The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-07
ANNUAL REPORT OF
SECRETARY OF WAR
Reduction in
Regular Army-The Militia.
Rifle Practice.

Washington, Dec. 6.-The annual re-
port of the Secretary of War shows
that the actual strength of the regular
army on Oct. Is. 1908, was 1851 officers
and $500 enlisted men, distributed as
follows: United States Al. 1872: Philip
pine Islands, 1850; Cuba, 719; Porto
Rico, 212; Hawaiian Islands, 1877; China.
151; Alaska, 500.
There We're also in the service 26 Of
ficers and 500 enlisted men of the Por-
to Rico Regiment, SO officers and sos
enlisted Philippine Scouts and 2,SO7 hos
pital corps men. These figures show
total net decrease during the year of
1873.
The important military event of the
year affecting the regular army has
been the reorganization of the system
of military control under the general
staff act approved Feb. IA, 1908 This
act abolished the separate office of
general commanding the army, provid-
ed for military chief of staff to the
President, who, acting under the direc-
tons of the President, or of the Sec
ANNNtA VI w al ANll GoGllllIlS lliIl, SllOuIQ
have supervision not only of all troops
of the line, but of the special staff and
| supply departments which had there
tofore reported directly to the Secre-
tary of War.
The Militia.
The report says: "Of equal impor-
lance with the general staff act in
its relation to the general military eff
| ficiency of the country is the act to
| promote the efficiency of the militia
approved Jan. u, 1903. The militia
act had its origin in an agreement be-
| tween the regular army, represented
| by the War Department, and the Ma
t1onal Guards of the states, repre-
sented by convention which met in
Washington in January, 1902, upon the
main and fundamental provisions nee
cessary to give vitality and effective
ness to our militia system. Upon the
presentation of these provisions to Con-
! gress, the Committee on Militia of
the House took up the subject and on
that basis wrought out a bill which
with but few changes, was passed and
approved in the form of the present
act. The act proceeds upon the fol-
| lowing ideas:
THAT whenever the United States
!
army will form but a small part of
It's armed force; and the country must
also rely, for immediate and special
| eXlgencies, upon militia; and for serv-
ice going beyond the proper limits
| OF militia duty, upon volunteers
That 1t is of vital importance to
| nave trained force of militia ready
for instant service when called upon.
and also to have a large number of
citizens sufficiently instructed and ex-
ercised in the art of war, to organize.
train and command volunteer forces.
That the best way for the national
| government to secure both these req
ulsltes is by turning to the National
! GUARDS of the states, which have grown
up as state organizations intended for
state purposes, but are composed of
! citizens liable to be called upon by
the national government for military
duty, and willing to devote a consid
cradle part of their time to fitting
themselves for the performance of that
duty
THAT, without at all interfering with
the services of these organizations to
their respective states in time of peace.
| they can be treated as a national mi
MIA to be called into the service of the
United States in time of war: and
| that 1t is for the interest of the ma
tlonal government to make these or
CARNATIONS as effective as possible
having in view their prospective ma
t1onal service as militia and their i'm