Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1914 — Training 120,000 Citizens To Be Soldiers [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Training 120,000 Citizens To Be Soldiers

—■T was that blazing hot first "W I day of July, 1898. ShaftM I fir’s little army was tearI ing its way through the ■wl tropic Jungle and up the brigJfel heights toward where lay the Spanish riflemen derjTjf I v fending Santiago de Cuba. *■“"*"1 since came to 4>e known as “Bloody

Bend” in the path of the American advance there was a break in the foliage. Directly in the line of the Spanish fire it lay. And so thick was the jungle that the advancing troops had to cross this open space. • • « Untrained in warfare, many untrained even in what is now regarded as primary principles of combat, brave but untaught and unprepared as Americans ever have been in the earlier stages of their wars, the new enlisted men from New York and Michigan and Oklahoma and Arizona and All the union met here the supreme test Scores fell before the enemy’s fire. What was needed most was intelligent leadership, and skilled leaders were woefully few. The sacrifice of life went on, for lack of knowledge to cope with an unexpected military situation.

There came oo the scene First Lieut, Albert L. Mills, First United States cavalry, holding rank as captain and assistant adjutant general of volunteers, and attached to the staff of General Shafter. Four years at West Point and 19 years as a subaltern officer of» cavalry serving in the far west —hard, studious, working years—united with natural capacity and fitness, had made him a cool, resourceful, skillful, trained military leader. He knew the business of war. At once he began to bring order out of chaos. He showed the men how to take cover. He directed a return fire. The advance, temporarily checked, was resumed. Then a Spanish bullet crashed through, his head. It tore away one eye and temporarily blinded the other. But he refused to leave the spot where he. was so urgently needed. Sightless, a bloody bandage wound about his brow, he remained and continued his work of directing the troops as they came along. The scene has been perpetuated in picture and In written description. It stands out as one of the most vivid and splendid Incidents of the War of

“For distinguished gallantry in action near Santiago de Cuba, July 1, 1898, in encouraging those near him by his bravery and coolness after being shot through the head and entirely without sigfat” That N the notation on the record in the war department in explanation of the award of the congressional medal of honor to this officer. Was he any more brave than scores and hundreds of others who participated in the operations at Santiago? Probably not but he, better than so many others, knew how to do the job which the American forces had set out to accomplish on that day. It was his knowledge, his military skill, quite as much as his coolness and his disregard of his own sufferings, that brought him distinction. The government at Washington, these lessons fresh in its mind, concluded that the man who had done what Mills had done at Bloody Bend was the sort of man needed to train future army officers. So, advancing him to the rank of colonel, the war department in the autumn of 1898, when his one remaining eye had healed, sent him to West Point as superintendent of the finest military academy in the world. There he remained for eight years. In 1904 he was advanced to the grade of brigadier general. Now, after two years of departmental command In the Philippines and three years of like duty in the department of the gulf, general Mills is' back at his old occupation of supervising the training of young Americans In the business of war. But It Is In a larger field. Instead of directing the intensive training of several hundred prospective officers of the regular army he Is in charge of the federal activities that assist the National Guards of the various states in attaining military proficiency. Approximately 120,000 National Guardsmen are the material with which he Is wdrking. It is a larger force than the regular army. Something Ingrained In the fiber of English-speaking peoples makes them opposed to the maintenance of large standing armies. They ever have preferred to put their dependence in a citizen soldiery. But modern condi-

tions, the invention of intricate and powerful new engines of war; the need, as revealed by studies and experience of military sanitation; the, development of new and swift methods of 'transportation—all these have changed the character of the soldier’s business. He must know more today than he ever knew before. The Idea of the soldier as mere “food for powder” long ago became obsolete. A higher training is required. Our little standing army, therefore, is today regarded more as a training school and a model for the larger military force that will be necessary in our next war than as the country’s chief land defense dependence? From the citizens must come the big fighting force. In our every sent untrained citizens into the field at the beginning. ‘ The resulting loss life, largely because of the ignorance of how to live under military field conditions, has been shocking. The financial loss in prolongation of the war, in temporary setbacks, in expense of improvising field armies from nothing, In pension rolls, has been stupendous. Lack of preparedness was the cause. Preparedness, then, is the aim and purpose of the military authorities of the United States. They are trying, so far as congress and public opinion will permit, to profit by the awful Wessons of the past. They are trying to make the regular army a perfect military force and to make the National Guard, otherwise the organized militia, just as well trained as any body aof citizen soldiers can be trained. Results are being achieved. There has been an organized militia of sorts ever since this became a constitutional republic. The organizing of it ever has been in the hands of the states, however, and the states have had varying ideas of what sort of a military force should be maintained in the guise of organized militia.

The war of 1898 showed up the defects of our military system in a glaring fashion. This, resulted in the passage of the new militia law of 1903, known as the Dick bill, really organizing the militia force. By this act larger federal assistance was given to the militia of the states and a larger measure of military efficiency required of those forces In return for that aid. In 1908 the law was amended and Improved. A national militia board, consisting of militia officers appointed by the secretary of war, was authorized to advise with the war department on militia affairs. And also the division of militia affairs in the war department was created to handle the subject • ■-.* * Albert T. Mills now heads. Federal aid Is now extended to the organized militia or National Guards of the various states to the extent of about 15,000,000 a year. Of this about $2,500,000 is expended for arms, equipment, camp purposes and maneuvers, about 1500,000 for the' promotion of rifle practice, something like $600,000 for ammunition and more than $1,000,000 for supplies. The result of the new laws has been to bring the National Guard force into closer and more Intimate relation with the regular army, to make it more uniform In organization, discipline and equipment and to establish standards of efficiency, to which all elements are working.

General Mills himself, in his erect carriage, grizzled hair, stiff, gray, military mustache, firm jaw and strongly lined mouth, is the ideal soldier. In speech he Is careful and deliberate, In action sure, determined, rapid. “A strong character" Is the estimate of the observer. It is a correct estimate. One known, without the study of his life and habit of thought that demonstrates the correctness of the theory, that he Is a man of high ideals, spotless life and simple creed of right and wrong.

“Why do we have an organized militia?” was the question put to General Mills one afternoon in his office. “As viewed from the standpoint of the .national government, we have an organized militia to take part with the army as the first line of defense in case of any national emergency," replied the general. “To maintain ourselves,” he continued, “until the great mass of volunteers which is certain to be needed to carry on any war with a foreign power can be enlisted, organized, equipped and trained..

“The organized militia is to be distinguished from the unorganized militia. The latter embraces the manhood of the country. Since 1792 every male citizen of the United States between the ages of eighteen and fortyfive, who is physically sound, has been a member of the unorganized militia. “The organized militia includes the National Guards of the several states. Its reported strength is 120,000. The law of 1903 makes this a more formidable arm than its prototype ever was before. The war department recognizes it as a potent force which, with proper support by congress, can be made a real national military asset. Only those elements of the National Quard which participate in the federal appropriations and conform in organization, armament and equipment with what is prescribed for the regular army are .recognized by the war department as part of the organized militia. This takes in, however, almost all the so-called National Guard organizations in the country.

“The policy of the war department is to make the organized militia an efficient force for national military purposes. The department is without authority to increase the strength of the organized militia, it being within the province of each state, under the constitution, to determine what sized force it shall have. The purpose of the department is to seek to make effective the intention of congress, as expressed in existing laws, and assist the states in so organizing, arming, equipping and training their National Guards that these independent forces when needed, can pass, without reon ganization, smoothly and easily into the federal service.

• “The division of militia affairs is the machinery through which the war department exercises its supervision over and discharges its responsibilities to the organized militia. The division is one of the four co-ordinate branches of the office of the chief of staff of the army. Its duties are comprehensive. They fall naturally into two classes. One is and the other instructional. “Administrative embraces all the details connected with the supervision of disbursements of federal funds, the organization of the National Guard in the various states, and their equipment with arms, ammunition, uniforms and camp equipage generally. v "The aim of the instructional efforts is to assist the states in securing a trained and efficient field force. Under the constitution the authority for training the militia is in the hands of the states, but it must be of the kind that is prescribed by congress for the army.

“With this In view, there are assigned to each state specially qualified and selected officers to do duty as In-spector-Instructors, assisting the states in this practical way, and enabling them In the matter of training to keep in touch with the most modern methods pursued in the army. “The result of federal assistance afforded the organized militia is that it has greatly Increased the efficiency of the force. It is progressing so well along these lines that, with continued assistance by congress and a recognition of that assistance by the states, the nation will have a dependable field force, certainly one Infinitely better than any new organization, filled up with ttptrained citizens, could be expected to be.”