Show FLAWS IN THE ARMY. The increased tens on in our relations w th Mexico calls attention to the fact that we have only "5 000 soldiers in the mobile army for operations against Mexico m case of war To th s force we could add only about 127 000 officers and men of the National Guard if all should volunteer for fore gn service which is inconceivable To absorb the first shock of war we should be compelled to depend upon the 2o 000 regular sold ers and such h ghly trained militia as could be obtained in the first few weeks of operations Un der arms in Mexico at the present time in the armies of the various leaders are said to be between 50 000 and 75 000 men In case of an invasion the Mex can factions if they consolidated could put in the field immediately at least EO 000 fairly well tra ned sold ers Their chief hand cap would be inadequate arms and munitions It is the thought that war may be close at hand which emphasizes the n adequacy of our mil tary preparat ons To meet the defic ency in the army Sec retary Garrison has proposed that all regiments bo brought up to war strength This would mean the add t on of 9o 000 men to the mobile forces in the United States which would then total about 50 000 men. Under the present legislation provid ing for reserves only sixteen men have been produced in twenty four months To replace this worthless legislat on the sec retary proposes that the stand ng army shall be used as a school through which to pass men into the reserves w thin a year or e ghteen months If the soldier becomes proficient he can be discharged from the regular service at the end of a year or a year and a half and enter the reserve with pay It s hoped by this means to build up ult mately a re serve of not less than oOO 000 tra ned1 men who could be placed n the field within a short t me after the opening of hostilit es Secretary Garr son shortly over a j ear ago proved to his own sat sf action that the average recruit could be made a tolerably good soldier in a year Ho organized the recruits into a battery of artillery a troop of caval y and a com pany of infantry He docUies that well w th n a year those men were found pro f cient to a very h gh degree Dep te the effic ency of o it eg lar sold e s n the o drnary anches of the e c the ir y do s not omp Gone e al s e ts u h 1 o n ea ol Lu e Vt th b o oh o tl e Lu ropeau conflict the publ c in th 8 coun t v and Amer cans travel ng abroad w ere amazed at the confiscat on by the governments of practically all the motor ransportat on u Germany and France This revealed that the Eu opean coun r es had long planned to supplement tl eir a lroad transportat on in case of war by automobile transportat on The w sdom of the dec sion has been n ade mo e and more apparent as the war has progressed At tl e samo t me it calls attent on to the fact that the United States army is woefully defic ent in this k nd of transportat on To keep abreast ot the times the army must be supplied w th numerous motor veh cles In case of war t would be necessary to com mandeer the automobiles of private c tl zens and t s one of Secretary Gam son s suggest ons that ways and means shall bo adopted of organ ng into a volunteer reserve the pr vate motor veh cles wh ch can be appl ed to mill tary se In the a at on branch of the service too tl e army is weak Perhaps no bet ter av ators ex st than those in our arm b t they aie too few and steps n ust be taken to increase the number of mach nes and operators |