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Show WASTING THE VOLUNTEERS. "We find this suggestive little item on the military defenses of this 'country in tho editorial columns of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat: Secretary of War Garrison says this country should not depend alone on fortresses. It never has done so. When matters grow especially serious the volunteers vol-unteers become the big fact In the situation. situa-tion. Secretary Garrison is quite right in his proposition that this country should not depend alone on fortresses for its protection. Neither should it depend too much upon coast fortifications of any kind, for an active, alert, well-informed enemy will find means at all times to flank our fortifications and fortresses, and will then attack and deploy de-ploy from unexpected places. At the same time it is impossible to accept tho suggestion of the Globe-Democrat Globe-Democrat as reasonable; for when the Government calls for volunteers, it wastes their lives shamefully, disabling and killing through disease and neglect neg-lect about half of them when thoy offer of-fer for the defense of the country; this saying nothing about losses in battle; this waste being an absolute, sickening, and wholly needless destruction of men's lives. It is quite truo that the United States does not desire, and probably prob-ably nover will need, any largo standing stand-ing army. But it should have a sufficient suffi-cient nucleus of military strength upon which tho volunteers who are so ready and willing to offer their lives for the defense of tho country, can rally and havo their lives protected from waste and receive with the shortest possiblo period of training the maximum degree of military efficiency. Tho methods which have prevailed in this country heretofore of accepting organizations composed wholly, from officers downward, down-ward, of men utterly untrained and wholly ignorant of the military art aud wanting altogether in military knowledge knowl-edge and efficiency, should bo definitely definite-ly and absolutely abandoned for all time. It is tho acceptance of these volunteer vol-unteer military commands, made up Tank and file of those who know nothing noth-ing of military skill, that leads to such awful and weakening destruction of lives; needless, wasteful, enormous, and shocking. We should have our standing army, small though it be, in ' skeletonized form so that the ranks could be filled with volunteers who by preference have received more or less training as reserves, re-serves, and tho reserve organizations should also bo skeletonized so as to receive re-ceive at emergencies nfgc accessions of volunteers for the immediate service required. re-quired. The United States had in its service during tho War of tho Rebel Hon considerably over 2,000,000 men, and yet thero was never at nnv time during that war available present for duty, in every battle or campaign, in all of the armies, evon ono-third of the total number who enlisted. To correct such inefficiency nnd to prevent such appalling and needless waste of lives as voluntoor organizations always entail, there should bo no such thing as a comploto volunteer military organization organiza-tion ever received into tho military service of the United States; but only the regular organizations recruited up to their full strength, and the reserves called upon for actual duty, these reserves re-serves having already obtained fair military training and being officered by men who know something of military mili-tary life and who nro experts in mill-tury mill-tury requirements. |