El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-12-09
RANK C sLTTa
Uncle Sam and His Army
FRANK G. CARPENTER's LETTER.


big as my whole index finger. AS to
sents Uncle sam is ike a toy soldier
on horseback, while France, Germany
and Russia are giants IN uniform on 81
gantic SteedS. This picture was MADE
for the war college this year, and it is
exact It was given to me by the CHIEF
of staff
We are accustomed to consider the
militia as a mighty addition to the
army in case war should arise. Uncle
Sam appreciates the value Of these
troops, and he is now having them
trained in connection with the regular
army and doing all he can to harmonize
and unity the two systems. Secretary
StimsOn, who has had a long expert
ence in the New York militia said to
me that the value Of that branch OF
the service might be greatly increased
by giving il a closer association with
the regular army. he says that Jne
service has in the past at times lacked
the force and efficiency that should
come from companies Of the character
which have been called int" action The
militia is so largely directed by the
states that in times of trouble the ma
tiOnal government has found itself some
what hampered in its efforts to use it.
The secretary believes in the militia,
but he SAYS we need in addition to 1t
and in conjunction with 1t a reserve
force Of regular troops who have had
their military training in the regular
army and who have gone through the
maneuvers with II from time to time.
This is q part of the plan for the ma
tiOnaI reserve which has been pro-
posed as a part OF the defense OF the
nation. It Is one which the chief Of
staff. Gen. Wood, believes might be
carried out with great profit
How the Swiss Do II.
In talking with Gen. Wood about a
national reserve and the reduction Of
the term Of enlistment, he spoke Of the
efficiency Of the Swiss army plans,
{ whereby that little republic is about to
put more than 100000 men into the
/ field. Said he:
It spent some time in Switzerland
not long ago, and during my stay there
met many Of the men belonging to the
| reserves. Every man in the country IS
I a soldier. and is ready at any moment
to go to the field I have stopped at
| little houses far up in the mountains,
and have found there men who have
/ their rifles and complete equipments
ready for marching. Each has his in
structiOns as to Just what he is to do
! in case Of telegram from the war
department. He knows what railroad
station he is to go to. what train to
take and for what point The plans are
such that, although Switzerland has
but a small standing army. it could
CaiI IOIee Oh EVU,uOv or ogU,Vyu 70
gether within a few days. Service In
the national force is compulsory and
universal. those excused or rejected
paying extraordinary taxes. The first
training Is BOLLeu IN Lue recruit SCHOOLS
where the men are required to serve
IS days for the infantry and the foot
artillery and 80 days for the cavalry.
After that they serve II days annually.
Physical exercises and military train
ing are given also to the schOOlbOys in
the public schools, and as a result the
Swiss might have a comparatively large
army strength in time Of war. The
Swiss army is a national militia. and
militia so trained would be very val
liable to US.
But that, of course, lis impossible.
We do not want compulsory military
education in this country. but we
might largely increase our force of
trained men in private life by making
the regular army a training school into
which men might 60 for period of
two or three years and then return to
private life to give place to others"
300 600 Citizen Soldiers.
THAT is the proposed scheme for
the national reserve, is it nOt?'
Yes, that is one of the proposed
plans. The idea is to make the army a
great military training school and to
pass through it as many men as pos
sible in order to form from them a re-
serve upon which we could call in
time of war. They would not be called
out to subdue riots or strikes, but
would only be used for the defence of
the nation. As it is now about 80. 600
militia for civil life. If we could keep
our hold upon these men and bring
them together Tor rev days OF train
ing and maneuTer each year we would
in time build up a large reserve fight
ing force. One idea was to cut down
the term of enlistment to two years
instead of thee and to have the ser
vice expire at that time. This would
bring a set Of new young men num-
bering from 10000 to so 600 into mill
tary training every year, and It
would add that many each year to our
reserve fighting force. In six years at
$4,000 a year we might have 800 600
men in the national reserve and with
the army and militia be then able to
command in time of war 100000 well