Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-22

| required the officer to be mounted. and vii
| be cited upon subsequent vouchers on which
| mounted pay under said certificate i.
claimed. An officer claiming mounted pay
| must personally certify on each account
| that he was mounted at his own expense
| ana additionally accounts subsequent
| to the first that he has continued on the
/ particular mounted duty in question"
Absence Of Commissioned Officers.
Col Philip Read of the I'D Infantry is ir
Washington stirring up the matter of com.
| missioned absentees in his regiment. An
| enumeration of these officers shows tina,
| five belonging to the field staff or the bat
| talon staff and nineteen company officers
| are absent from the organization. In ad-
dition to this there are two vacancies one
| In the grade of first lieutenant and the sec
ond In the grade of second lieutenant. Army
| officers regard such conditions as unfortu-
| nate and having a baneful effect on
army discipline and organization.
; Military Training Counts Most.
OF surprising interest to military men
certainly, and there is no reason why the
general public should not share in that in
terest are the reports that now being
| published by the War Department. EN-
bodying the observations of the rrlined
American officers who waited upon the
| Japanese and Russian armies during the
recent great conflict. These officers were
quick to take note of all that was good and
much that was bad in the organization,
tactics and battle array of the forces which
they encountered.
Capt. William v. Judson, Corps of En-
glneers. was one of the observers with the
Russian forces in Manchur!a. He has sup
piled the War Department with mass of
valuable material and submitted many
recommendations based upon his expert
ence Tor the improvement of the American
army. But Of greatest Importance, per-
haps, Is the following summary by this
officer of what he in Manchuria:
'On the whole, there was little develop
ment of novelties in the recent war. In
deed. we must resurrect the distant past
for examples of some of the implements
and methods used. The bayonet is not OBJ
solete. is the officers sword a mere
badge of authority. In the close fighting
many men are wounded by brickbats, and
hand grenadeS are most useful weapons.
The methods of siege laid down in the
books are now known to be not much
altered. What counted most were not new
tangled devices and surprising methods but
the preliminary training of the troops, the
right tactical use of all arms, and the
proper administration of the great military
business of supply and transportation.
Finally, 1t may be said that when,
under present conditions, two countries rea-
sonably we'll prepared make war. the result
Is apt to be SO near a draw that even vic
tory is extremely Improbable. This is
splendid fact as ii makes for peace and
may eventually lead to partial disarma-
ment by international convention. But
countries which will not prepare for war.
while others insist on preparation, ara the
countries who are acting to retain
war in the scheme of civilization
Army Orders.
The leave of absence granted Capt. John
]. Ryan, 10th Cavalry, in special orders No.