Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1907 — ARMY LACKS FIGHTTING MEN. [ARTICLE]

ARMY LACKS FIGHTTING MEN.

Soldiers Won’t Ile-cnlUt | Becraltln* Officers In Despair. i r ._ “There is something wrong with the Atirp - ,” said General Bell, chief of staff, In a Western sikvcll —The weight of opinion nt the War Department In Washington is that Secretary Taft summed up the ease when ho remarked that the trouble with flic army w:isTb?Te“WSS~nsrenoußh of Jt Men can’t la? lured to enlist. The genera] staff has lieep compiling tables that bear out this statement They will be made the basis for a strong presentation of> the needs of the army to Congress. There is a company of coast artillery by regulations required to number 105 -men. which musters just eight enlisted privates in Its ranks. Of course company drill with such a skeleton organization is impossible. This is only one of a numlier of such organizations, mainly in the coast artillery it is true; but every branch of the service feels the same decline. Men vHH-not re-on list nt the expiration of their first terms of service. Pay outside the army is so much higher it attracts the most energetic soldiers into private life. Never before have recruiting officers found their work so hard and unprofitable. The demands upon likely young adventurous men for the rapidly growing navy has also developed a new competitor for the re_crtilting sergeant. . - • A special reason for the refusal of the coast artillery men to re-enlist Is that they are obliged to do a large amount of mechanical work In caring for the eompHtwled fortifications, dress, ed only in working overalls or jumpers and getting few opportunities to wear their soldiers’ uniforms. As to the other branches or the service, the men are being called on to do too much hard work which they regard as ‘unnecessary. Particularly do they object to the long, hard-, periodical praeHce marches carrying the’ full heavy field kit Many desertions are traceable to this dissatisfaction. The staff ; la trying to find corrective measures, but seme measures will require legtslatk»n to make tliem effective. The “hikes” are made by direct order of the President, so the same authority can dispense with them or reduce the requirements. P.ut it is certain that Congress must provide for a ' general and large Increase of the pay ■ of the soldier if the regular army Is to lie maintained nt its authorized strength. Officers may be had, even though Gen. Funstou has reported that a captain's pay is less than the wage of a plumber or House mechanic in California, but the War Department contends that the private soldier can not longer be kept In the ranks for sl3 a month while wages in civil life remain at their present standard.