Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-11-29
MAY COMPEL MEN
TO SERVE IN ARMY
GEN. AINSWORTH SAYS SITUATION
IS BECOMING DESPERATE Be
CAUSE OF SHORTAGE.
C0NSCRIPTION AS A REMEDY.
Report Asks Restoration Of Canteen and
That Congress Raise Pay and Make
Soldiers Lie Pleasanter.
RANKS NEED $4,000 RECRUITS.

WASHINGTON, d. c., Nov. %
The difficulty of securing recruits for
the army; the prevalence of deseruon
with the reasons therefor, and an un-
welcome suggestion that the dreaded Eu-
ropean system of CONSUMPTION, or coin
pulsory military service may be neces-
Sary TO maintain the American army
at Its maximum strength, are the, lea
lures OF the annual report OF AdJr.-Gen.
AlnsWorth to the secretary OF war.
The interesting subject OF the status
and future CO the national militia were
dealt with i'll special report by the
same officer heretofore published, and
this last report is devoted principally
to the personnel of the regular army.
Says the adjutant general:
Consumption One Remedy.
Notwithstanding the most strenuous
efforts on the part of the war depart
ment and the recruiting officers and thelT
parties III all parts of the country, it b rs
been found impossible, wholly to D>Ake
good the losses occurring i'll the p esent
strength of the army, to say nothing OF
increasing that strength to the limit au-
thorlzed by law and executive order.
The government, in it's efforts to procure
men for the army, is now computing
everywhere with private employers who
are able to offer much greater induce
mentS than the government now offers,
at least in the matter of pay. If pres
ent conditions continue there will be
nothing for the government to do but
to meet this competition by mat eriaily
increasing the soldiers pay, or to evade
the competition altogether by a resort
to consumption.
Causes of Shortage in Men.
AS to the causes for this state of af
fairs tlC aHInt1nf general SHOW
are the same to a considerable extent
as those which lead to deSertion. Dur
ing the last fiscal year there were 4J222
desertions-5.6 per cent. of the army-as
against IA per cent: during the preCed-
ing year. Reasons for the decrease are
not difficult to ind, according to the re-
port. They are in brief the substitution
of confinement at the military prison Ct
Fort Leavenworth for confinement at
military posts as punishment for de-
sertiOn; the diScOntinuance of final en-
listments at recruiting stations. with the
resulting elimination of the large per-
centage of men who are reasonably GER
tain to desert within few days after
enlistment under the old system: and
the other reasons, already referred to.
which prevent the full recruitment of
the army.
Pleads for Canteen.
These are the low rate of pay as COM
pared with that obtaining III civil NE;
dissatisfaction with the hard work OF
practice marches, drills and the fatigue
duties necessary to keep post i'll good
condition, the abolition of the canteen,
failure OF recruits to appreciate the obll-
cations of a contract and their ignorance
of the chara cter of the crime of deser
ton, frequent changes of company otli-
GERS, due to a shortage of officers, and
the lack of experienced, capable. we'll
paid and satisfied non-commissioned Off
GERS.
The report states that the means for
the removal of most of these causes are
obvious and are to considerable extent,
beyond the control of the war department
in that it will require legislation by Con-
gress both to increase the pay and to re-
store the canteen.
Short IS, 671 Men.
The actual strength of, the entire mill
tary establishment ON October 10 last,
was 5S99S men, including 1890 officers.
but not including 34OO men of the hos
pital corps, so that the establishment was
1861 men short of it's authorized
strength. The deficiency on the CORE
spending date of the preceding year was
1880 men. Therefore, says the report,
the enlisted strength OF the army de-
creased during the past year when ii
should have increased in order to meet
the authorized increase in the artillery
branch.