The Washington times., 1907-12-03
Need a Larger Army;
Pay Should Be Raised

But again and again In the past
our little Regular Army has rem
dered service literally vital to the
country and It may at any time
have TO do so IN the future. Its
standard of efficiency and instruc-
tlOn Is higher now than ever in the
past. But it Is too small. There are
not enough officers; and 1t is impOs-
sible TO secure enough enlisted men.
We should maintain in peace -
fairly complete skeleton Of a large
army. A great and lOng-cOntiRued
war would have to be fought by
volunteers. But months would pass
before any large body of efficient
volunteers could be put in the field,
and our Regular Army should be
large enough to meet any immediate
need. In particular 1t Is essential
that we should possess a number OF
extra officers trained in peace to
perform efficiently the duties urg-
emily required upon the breaking
out of war.
Larger Medical Corps Needed.
The Medical Corps should be much
larger than the needs of our Regular
Army in war. Yet at present IL is
smaller than the needs Of the service
demand even in peace. The Spanish
war occurred less than ten years ago
The chief loss we suffered in 1t was
by disease among the regiments when
ia A. Fv-rr 10
the nation seemed deeply impressed BY
this fact; yet seemingly II has already
been forgotten, for not the shshtest
effort has been made TO prepare i1edi-
cal corps of sufficient size to prevent
the repetition of the same disaster on
a much larger scale If we should ever
be- engaged in a serious conhict-
The trouble in the Spanish war was
not with the then existing officials or
the War Department; II was with the
representatives OF the people Gs a whole
who for the preceding thirty years, mad
declined TO make the necessary provision
for the army. Unless ample provision
Is now made by Congress TO put the
Medical Corps where il should be put
disaster in the next war is inevitable
and the responsibility viii not lie with
those then in charge OF the war De
nartment but with those who now de-
cline TO make the necessary provision.
A well organized medical corps. thor
oughlv trained before the advent OF
war IN all the important administra-
tive duties Of Il military sanitary corps
is essential to the efficiency OF any large
army, and especially OF a large VoIun-
teer army
such knowledge OF medicine and surg
ery as is possessed by the medical pro-
fession generally will not alone suIIlce
to make an efficient military surgeon.
He must have, in addition. knowledge
Of the administration and sanitation OK
large field hospitals and camps. In order
10 safeguard the health and lives OF
men fntrusted in great numbers to his
care. A bin has long been pending be-
fore the Congress for the reorganization
OF the Medical Corps; It's passage is ur-
gently needed
Army Pay Should Be Raised.
But the Medical Department is
not the only department for which
increased provision should be made.
The rate of pay for the officers
should be greatly increased; there
is no higher type of citizen than
the American regular OFFICER, and he
should have a fair reward for his
admirable work. There should be
a relatively even greater increase In
the pay for the enlisted men. In
especial provision should he made
for establishing grades equivalent TO
those of warrant officers in the navy
which should be open TO the en-
listed men who serve sufficiently
long and who do their work well.
Inducements should be offered suffl
cient TO encourage really good men to
make the army a life occupation. The
prime needs of our present army is to
secure and retain competent non-com-
missioned officers. This difficulty rests
fundamentally on the question of pay.
The non-commissioned officer does not
correspond with an unsl5illed laborer; he
corresponds to the best type OF skilled