The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-05
-DErENCgLEss AMERICA.
Dangers That Spring From Laek o. ."
Adeouate Trained Military Force.

A0oQunt0 Itblueu NhAotAsS
To THE RprroR OF THE sUN-Sir' 1 was q
participant In the civil war. and onterea cue
service In the first company that leit ene
county where | resided In Wisconsin, our
regiment was assigned to what was alteI.
ward known as "The Iron Brigade. Az tnht
| time there was not o single regular oWceE
In that brigade except the first oomf1ahueI'
Gen. King. Later on the brigade was oom-
manded by Gen. Gibbon. who was o man
Of extraordinary ability and a West rolnseI.
He left his mark on that brigade so mat Wnon
the time came for action 1t deserXedtno nsms
II received. The presence OF even one tIaineu
ofioer In the brigade had 9 marked enect on
the discipline and efficiency OF the dlneren'
regiments composing II.
Afterward my service was In the western
Army. The Army OF the Tenn essee wac
made UP OF first class material. and the ON
GERS increased In ef1oiency every oay, uut
I do not remember to have served In q slnele
division In hat army that contained o reeu-
lar oflcer. The consequence was thas tne
ofncers had TO learn their business after tney
entered the service. Many Of the m
were In battles before they were three months
In the service. and though they were VIKING
to sacrifice themselves. and sometimes maoe
good records, the truth 10 that thousands OF
men were sacrificed through plumbers OF
the Officers and their W greenness. Inc
records Of the war win show that the oeatn
rate was fearful, not 30 much from CASUAL
ties In. battles as from diseases; These we're
caused largely by the Officers being Without
R R{SSsT ps sIPSpv yss1 sit e. e st ths seas e e t sSlst R fSs
selves. The surgeons also were largely
i Iistdlee Or qG nothlnss u about SH' sanitation "a cation Il was :
fearful experience 70, see 90 many. tens OF
s s6SSiIR d. q tb tSs SsG nssIsG sso snS lsSSr Of cur
What happened at that time Ii what would
Of men that q great war would call into ser
e. GtsFSS ,S S0 s]sas' l RS., | /: see sss ~ sS% e g iSras na%p tr
goes, but 70 imasIne that sradqstlns, say,
viii give us suflolent officers TO handle an
army IL nonsense.
Our Our, system Erss q K b,,s entirely yos too n %a1 Er;ad ro
the capacity, for general command, and
b {cdiisb' q dla naes'i ~ t tfrs' s 1osl9 may .! n pTo,
duoe one or two first class Generals. and that
is all that car, be hoped for; although II q
who would make fair division and corps oom-
m modasfesd and ah one w sSSsti fysesdR3 o sf t that S %oa I'D
al the country with educated Officers, who
IN time q danger could take charge of large
completely overhauled. The sickness and
death that our little army raised. for the
Spanish war suffered would not have 90
CURED II we had possessed q thorou ghly
drilled and competent corps OF. surgeons.
Nothing effectual can be done until the army
is increased to at least 800, 900 men. We do
not need this number In time Of peace, but
we would need many times that humber In
time Of war. AS 1t 10 now, our Generals
have no opportunity Of handling large bodies
OF men. A man occupying the place OF
Major-General may never have commanded
5000 men. When suddenly called upon to
assume the command of q division. or o
corps. or an army, he has no knowledge Of
handling men In the field, but has to learn
after the war begins. This 10 wrong. Every
man who Ia expected to command large
bodies OF men should have experience In
handling them before the war is on.
In. the. armies OF Europe the commanders
are handling sometimes as large commands
as they would In time of war, and they are
thoroughly familiar with manRuvring these
large bodies. and they are as capable of
handling them as a captain In the regiment Is
Of handling his company. Such q system
II adopted by us would indeed cost some
thing more In time Of peace, but II would put
us In, q position where In time of war we
would save thousands OF men through the
efficiency OF our officers. We could then
hope for victory and o short war, instead OF
dreadlng defeat and disaster,
still hope to see before I am mustered
out finally O change for the better, and until
that time / shall dread a foreign war on ac-
count OF our utterly, unprepRred condition.
NEW YORK, March 1. JOHN CRANE.