Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1898 — NATIONAL VOLUNTEER RESERVE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NATIONAL VOLUNTEER RESERVE

Grand Organization of Five Million Men Is Proposed. A plan for the formation of a national defense auxiliary to the regular army and militia, presented by \Y. D. H. Washington, a collateral descendant of George Washington, has been enthusiastically adopted by the surviving leaders of both sides in the last war and indorsed by the President, cabinet officers, Governors of States and military and naval leaders who could not with propriety give their official indorsement. The general plan of the organization is to enroll every able-bodied man within projier age limits who is willing to take up arms in defense of his country in case an enlistment beyond the resources of the present instituted military forces is necessary. It is estimated that there are 5,000,000 men who will

thus evince their willingness to act in defense of their country if called upon to do so, and this voluntary enrollment will present to the nations of the world a force immediately available which is unprecedented in history. At a meeting in New York City the organization Of the National Volunteer Reserve was perfected, ami Mr. Washington was elected President; Gen. A. McD. McCook, Secretary; Lieut. Gen. John M. Schofield was elected Acting Commander of the Volunteer Reserve, with Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet of the Confederate army, Vice Commander, and Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard chairman, and Lieut. Gen. Joseph Wheeler, M. C. of Alabama, vice chairman of the Military Committee. The movement is receiving the active and moral support of public men from all localities as fast as its purpose becomes known to them, and thousands have already and are daily enrolling. Those who bo desire may send their names to headquarters National Volunteer Reserve, Washington Building, New York.

CAPTAIN GENERAL AUGUSTIN. Spanish Governor of the Philippines.