Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 209, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1912 — AMERICAN SOLDIER THE BEST [ARTICLE]

AMERICAN SOLDIER THE BEST

World’s Records for Marksmanship Ail His, and He le Trained to Act "v on His Own Initiative. 1! there Is one big, distinguishing trait of the United States regular, it is individuality. In every (me of the great foreign military nations, particularly Germany and Japan, batalllon and company officers and enlisted men are carefully trained not to think for themselves. They are used as mere chess pieces under the guidance of a master mind. Ih this country, where our melting pot has yielded us an extraordinary self-reliant, cool thinking, intensive initiative product, it is only natural that our soldiers should be traihed as are our civilians. The United States army spends annually on rifle target practice five times the mm spent by any other army of an equal number of men. This applies, too, to our field and coast artillery. As a result, no better marksmen can be found than the American soldier and his cousin, the national guardsman, who is trained along the same lines. Every world’s fire control and accuracy record with rifle and big gun is today held by the American soldier. The United States army is small, in accordance with the will of the people not to support a large standing military establishment. But what we have hr ahm/St 100 pqr cent, efficient, tbe splendid nucleus of the big army of regulars, militia and volunteers which we should place in the field if occasion required. It is only in equipment quartermaster, commissary, medicine and particularly ordnance stores—that our army is lacking.— Leslie’s.