Evening star., 1916-01-09

| tacks of superior numbers against
chosen points, this is overwhelmingiy
essential. and our military policy. like
that of France. must be defensive.
| To another point. There has been
| good deal of loose talk to the erect
that the rife is becoming obsolete. that
| the machine gun has taken its place;
| No one ever hears that on the actual
front. In defense the machine gun is
invaluable. Until it is put out of action
by artillery it mows down an infantry
charge. But if any one thinks that the
day of the rife is past let him expose
himself thousand yards in front of
| the enemys trench-frst making his
| will. In five minutes at least they will
get hm-the rifles of the sharpshooters
will. At 500 yards they will get him
| in half minute. 1t is the rifle bullets
which are cracking all day long over
the parapets of the trenches. which
pick off any, soldier who carelessly puts
! up his head. We must have machine
guns, but that does not mean you can
do without infantry. 1t is the infan-
| tryman who takes and holds a posi-
single handed. dragging a machine
gun. He will Immediately be killed by
a sniper. Thousands must charge.
Those who survive and reach the posi-
tion must hold it.
Time to Make Infantrymen.
One result of this war has been a
change of opinion as to the time 1t
takes to make good infantryman.
Some of the German volunteers who
had received no previous training were
in action three months after they had
enlisted Perhaps they were not as
good as the first line German troops
at the outbreak of the war. but they
certainly won encomiums from the Ger
man commanders. In England the new
army recruits made excellent soldiers
I, hoy q in
six that some officers spoke of them
as overdrlled and stale"
1t was the want of rifles and guns to
support them which kept them back
contrary to general opinion in America.
The new army men represented the in
telligence and the application of civil life.
They were used to working eight hours
a day-and modern war is business and
work. work. work-which is from two to
three times that of our regular army SOL
dier, who would not enlist II he had to
work eight They put their backs into
it," for they had come out to fight for
patriotism.
If we compare them with our National
Guard what do we find? That the
National Guardsmen. being Americans
and therefore quicker and more adap-
table, ought to learn faster. So they
would But in one year the National
Guard gets less drill than the new
army got in ten days. The new army
drill was continuous. 1t was carried
out in the fields under something like
war conditions-with the very latest
teachings of the experience of the
trenches at the call of the instructors.
Our National Guard drills on armory
floors. It gets almost no chance to go
out in the open. except in its summer
camps. One National Guardsman. and
an able soldier. too. told me he learned
more in month at Plattsburg last
summer than he had learned in all his
five years. in the guard. Again. it is
not the fault of the National Guard; it
is the fault of the system. We so
around Robin Hoods barn to make a
soldier. The most practical people in
the world. we become theorists when we
approach the subject of war. Our Ma
tional Guards also have magnificent
occupied only few nights a week.
More waste of material: more unneces-
sary cost in upkeep which the taxpayer
must pay.
Officers Only Professionals.
When people talk of regular army
of 25o.o0O. they will please answer the
question: Where are We to get the
men? We have to advertise and plead
to get 100000. and take some pretty
poor physical types. A regular has to
serve four years. and If he is man
of character, he is expected to keep his
word to the nation. But it has become
d custom not to-not because We are
not patriotic. but because the; situation
has become accepted through the indif-
ference of the public He becomes an
excellent automatic soldier, an excellent
shot. thanks to the excellent training
of his officers and the use of vast guam
titles of service ammunition. He is
trained by companies and battalions-
not as an army But If you succeed in
making a regular army of 250,000 men
and half of them re-enlist and fourth
re-enlist again. thus becoming profess
siona1 soldiers for life. you have re-
moved large force of adult males from
taking any part in civil occupations
This is undemocratic. una american, bad
sociology.
In Europe there are no professional
soldiers except the officers and the non
commissioned officers. Every man after
he has served his time returns to civil
employment. If there be advantage in
the discipline and physical training he
receives, its application is universal
Thus the army is the nation, its blood,
sinew, character
The German army is renewed every
two years. Every year half of the pri-
Yates return to their homes and half
start in as raw recruits Germany, with
her hard and fast military ideas, re-
quires only two years to make a SOL
dier BILE to the ideals of Prussian
mflitarism. We think four years are
HeCeSSdTS--WF, VINO are the most
aptable. energetic, quick-learnng of
all peoples. II this country is ever
invaded it will be better to have a half
million men in composite force who
have had a years service than only
100000 who have had anywhere from
four to sixteen years service or a mil
lion of a hybrid organization of four
kinds of troops For you must have
numbers. The day Of the short battle
front is over. Should an enemy ever
land in the United States with four or
five hundred thousand men, he will
cover a battle front of anywhere from
100 to 200 miles. Any small band of
regulars. however brave. must be sur
rounded and outflanked.
Nation Should Have One Army.
And why not have one army? Why
not start it on the basis of what we
already have-the regular army? If a
Frenchman serves three years and a
German two, why should we serve
four? The reason the French serve
three is not that a Frenchman is unable
to learn how to be a soldier in less
than three years, but because the
smaller population of France requires
longer service in order to have first
line of adequate size
Suppose that aside from the men who
enlist in the regulars to get the pay. a
little adventure and comforta BILE life,
we include men who enlist for patriot
ism. training and experience. Many a
Young man who had never thought of