Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1907-09-11
OUR ARMY PROBLEM.

We need moro soldiers Dcwrtions arc numerous, and cnlistmcnts few For a nation of the first class, wa have by far the smallest standing army and tho wage is the highest. With eighty millions population to draw upon, why should it be so difficult to recruit our small force, scarcely more than two or three good sized army corps'
 Annual reports of department and division commanders, now being pub. i'sned, deal mainly with this problem. Major General A. W. Greedy, of th. Department of the Columbia, says that careful investigations into the conIi.
 lions were conducted by each of the organization commanders in his di.
 vision, and also by the first sergeant in
 each command, as well ns by one hun
 drcd and Ons non comm issiOncd off.
 cers selected at large. Tho answers of
 the investigation show the causes of
 assertion to be as follows:
 l. "Small pay, especially of non. commissioned officers, and high wages m civil life; (2) lack of cantccn and resultant trouble in dives surrounding army posts; (3D low standard and gen. evsl worthlcssness of recruits, the only kind that can be obtained under the present conditions in the army; (D exscssivc amount of non military work {; (5) hardships incurred during long practice marches; (6) difficulties aris. ing from bad habits; @ failure of rc. ernits tc appreciate the bligations of contract, and their ignorance of the character of the crime of assertion; (S) probable immunity from punish meat for descrtion, and belief that 1t. tis effort will be made to capture them; N) hostile attitude of civilians toward the army uniform; 0O) isolation of certain posts, and consequent lack of amusemcnts.
 Ann1yzing these ten specifications, General Greedy reduces them to three scperate classes;
 CD Those which can be removed only by congressional Legislation. Their correction requires an increase of pay. tho restoration of the cantecn. the granting of extra duty pay abroad and more liberal allowances at home. ap Propriations liberal enough to provide recreation and frequent interchange be. tween isolated and desirable posts. severer laws regarding descrtion, and increase in rations and allowances. Tho army, as whole, is insuficiently and improperly fed, 1t is said. the men earning scarcely more than 90 cents a day, all told, receiving poorer rations than the poorest unskillcl laborer has. who earns in civil life from sl to s3 n day. (2) Causes within the control of the war department. The only one is that of practice marches, which is now under consideration, although DOS sibly there might be some reduction of non military work by neglectinp he appearance of posts. (3) Strictly nor al causes, which cannot be radically rcmcdicd. These include vicious and immoral tondcncics'
 General Greedy has told only n part of the story. With ffty.eight per cent of the assertions occurring in the first year of enlistment, it is evident that the pay K not n vital factor They all | knew the wage they were to get. when they donned tho uniform. Hs does not | mention the fact that every regiment is expected, in it's turn to do duty in the | Philippines While there is no insur. | rcction in the islands nt present. tho service there is nearly as arduous and deadly as warfare, without the honor and upholding cxcitations of n cam p'gn. IL is garrison lifc which we pretend to ofror them. md then we I'd. gurc them to endure the hardships of