The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1907-12-04

now eNacts. and has always eNacted. a
far heavier toll of death than all our
wars put together. The statistics of the
railroads of this country for the year
ended June 80, 1906, the last contained in
the annual statistical report of the In
terstate Commerce Commission, show in
that one year a total of los, 80. casualties
to persons, of which 10.61S represent the
number of persons killed. In that Won
derful hive of human activity, Pittsburg,
the deaths due to Industrial accidents in
1906 were 919, all the result of accidents
in mills, mines or on railroads. For the
entire country, therefore, it is safe to
say that the deaths due to Industrial ac-
cidents aggregate in the neighborhood
OF twenty thousand year. Such a rec
ord makes the death rate in all our for
eign wars utterly trivial by comparison.
The number of deaths in battle in all
the foreign wars put together, for the
last century and quarter, aggregate
considerably less than one years death
record for our industries. mere glance
at these figures is sufficient to show the
absurdity of the cutlery against militar
ism.
The Army Medical Corps
Should be Much Larger.
But again and again in the past our
little Regular Army has rendered service
literally vital to the country, and ii
may at any time have to do SO in the
future. Its standard of efficiency and
instruction is higher now than ever in
the past. But it is too small. There
are not enough officers; and it is i'm
possible to secure enough enlisted men.
We should maintain in peace a fairly
complete skeleton of a large army. A
great and ong-continued war would
have to be fought by volunteers. But
months would pass before any large
body of efficient volunteers could be put
i'm the field, and our Regular Army
should be large enough to meet any i'm
mediate need. In particular it is essen
tal that we should possess a number Of
extra officers trained i'll peace to per-
form efficiently the duties urgently re-
quired upon the breaking out of war.
The Medical Corps should be much
greater than the needs of our Regular
Army in war. Yet at present it is SMALL
er than the needs of the service demand
even in peace. The Spanish war oc-
CURED less than ten years ago. The
chief loss we suffered in it was by dis
ease among the regiments which never
Nation seemed deeply Impressed by this
fact; yet seemingly it has already been
forgotten for not the slightest effort
has been made to prepare medical
corps of sufficient size to prevent the
repetition of the same disaster on a
much larger Scdle IL we SHOULD ever De
engaged in serious conflict. The
trouble in the Spanish war was not with
the then existing officials of the War
Department.; it with the represen-
tatives of the people as whole who.
for the preceding thirty years, had de-
clined to make the necessary provision
for the Army Unless ample provision
is now made by Congress to put the
Medical Corps where it should be put
disaster in the next war is inevitable
and the responsibility will not lie with
those then in charge of the War De-
partment. but with those who now de-
cine to make the necessary provision. A
we'll organized medical corps. thoroughly
trained before the advent of war in all
the important administrative duties of
4 military sanitary corps. is essential
to the efficiency of any large army, and
especially of a large volunteer army
Such knowledge of medicine and surgery
as is possessed by the medical profess
sion generally will not alone suffice TIC
make an efficient military surgeon. He
must have, in addition, knowledge of
the administration and sanitation OF
large field hospitals and camps. in order
to safeguard the health and lives of men
intrusted in great numbers to his care.
y bill has long been pending before the
Congress for the reorganization of the
Medical Corps; its passage is urgently
needed.
But the Medical Department is not the
only department for which increased pro-
vision should be made. The rate of pay
for the officers should be greatly in
creased; there is no higher type of citizen
than the American regular officer, and he
should have a fair reward for his ad-
mirable work. There should be rela-
lively even greater increase in the pay for
the enlisted men. An especial vision
should be made for establishing grades
equivalent to those of warrant officers in
the Navy. which should be open to the
enlisted men who serve sufficiently long
and who do their work we'll. Inducements
should be offered sufficient to encourage
really good men to make the Army life
occupation. The prime needs of our pres
ent Army is to secure and retain compe-
tent noncommissioned officers. This diff
Guilty rests fundamentally on the ques-
ton of pay The noncommissioned officer
does not correspond with an unskilled la
borer; he corresponds to the best type of
skilled workman to the subordinate
official in civil institutions. Wages have
greatly increased in outside occupations
in the last forty years and the pay of the
soldier, like the pay of the officers. should
be proportionately increased. The first
sergeant of a company, if a good man,
must be one of such executive and adj
ministrative ability, and such knowledge
of his trade, as to be worth far more than
we at present pay MIN. Inc same is true
of the regimental sergeant major. These
men should be men who had fully re-
solved to make the Army life occupa-
ton and they should be able to look for
| ward to ample reward; while only men
properly qualified should be given a
chance to secure these final rewards. The
increase over the present pay need not
be great in the lower grades for the first
one or two enlstments, but the increase
should be marked for the noncomnlis-
stoned officers of the upper grades who
serve long enough to make it evident that
they intend to stay permanently in the
Army. while additional pay should be
given for high qualifications in target
practice. The position of warrant officer
should be established and there should
be not only an increase of pay, but an in
crease of privileges and allowances and
dignity, SO as to make the grade open to
noncommissioned officers capable of fill
ing them desirable from every standpoint
The rate of desertion in our Army now in
time of peace is alarming. The deserter
should be treated by public opinion as a
man guilty of the greatest crime; while
on the other hand the man who serves
steadily in the Army should be treated as
what he is. that is, as eminently one
of elf of