Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-23
THE ARMY'S
FINE RECORD.
Summed Up by the Inspector
General.
WHAT WAR HAS TAUGHT
There Are No More Patriotic Citizens
or Better Soldiers Than the
Americans.
WHAT WAR HAS TAUGHT

New York. Dec. GA special to the
Tribune from Washington says: Secre-
tary RoOt has made public the last and
most important of the reports Of staff
chiefs to him. that of the inspector gem
eral who discusses the needs of the SER
vice with characteristic candor. From
the chapter treating of the transition Of
the regular establishments from peace TO
war the following extracts are taken:
The battles of San Juan and Ell Caney
opened the fiscal year and the honors uni
versally accorded to the fighting force
have proved the efficiency of the methods
, employed for the military training and
discipline OF the companies and have dem
| onstrated the adaptabiity of the Ameri-
cans to every requirement of military life.
The last year suddenly brought new and
unmeasured responsibilities, special ex-
penditures, extensive outfits and enforce
ed familiarity with unwonted experiences
, in far distant fields and service. with new
Aslatic and tropical environments. 1t
has now become an historical record how
the exigencies of organization. mobiliZa-
tlon, campaign, battle and military gov
ernment have been me, by men Who We're
hurried from the plains to the battle
field. In the broadest view the military
results have been almost phenOmenally
successful. almost revolutionary TO the
national policy and career and perhaps
Hol lcSS cAdGtlIlse ana instructive On Id
than the supremely glorious achieve
ments of the navy.
Our wars have been habitually fought
by the volunteers and the Spanish war
was not an entire exception to this rule.
| though the percentage of regulars among
The first to reach the front during the last
| struggle was perhaps, as great or greater
than in any OF our previous wars.
The mobil ilizaton of so large a force
which by the close of May numbered
nearly 10000 men and received an in
crease of over 100, coo more du lg the
next three months, was no unimportant
task. From legislative action to the final
muster out every step was comparatively
new to the participants and an expert
ment, and the arrival of regiments un-
ai.med or half armed, or of regiments
needing clothing and other supplies, was
one feature and the organization of ex-
petitions by water to tropical islands in
different oceans was another, illustrat-
ing the difficulties that seemed almost in
surmounta BILE and mach that was accom-
plished may have appeared to be done
under telegraphic or hurry orders, meet
ing every eXigency. American ingenuity
and energy and perseverance triumphcd
and will again. whether we profit by the
past or begin all over again in the next
emergency.
The habit of concentrating ineXperenc-
ed soldiers in large camps or requiring
new Legislation for every important step
may entail serious delay or unnecessary
, suffering from camp diseases which are
more to be dreaded and guarded against
than bullets.
1t seems almost an anamoly to muster
out regiment after regiment of trained
men and at the same time endeavor to
create new regiments not wholly from
the material thus discarded. We should
endeavor to send only trained men to
the front and how to accomplish II With
The best results is one Of the profile
before US. Under orr peculiar military
system it is our duty to dsseminat te mill
tary instruction and knowledge among
the asses. but our first attention seems
due the national guard and those colleges
which furnished about half the voun-
teers or other officers and We should do
for them the beet we can--far better than
we ever have done