Year: 1866

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x- Reading Matter onl al Four bPapsa


III iIEttt4rt h1ttTIqnrt nj 1auurur;s
n "our Future Militia i system,,,''s ,td


In recent number of the Atlantic Month
ty appeared an article under the. above title
which contained some sensible suggestions in
regard to matter which is of much impor-
tance to our people, and should receive from
our State Legislatures early and careful con-
sideration. The painful experience through
which we were called to pass during the ear-
er period If the rebellion ought to be fre-h in
all our minds but it is doubtfulif If its lesson be
not already losing something of its force. It
requires no great effort of the memory to re-
call the situation in which we then found our
selves. We had become SO absorbed in the
pursuits OF peace, In the business OF laying up
wealth, that the art of war, the means by
which that wealth could be protected and de-
Tended, had fallen into neglect, if not into dis
repute. Many of the States possessed no mill.
tia regulations at all, and in most of the others
they were virtually dead letter. "Alusters,
were frequented chiefly by roughs, sharpers
and greenhorns. Men of character felt them
selves in some degree compromised by being
supposed to take any interest in what were re-
garded as merely occasions for childish display,
or relics of past age which we had long since
LETT behind in our progress. The consequence
was that when dread war burst upon us we
were found in state of unpreparedness for
the contest which could not fail to work us
most disastrous results. American energy, de-
termination and pluck did, it is true, in the
end overcome these disadvantages, but how
much precious time was wasted, how many no
BILE lives were sacrificed before the splendid raw
material of our patriotic population was drill
ed and organized into the magnificent armies
which were to win the battle for the nation,
covering themselves with deathless glory, is
thing which can never be determined. r


One such experience ought to be enough
for u.s. Such lessons are too costly to be often
repeated. Every state in the Union which
does not wish to slide back into the old con-
dition of helplessness and indifference should
at once proceed to adopt some effective and
judicious militia system. No one should be
misled by the idea that at present our popula-
ton are all soldiers, and therefore such a sys-
tenn is superfuous. "a hundred returned vet
Grams in every village and an arsenal full of ri
fes in every State" do not supersede the ne
cessity for all further preparation. As the
writer in the Atlaatic remarks, twenty-five
years hence our present great army win he be-
yond the age of military service, aid will have
left to their children only their example un-
less we establish, By their aid, some system of
wariike training that shall be available for the
| future. 1t is one thing to have mi itary gen.
GRAFTON; it quite another thing to have mill
tary people. Accidental experience has given
US the ole, but only permanent methods can
guaranty the other"


|, The plan which this writer advocates has
as its foua adation, not the training OF men but
of boys. he says:


Every person who has taken any interest In
athletic exercises knows the enormous advan-
| tage IN their acquisition which the mere fact
OF youth confers. In gymnastics, swimming,
skating, baseball, cricket, it is the same thing
AS a mere matter of economy, one-half the
time at least is saved in teaching children as
| compared with full grown men. But more
than this, it is for them not only no loss in
time, but it it can be taken out of their ieg-
ular school-hours, it ID a po,itive alvan age
| There Is probably but one conceivable position
in which all the PSYCHOLOGISTS agree, and that
is, that the average time now given to study in
our schools is at least one hour too long. Take
this hour and devote it TO military drill, and
you benefit the whole rising generation doub-
| iyCby what you take away, and by what you
This Is not new experiment. 1t has been
tried in various parts of Europe with most
encouraging success, and it has been found
that school-boys who were exercised in some
species of military drill and discipline not only
exhibited the good effects OF the system by
increased orderliness and docility during their
school years, but displayed afterwards an
adaptibility and readiness in the performance
of military service and the requirement OF
military knowledge much greater than was to
be observed in persons whose training had all
come after they had reached maturity.


This system would have one great economi-
cal advantage in that it is applied at period
of life when it would not interfere with pro-
ductive labor. BY it could be secured to the
whole boy population some of the best advan-
tages of the West Point training-the early
habit of obedience and of command together
with the alphabet of military science" We
quote still further: E
We do not need more military colleges
One is enough for the nation, and all public
expenditure should be concentrated or that.
But it is as easy for children to learn the drill
as to learn swimming; and the knowledge
should be as universal. For this purpose it
should be made required part of grammar
school training. OF course the instruction
! cannot ordinarily proceed from the teacher of
the school. But it is the growing practice of
our towns to employ instructors in special
branches, who go from school to school, leach
| ing music, penmanship, or calisthenics 1t is
4 only carrying this method one step farther, to
employ some returned soldier to teach infantry
drill. Let this be prescribed by legislative ac-
| ton, in each State, and it will soon become
universal. A uniform ought not to be requir-
| ed; little effort would secure buttoned jack
cts, which are quite needfill for good oiiqne-
ment, and hence for good driD. This being at
tanned, anything further is matter of taste,
not Of necessity. As to guns and equipments,
they should of course be provided by the State
or National authorities, probably the former.
There should be State superintendent Of
drill, and thorough application OF his au-
thority. 1,4- 9i3i. tl


This is not the place to work out the details
of the system; it Is sufficient to indicate its
general principles Supposing all obstacles
conquered, and this introduction OF military
drill into grammar-school, to be successful, it
may he still objected that thi, does not give US
a militia. Certainly not; but 1t gives us the
materials for militia, needing only to be put
together. Given hundred young men, of
whom seventy five have already been taught
a Uniform drill. and the saving Of time in their
final training viii be prodisious ANY officer