The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1907-09-13
WASHINGTON LETTER.

esting reading when compared with the
discussions just after the Spaniah war,
when there was the proposition before
Congress to raise the strength of the
army on peace footing to 100, 900 men.
1t was said then that the days of the
republic were numbered and that we were
degenerating into military despot;sm.
The compromise was made, however,
with many misgivings on $4,000. Since
then it has been found that it is almost
impossible with the present organization
of society in the United States to keep
the army up to the organized strength.
So much for the military dictatorship.
We do not seem to have the material for
military dictator to work on.
This is rather serious proposition for
the country to face and it is one that will
have to be surmounted somehow. It is a
healthy sign that the American people
do not take kindly to enlisted army life.
The man in the street refuses to take the
prospect of war seriously and it is CON-
mon saying that we have the men and
have the money and if there is ever need
for an army, it will be easy enough to
recruit a volunteer army. Volunteer
armies have done all the fighting of this
country in the past and they can do it all
in the future. This is true enough in
way. The American people have always
made the best soldiers in the world, and
after volunteer army has been trained
in the field for three years, it is the same
as regular army or better. But if we
we're thrown against the army of first
class power for a real fight, there prob.
ably would be series of initial reverses
that would hurt the national pride seri-
ously.
One battalion of the 18th cavalry has
just finished practice march from Fort
Riley Kansas to Fort Sheridan, Illinois.
This was long march and was intended
to show what the soldiers could do and
what were the defects of the organization
if they were called on in actual war. The
result was not pleasing. The officers split
up into factional fights before the march
was over. and the enlisted men had
nothing but kicks coming. They COM
planned that they were fined without
cause and that with the small pay coming
to them, they wonld have to work for
about five months to pay off the fines
before they would get any salary again.
~
This touches one of the serious causes
of complaint when it comes to recruiting,
and the report of Maj. Galbraith, the act
ing Inspector General, just rendered,
coming as it does at the close of the prac-
tice march, brings out the point strongly.
The pay of the enlisted man for the first
enlistment is $I3 month. This increased
with the length of service and there are
many perquisites picked up in the service
that bring the figure up considerably.
The enlisted man gets his board and lodg-
ing free, his laundry and good many
other things, and the chances are that
he is better off at the end of the month
on his small salary than the average man
in his station of life on day wages. But
the enlisted man does not see it that way
and recruiting is different. Maj. Gal
braith suggests that if the first enlistment
were made one year instead of three as it
is now, it would not only bring more and
better men into the service but would re-
duce desertions almost to a negligible
quantity. But he says also that the pay
to make the service attractive. He also
says that the absence of the canteen in
the army is responsible for much of the
discomfort and majority of the deser-
tions. The canteen was sort of soldiers
club where beer and light wines were
served. Maj. Galbraith says that with
the reduction of the length of the
first enlistment, small raise in pay and
the restoration of the canteen, the army
can be made an attractive place for the
sort of men the army wants to enlist.
He points out also that the prejudice of
theatres and other places of amusements
against the uniform of the army and navy
make for discrediting the service, and he
suggests that if the proprietors of these
places cannot be compelled by law to
recognize the uniform, then something
will be necessary in the way of increasing
the liberty of enlisted men in civilian
clothes.
All of these are serious subjects that
will have to be thought out on working
basis if the Army and Navy are to be kept