The daily Alaskan., 1915-01-08

| RapicIty With Which the ReServist
 Responds to the Summons and Is
 Equipped For Action-Conccntrating
 the Troops at the Seat of War.
 Putting a modern army like that of Germany in the ticl6VnvOIves two sep arate processes, mobilization and con centratlon. Mobilization consists not only in fitting out the men already | with the ColOrS. or the standing army, but more particularly of re-enlisting and equipping the additional men that are necessary to bring the standing army to war strength, which Is, roughly speaking, about twice its peace | strength.
 The details of mobilization are very simple. Every reservist or landwehr man has a soldiers pOcEctbOOk con taIning explicit instructions us to what he has to do when called to the colOra He Is moreover practiced in doing it at maneuvers in time of peace. Various ! means nre employed for transmitting l the call to individual men. but it is usually spread by rumor or by the press and anticipated in execution.
 The young clerk, artisan, student or teacher drops his vocation and betakeS himself by a prescribed route to the depot, where be is furnished a brand new uniform and set of equipments Here he has perhaps a few hours in | which to renew bis military aCQu0int- anceship and to finger with his c!vi. Han friends. his parents, brothers, Sis, ters or sweetheart, if any of them have followed or joined him there. AS re servist of the first class he Is not likely l to have a wife.
 The mobilization being completed, the next step is the concentration. The assembly is sounded. the roll called the last time on that ground for many a loyal name-the battalion is formed. | Ii breaks into column and. following the band to the strains of some foreign equivalent of "The Girl l Left Behind Me-" escorted by througs of youths and maIdens, cheered and saluted with voice, flags and handkerchiefs from doorsteps, windows and hOusetopS, tramps impressively-aye, how impress. sively to many heavy hearted wit, uess-through the town or city to the railway station.
 4 few minutes for parting words, looks, embraces, and the authorization begins. In perhaps twenty minutes more 1t Is completed, the interval be tween trains is attained. a whistle, the train moves, Is off, is out of sight
 This process is repeated until the whole field army is under way or at It's destination. The unit of embarka- ton Is what one engine will draw, which. expressed in infantry, is about q thousand men. The distance be, tween trains that is necessary to safe. ty and efficiency may be taken as ten minutes.
 Under fa9orabtr conditions trains fol low one another at thls interval, with only necessary haltS for refreshmcnt and rest or exercise. The officers and some Uf the mrn riGc in passenger coaches The rest have tu put up with improviSed seats in freight cars board benches bnit across the cars without backs.
 Roth the point uf dcbark9tion and the zone of concentration must be at a safe distance within ones own terri tory and protected by troops which in peace as well as in war are on the frontier in full war strength. These are called covering troops.
 At the end of the railway journey comes the deburkatiOn. If this does not take place as fast as the trains ar rive-and it is not likely to when they follow one another at intervals of ten minutes-allowanCe must be made for It in calculating the number of trains to be dispatched per line of railroad per day, or the rate of concentration.
 On debarking the troops, or many of them, are stiff and sore from long crampIng on a hard seat and in poor condition for marching. So only after rest are they moved by short marches into the zone of concentration. It is apparent from these general conSidera- tions that the railroads are factors of capital importance in seeking the ad- vantSSs of the initiative, of determin. ing the general course of operations, for the enemy as well as for oneself. To secure and to keep this advantage both in strategy and in tactics has long beeen first principle of good general ship.-Mator John Bigelow, U. S. A., Retired, in Century.