The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-11-11
OUR STANDING ARMY.
Actual Strength Oct. Is Was
About $4,000 Men.

Washington, Nov. 1.-THE annual
report of Acting Adjutant General
Hall OF the army was made public to-
day. 1t deals with every phase of the
military establishment. The actual
strength of the army on October Is,
1903. was 1851 officers and $4,000 en-
listed men. There We're lost to the
army during the year ended June 80,
1903, 29,219 men. as follows: Officers,
1873, of whom % were killed in action or
died of wounds or disease; PSI enlist
ed men. of whom S37 were killed in
action or died of wounds or disease.
the remainder representing men dis
charged for expiration Of term of
service, for disability, by sentence of
court martial, assertions, and retire
msnts. j
Attention is directed to the work of
military attaches abroad. which the
report states has been very satisfac-
tory and proves the wisdom of select
ing officers adapted to this delicate
semi diplomatic work which secures
and valuable information at a mini
mum cost.
Over one-half of the report is de-
voted to the militia. and it gives a de-
tailed account of the workings of the
act to promote the efficiency of the
militia passed at the last session of
congress. inspections of the several
militia organizations, the report says.
comDletedi about the 1st of July The
total number of the organized militia,
including officers of every rank and
grade, was ascertained to be 116, SAP.
Regarding the dependable strength
of the militia in time of national peril,
the adjutant general states that al
though the obligation of officers and
men Of the militia to respond prompt
ly to a sudden call of the president has
been on the statute books more than
hundred years, and of the organized
militia or national guard for nearly
forty. and the neglect to so respond is
punishable by such penalties as a
court martial may direct, experience
has shown that this obligation is a
theory rather than a fact. Without
geing farther back than the late war
with Spain, the proportion of the
membership of militia organizations
who have actually responded to such
calls of the president has borne a very
small proportion. to those actually
borne on the company rolls
Eliminating the men unfit for mill
tary duty and those unable to go to
the front fer logical reasons, the re-
port says that only about 80 of the
original company is a fair estimate of
the number in each company that were
nnaliy received into the service of the
United States
The adjutant general comments at
length on the opposition developed in
some quarters to the militia law, which
anticipated. He says it is true that Ger
! tain radical leaders of the labor unions
regard the militia as menace to their
| purposes, although it is doubtful, he
adds, If this enmity extends to any con-
siderable portion of their membership.
| Continuing the adjutant general states
| that there is an explicabIe opposition on
| the part of the employers to permitting
| their employees who are members of the
! national guard to leave their work to
participate in drills encampments and
target practice, as we'll as in responding
! to calls for service from the state for
the suppression of disturbances. "BuSi-
! ness and professional men connected
with the organized militia of some of the
| states, the adjutant general adds feel
| that they can not afford to waste their
time in riots or labor troubles. while
1 they would be perfectly willing to re-
spond in case of war In some cities of
Virginia, Georgia and Louisiana, the
newspapers have prejudiced the minds
views. The fear is expressed in some
| southern communities that under the
presidents orders, white national guards
men might be compelled to serve under
! a colored commander and still others be-
! lieve that they are state troops and
! should not be ordered for duty outside
/ the state. All these examples, however
are to be regarded as sporadic rather
| than conta giouS and as the intent of the
law becomes better understood with
perhaps some further legislation, it is
! believed that all opposition will be con-
| fined to elements as are not to be salts
fed with anything less than abolition