Imperial Valley press., 1913-04-19

understood an enlistment SO short that !
proper instruction cannot be given. but
an enlistment which is long enough to
instruct the men thoroughly, and no |
longer. In other words, we want To
instruct our men thoroughly IN order |
that they may be able to perform EN-
ciently the duties Of soldier IN time i
.of war As soon as this instruction |
lis completed they should return To
their economic occupations and be re.
placed by other men. The change ot
course. will be gradual, aS men are
not enlisted in our army as in Euro
pran armies. at fixed intervals, but
come i'm irrcgu,arly. When il Is re
Imcmhrred tnat our army is limited bN
HAN lu 100. 600. and seldom has more
Than 90. 600. and in ease Of war with a
first class power it would be necessary
tho have immediately a much LARGER
force. 4 portion only Of which can pc
secured hY filling mp the regular army
lto statutory strength ami bringing into
/ The United states service the mllu9
Also brought to statutory strength, II
j. evident to any one VINO gives lit
mailer a moments thought that we
imuSt have some system under WHICH,
| We can ill up these organizations WIN
| trained men, and not unframed ones,
! for to ill them up with unframed men
I
| and in order to ill them qulcKy-loF
Imodern wars come with little notice
we must have trained men III reserve.
| and in order to have them, We must
send them through the regular army
under a system of short enlistment.
land employ similar procedure III the
militia. This means that we must
adopt the shortest enlistment III Dolh
establishments-the regular army and
1 the militia-consistent with reasonably
| good training, and as soon as the men
are trained replace them by others.
IWhat we want is sufficient NUMBER
of men so trained as TO be able TO
discharge their duties as soldiers With
reasonable efficiency, and we want 10
establish this condition with the mini
Imum interference with the economic
Lives OF the men affected: AS the re
tserve must be considerably larger than
ishe active establishment, II IS necte rs
lsary that the period OF service III tne
lreserye must be longer than Win the
lcolorS. t..
Service in the reserve should be With
1.-The understanding that the men Will
mo. be disturbed in their occupations
iur residences. except in case OF Wal
ans for the instruction periods; this
would not, believe, when understood,
he objected to. The reseryiSt has en-
movement during his period in the re
serve. and is required only To keep Inc
war DEPARTMENT informed Of his where
ahOuts. There are many young men
tWhO are anxious to receive military IN
struction who would be glad to serve
rrQr 4 snort period in the army, but liley
! cfnnOt afford 10 60 into the army for
a long enlistment. The question Which
Wn ask ourselves is, what is the m'D,-
mum time necessary 10 instruct mauI
properly. provided Wc are able to con
ccntratp our Earri9ou~ gud - arrange
our military establishments HAT the
bulk Of HE mtT's time will be devoted
purely IN military work? Personally.
Il believe this can h. accomplished III
Two years. ana | believe that aS time
goes on il viii be wise to consider
authorizing an enlistment of not less
rnan one year for men who have Ger
tain educational qualifications. In 9TH
ci words. make it possible for this class
uf men who are going into business
and professions to put in at least one
Xaar Of concentrated military training.
such 4 man, ,(under efficient instruction. |
would acquire more military knoWlcd -e
than the average man does now in |
three years. The shorter the enlist |
ment period the higher the class Of |
recruit: that iS to say, men who are |
as soldiers. but who have the plans |
Of their lives work more or less laid |
out, cannot afford to go i'll Tor long
term of enlistment, but they could af-
ford to go in for short term Of
instruction, and many " them would
do 80.
believe in an enlistment period
with the cOlorS for three years, with
the possibility Of transferring To the
reserve after two years, provided the
man shows himself to be thoroughly
we'll Instructed. Speaking most con
ten men can be maintained
in the reserve for the cost Of maintain
ing one man with the cOlOrS, even If
they receive small yearly stipend.
say $50. and are allowed full pay while
II camps of instructions. In other
words, with a short enlistment and q
'eserve we shall get better class of
we shall get much greater re-
lrns for our money because we shall
Iave not only an efficient active army.
,ut we shall have behind it body of
men engaged in their normal
,ivil pursuits, who are ready to come
O the colorS if needed. Once the re-
serve is established and filled up, men
n into if in about equal numbers every