The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1917-04-20
SAY u. S. FORCES
FAR BELOW FOES
ARMY EXPERTS COMPARE 1893
CONFLICT WITH WAR
or TODAY.

New York. April 14-When the
military strength of Germany and
Spain are compared, 1t is evident our
present army today is less able to
meet the former nations than our
little body of 25,7O6 enlisted men
and 2116 officers was to face the
latter's troops in 1898.
Recruiting has been going on, es-
pecially since the break in diplomatic
relations between the United States
and Germany. but the last published
figures OF the personnel of the reg
ular army are approximately correct
under existing conditions, and these
show that the military force com
prise about 1000 officers and 1884,
600 or 10000 enlisted men.
Regular army officers think the
United States Is better off today than
when il declared war on Spain, be-
cause we have as first line OF de-
Tense the strong British feet and the
British and French lines stretching
across France and Belgium from the
Channel to Switzerland. But that is
the only way we are better off. We
have numerically larger army. they
say: we have a system for enlistinS
a volunteer force which is free from
of the defects that marked the system
/ -. a -
the Officers Reserve Corps, and we
have the probability, some believe
even the assurance, of UNIVERSAL
military service for the couD.iv bui
we are opposed to a nation which is
so much better prepared than Spain
was that our own advances are dis
counted two and three times over.
Regular army officers say it would
be at least a year before the benefi-
cial effects of UNIVERSAL military
service could be felt. No announce
ment has been made of the number
of men commissioned in the Officers
Reserve Corps, tho ii has been stated
that the number preparing for en-
animation for such commissions eX-
ceeds 5000, but if all were COM
missioned they would create a force
capable of offering no more than
IN additional 100000 men.
But they are forced to admit that,
compared TO the situation which woul
have confronted us had we had Ger
many to fight in 1898, the United
States is in far better position today.
Then there was rush of volunteers,
as there has always been whenever
the United States has called them,
and, as army men concede, there
undoubtedly will be when the call is
issued now, but they came in com
mand of their own officers, appointed
by the Governors OF their States, and
previous service or knowledge of
things military has been no resquite
TO the obtaining of commission.
Now the law of April %, 1914, has
changed all this. All officers are to
be appointed by the President and
confirmed by the Senate. Governors
may suggest candidates for COM
mission, but the President will de-
termine to whom commissions shall
go. Nor need he, as N the past,
commission an officer for certain
regiment. Instead commissions will
name a man as an officer of the New
York or New Jersey Massachusetts
volunteer infantry, and he may be
assigned to whatever regiment is
most in need Of his services. Pro-
vision has been made in this law also
for the maintenance of a recruiting
force at home, a device which will
remedy a defect, startling disclosed
in the Civil War. Then veteran reg
iments were permitted to fall to as
low as a few hundred, or even one
hundred men, and complete regi-
ment OF green men were sent to the
front to relieve them when there
came need for more men.