Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1908 — DWINDLING OF ARMY GIVES CUE TO CRITICS [ARTICLE]

DWINDLING OF ARMY GIVES CUE TO CRITICS

Military Men Say Force Is Reduced Beyond Ptoint of Saffty for the. Nation. - X NEED OF REFORM IN SERVICE. o • ' ■■ "i ' m S? . Low Pay and Requirement of Hard ' Practice Marches Are Main Points of Attack.

The War and Navy Departments are trying to reach an agreement by which the marines are to be withdrawn from the Isthmus of Panama and two regiments of infantry are to be sent to take their places as guards. It is fully expected that before long two regiments or foot will be on their way to the canal zone. This diverting of nrmy regulars to a new. field will mean that the forces In the United States are to be depleted beyond tUgt which officers believe to be the danger point. The infantry problem is one of the most serious factors in the greater problem of the army’s weakness. On paper we are supposed to have 30,000 infantrymen, but in truth we have nothing like that number ( and unless the increase of pay bill pass Congress, It Is perfectly evident that the ranks will be thinned still further. An army officer who knows conditions tells a Washington correspondent that in a case of emergency there would be less than 7,000 Infantrymen who could be brought with anything like dispatch to any threatened point within the limits of the United States proper. There are two chief army measures now before Congress, one dealing with the matter of the Increase of pay and the other dealing with the matter of the increase of the infantry. A correspondent says there is precious little hope that both bills can pass. It probably would be folly to pass the second bill without passing the first, for it would be useless to provide for an increase In the ranks If no inducements were held out by which the increase could be effected. Interviews with enlisted men disclose three chief objections to army life, and, in order of numerical precedent, they rank like this: Monthly practice marches. pay. Non-military duty required of the enlisted men. Some of the ranking officers of the army have inveighed constantly against what they call the folly of the frequent practice marches. The men are kept in fine physical condition and as hard as walnuts through the daily drills, the guard duty, the good food, and the regular living generally. Yet they are compelled at least once a month to hike out on the road under heavy hardens and trying conditions for the purpose of keeping in trim so that they will be ready for the field In case of hostilities. The practice march, fairly long continued and to come at long Intervals, has its uses, and the men like X: but they don’t like it coming as it HoejKfivery three or four weeks.