruisers Amphitrte,
Arnadne, Argonaut and Blake and the
second-class protected cruiser Charybdis
will soon hoist the flag. In addition to
these there is now at Chatham power
full reserve fleet consisting of two battle
Ond-class cruisers. two third-class cruis-
crs six torpedo-boat destroyers and seven
torpedo-boats, ready for all eventualities.
d. c:ires to kesicn.
The efforts Of his constituents to in
duce DR.. Gavin Brown Clark, Liberal
member of Parliament for Caithncss-
shire. to resign on account of his pro.
Rccr attitude, have thus far been fruit
less. Meanwhile DIR. Clark publishes a
letter received from the 1ranSvlal Secre-
tary Of state. written the day the Boer
ultimatnm was presented, i'll the course
Of which Mr.. Reitz says that DR.. Clark $
protest against the British action has
been like THE voice of one crying in a
wilderness Of jingosn, race hatred and
militarism.
Lord Hillingdon of the banking house
of Gin. Mills 4 Co., in a recent address
before the institute of bankers. said that
the increase in tho TranSvaal gold output
for the year ended August 81 amounted
to more than f3.OOO.OOO. He said he be-
lievcd the worlds gold production during
the past year would be nearly thrice as
great as it was ten years ago. Referring
to the enormous production of the gold
fields of the world now under British con-
troll, he congra tulatcd the bankers upon
! the fact that the Venezuela boundary
award had added to Great Rritain'S area
almost the whole of the extensive gold
fields Of that rcriOn