The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1916-04-22
(Spokane Spokesman-Review

his purpose to a bill Tor
military service modelled after the
Swiss system. Senator Chamber
lain is not hopeful for it's passage
by this congress, but will press it
for serious consideration as a
means of educating the country to
fuller knowledge of the merits and
benefits of universal military train
ing for the young men of the ma
ton.
Obviously Senator Chamberlain
has no confidence in President Will
sons plan of a volunteer CONT
mental army of 100000 men and
4OO,O0O reserves. He sees, as all
the military experts of the country
see, that dependence on the volun-
teer spirit is neither just nor ade-
quate. 1t is like those uncertain
streams that flow put of the foot
ILLS of the Rocky mountains upon
the desert-torrential at rare and
uncertain intervals, only to preserve
a trickling flow or dry up entirely
for 81 weeks in the year.
Washington Saw Folly
None feels this more keenly than
Major General Wood of the regular
army. Washington and the Off
GERS of his time said General
Wood in a recent address, were
convinced of the folly of depending
upon volunteers. They come with
a rush from the best of the popula-
ton during the early stages of war,
but their enthusiasm Don passes
away and the bounty and the draft
follow.
In the civil war we of necessity
continued the volunteer system, no
general policy looking to military
efficiency having been ~inaugurated,
and the two armies, each undisci-
plined and unframed, learned the
game of war together, and after
several years were nodded into ex-
cellent fighting machines.
In this war, as in preceding
wars, the volunteer system failed
absolutely, and both the north and
the south had to go to the draft
and every attendant evil of the
bounty system, with it's accompany
ing assertions. bounty jumping, etc.,
which tended to demoralize the pub,
lie conscience in all which pertained
to the sacredness of the military
obligation The number of deser-
tions was enormous. Charles Fran
els Adams places it as high as
523 900 out of a total enlistment in
the northern armies of something
over 2,700, 900, or nearly n in
five"
Former Secretary FavOrs Swiss
Former Secretary of War Henry
l.. Stimson, a high-minded n IA
triotic citizen, is another advocate of
the Swiss system.
Switzerland, recently said Mr..
j. StimsOn, furnishes a striking eX-
ample of what can be done under
an efficient combination of short
training and the reserve system.
The soldier has 65 to 90 days of in
tensive training and then returns
to his home as a member OF the
reserve. From time to time (abOut
, once in every two years. he has to
serve for a few days to renew his
training. This is an extreme ap
: plication of the system and has Civ
en- Switzerland a force sufficiently
large and well trained to save the
little nation from the fate which
befell Belgium. Her population is
about that of Massachusetts. yet
!, she can mobilize 100000 trained
soldiers. fully equipped, in "a hours,
and car support this first line in a
few days with 100000 more trained
: men. The annual cost of this to
: Switzerland is a little more h a
/ $4,000. 900. Compare this with
what we spend and what we have
to show for the expenditure.
. There are many reasons why we
cannot duplicate the record of
Switzerland, but who is there to de-
ny, in the face Of the amazing facts
and figures, that we are much
: further from her example than we
:, should be? A total expenditure Oh
SOS. 900, 900 in ten years has given
/, Switzerland a trained army Of near
; " 500, 900 men. The total cost to
the government of each Swiss sol
der during that period mas been
$3.50. The cost of each American
soldier during the same period has
r been SO. 900"
1t costs the United States $1,000
a year for each regular soldier be-
!, cause, to get enough volunteers even
to recruit our little army, the pay
!, must be made high and the service
|, light. Service is pitched on in
; ducement instead of duty, while in
Switzerland duty is put above every
thing-duty and obligation.
Swiss System and Small Army
The fact cannot be too often re-
iterated that with the Swiss system
the United States would need but "a
a.ora email Stanlin army. Ile