Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-12-06
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Army La Large Enough at the Pres
ent Time,

ent Time.
It is not necessary to increase our Army
beyond its present size at this time But
point of eficiency. The individual units
who as officers and enlisted men compose
this Army, are, We have good reason to
believe, at least as efficient as those of
any other army in the entire world. #
is our duty to see that their training is
Of kind to insure the highest possible
expression of power to these units when
acting in combination.
The conditions of modern war are such
as to make an infinitely heavier demand
than ever before upon the individual char
acter and capacity of the officer and the
enlisted Ii is7d ma man. and to make it far more
dcut for men to to act together with e
in extended order, which means that each
man must act for himself and at the same
time act in combination with others with
eibow-to-elbow touch Under such con-
ditions few men of the highest excel
without the special skill which is only
found as the result of special training ap-
piled to men of exceptional physique and
fighting man and the most difficult to per-
feet Is the rif1eman who is also a skiliful
and daring rider.
The proportion of our cavalry regiments
mas wisely been increased.
General STAFF.
A general staff should be created. AS
| ments, they should be filled by details
| from the line. the men SO detailed return
ing after while to their line duties. 1t
| is very undesirable to have the senior
grades of the Army composed of men who
have come to fill the positions by the
mere fact of seniority. A system should
| eliminat ton, grade by grade, of those who
seem unfit to render the best service in
the next grade; Justice to the veterans
Army would seem to require that in the
matter of retirements they be given by
law the same privileges accorded to Their
comrades in the Navy.
Field Exercises.
| Our Army is so small and so much scat
| tered that 1t is very difficult to give the
and the enlisted men) chance to practice
| maneuvers in mass and on a compara-
lively large scale. In time of need nc
amount Of individual excellence would
avail against the paralysis which would
follow inability to work as coherent
shp rhe sband anH paovse
whereby 1t will be possible to have field
exercises by at least division of regu.
lars, and, If possible, also division OF
| exercises might take the form of field
maneuvers; or. if on the Gulf Coast or the
Pacific or Atlantic seaboard, or in the
/ region of the Great Lakes, the Army corps
when assembled should be marched from
some inland point to- some point on the
| water, there embarked, disembarked after
| a couple Of days journey at some othel
point, and again marched inland. Only
| by actual handling and providing for meI
in masses while they are marching, camp
ing, embarking and disembarking, will 4
| be possible to train the higher officers tt
perform their duties well and smoothly.
recognizing the Army.
Much good has already come from the
act reorganizing the Army, passed early
in the present year. The three prime re-
forms, all of them of literally inestima bic
value, are, first, the substitution of four
year details from the line for permanent
appointments in the so-called stan divt
| sions; second, the establishment of
corps of artillery with chief at tn,
head; third, the establishment of a max
imum and minimum limit for the Army
| 1t woulu be difficult to overestimate tn,
Improvement in the efficiency of our Army
which these three reforms are making
and have in part already effected.
Volunteer Forces.
Action should be taken in reference t,
the militia and to- the raising of voluntee
forces. Our militia law Is obsolete ant
worthless. The organization and arma
ment OF the National Guard of the severa
states, which are treated as militia in tn,
appropriations by the Congress, should b.
made Identical with those provided 70
the regular forces. The obligations an,
duties OF the guard in time of war shouI,
be carefully defined, and system estab
Ished by law under which the metho
i Of procedure of raising volunteer force
should be prescribed in advance. 1t is ut
terly impossible in the excitement an,
haste Of impending war to do this sat
! isfactorily IL the arrangements have no
been made long beforehand. Provision
should be made for utilizing in the frs
volunteer organizations called out tn
training of those citizens who have al
! ready had experience under arms, an
! especially for the selection in advance o
the officers Of any force which may b
raised for careful selection of the kin
necessary Is impossible after the outbreal