The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-21
ions on a peace footing stand as follows

Switzerland has, without counting her reserves, forty-seven times as many sol diers in proportion to her population as
 the United States.
 General Guild now spoke of this coun- try's lack of preparation for the span ish- American war, reciting interesting facts and details illustrative of the amazing deficiencies on this polht,
 among which was the statement, pup
 lished at the time, that Secretary Al
 ger again and again had to put his per
 sonal guarantee for payment Tor ofders
 for supplies in preparation for the war
 It was not the fault of the obstruction
 ists of the house that we did not enter
 the Spanish war stripped even of pow
 der and shot Another point mentioned
 was that at the outbreak of the span
 ish- American war there were just twen-
 tv-two trained officers in the commits
 sary department-twenty- trained
 men to care for the food of over zoo,ooo
 men in all the hurry and emergencles
 of war. For thirty years congress had refused to train enough men TOT an e,,ereency. That the fragile skeleton
 of supply departments grudgingly con-
 structed bone by bone by congress col
 1apsed under strain is not extraordl-
 nary
 To this situation of inadequate organ ization and popular indifference III
 peace, combined with hysterical crltl- cism in war, President Mckinley called man who, without prejudice to ms
 predecessors, may be honestly termed inc very ablest man who ever headed the war department of the United states-Elihu Root, of New York. The public knows in a general way | that the army has been nearly trepieo in size, but it does not appreciate that, though much is yet to be done, an enor- | mons step in advance has already been | taken.
 Organization is no longer on obsolete lines dating back to shock action ana | the movement of men in dense masses | If is adapted to the extended order of attack made necessary by repeating rifles. machine guns and smokeless powder
 There is a provision for at least some ex+ra officers who can be detailed for staff work without leaving the line strinned of needed leaders in the hour of battle
 The artillery corps has thirty-n' ne ex-
 ira officers of the grade of captain, first
 and second lieutenants. Each cavalry and infantry regiment has nine extra officers of such rank. Moreover the number of majors has been increased to
 three to regiment.
 Cutting out the number of these re- o1ired for regimental adjutants, quar- termasters and the rest, this leaves still
 a certain number who can be detailed for staff duty without stripping the line. The number is even now inade- ouate. Still, it is vast improvement on the old regime, when there was not an officer to be safely spared. The officers in the subsistence depart
 ment have been increased from twenty two to forty four, and there are ninety six instead of fifty-seven quartermas- l ters and seventeen against seven in spectors. Best of all, there are three
 hundred and twentyone trained army
 surgeons to look out for the sanitary conditions of camps in the next war, and the surgeon general is actually at lae+ given free rein in times of emer- gency to appoint as many contract sur geons and nurses as are needed, sub-