Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1898 — CALLS FOR MORE MEN [ARTICLE]

CALLS FOR MORE MEN

President Asks for 75,000 Additional Volunteers. LISTS ARE NOW OPEN TO ALL Recruits Are Not to Come Entirely from National Guard. President McKinley Asks the Several States to Let Him Have More Troops with Which to Whip the Spaniards —Call Is Thought to Indicate Early Invasion of Cuba by Army Now in the Field—Germans Failed to Bluff Dewey at Manila. Washington special: The President has issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 more volunteers. This will make the total army strength, regulars and volunteers, 280,000. The second official callsfor troops is as follows: “Whereas, An act of Congress was approved the 25th day of April, 1898, entitled ‘An act declaring that war exists between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain,’ and “Whereas, By an act of Congress entitled ‘An act to provide for temporarily increasing the military establishment of the United States in time of war and for other purposes, ’ approved April 22, 1898, the President is authorized, in order to raise a volunteer army, to issue his proclamation calling for volunteers to serve in the army of the United States; “Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, by virtue of the power vested in me by the constitution and the laws, and deeming sufficient occasion to exist, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, volunteers to the aggregate number of 75,000, in addition to the volunteers called forth by my proclamation of the 23d day of April, in the present year, the same to be apportioned, as far as practicable, among the several States and territories and the District of Columbia, according to population, and to serve for two years, unless sooner discharged. The proportion of each arm and the details of enlistment and organization will be made known through the War Department. “In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. “Done at the City of Washington this 25th day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-sec-ond. “WILLIAM M’KINLEY. “By the President. •WILLIAM R. DAY, “Secretary of State.” It is confidently predicted in Washington that this second call for volunteers denotes an early and concerted move upon Cuba and Porto Rico. With this understanding of it the proclamation of May 25 will be as welcome to the American people as was that of April 23 calling out the first 125,000 volunteers, and will be responded to as heartily and as promptly. In answer to the first call the quotas are practically all filled except those of a few Southern States. When the full number of men allowable under these two proclamations has been enlisted, and when the regular army has been recruited to the limit permitted under its present organization, the United States will have under arms, including regulars and volunteers, a total of nearly 280,000 men. With such an army to supplement our gallant navy we ought to be able to take anything short of Madrid itself. , Like the men called out under the former proclamation, these new volunteers are to be enlisted for two years, unless sooner discharged. But unlike the others these will not be drawn exclusively from the State militia organizations. The enlistments will be open to all men of proper age and physical abilities, irrespective of w’hether they have had previous military training or not. This will give 'a much desired opportunity to many private organizations of a military nature to 'see active service, and it will also give a similar chance to thousands of patriotic individuals who have belonged to no organization at all. Reports from various States indicate that the call will meet (With hearty response. Independent companies are already organized in many of the States, and these will be offered to the service of the country.

To Seize Hawaii. There are indications that the administration intends to take possession of Hawaii whether Congress passes the annexation resolution or not. The President has the power to take possession of the islands os a war measure', and it is Mid that he already has assurance from the Hawaiian government that this method of annexation will be acceptable as a way of getting under the protection of the American flag. gome of the Costs of War. An estimate for a deficiency appropriation of $11,400,000 in the expenditures of the quartermaster’s department for the current year was sent to the House Thursday. Of this amount, $9,000,000 Is required for transportation of troops, $1,000,000 for regular supplies', $1,000,000 for horses and mules, $200,000 for incidental expenses and $200,000 for barracks and quarters. ' - Remembered the Maine Men. The graves of the cemetery in Key West, lie the bodies of twenty-four victimfl of the Maine explosion, and of four men killed on the Winslow in the cutting of the cable at Cienfuegos, were profusely decorated on Memorial Day with flags and flowers, contributed by newspaper correspondents and naval men. lamed G. Longstreet, son of Ren. James A. Longstreet, has been commissioned as second lieutenant in a battery •f light artillery at Atlanta, Ga. • ' . ’ , '".A , • -. «.a >