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Show ARMY NEEDS. i BR The St. Louis convention declared for a re- U i flHR duction of the army. This is a subject that should f flflfl not be considered from a partisan standpoint. 1 I 9fla What is needed is not a great standing army, but tf I flHR an army sufficiently large to supply an effective Mt f iHB national police, and, also, large enough to form f &BB a nucleus around which volunteers could be gath- j ' flR ered and trained in case of a sudden call for a I !H large army. We all saw the effect of keeping up j jm a too small military organization when the war jj I flB with Spain was sprung upon the country six H B years ago. Everything was lacking, clothes, jj jB arms, ammunition, everything to make soldiers r B comfortable in camp or to swiftly train them for jfl war. These defects caused the deaths of many iB I flfl soldiers thrdugh unnecessary sickness. flH In the great Civil war thousands of soldiers B lost their lives through the same causes. It tflfl seems to us that a few trained soldiers should be iB kept in every state; especially trained artillery fl men, that every year the state militia should have fl a period of general training with the regular sol- iB diers that they might acquire an idea of how an H army is set in array in active war, and that the j jfl clothing, tents, arms and ammunition for at least j BB one hundred thousand volunteers should always 'B be kept on hand. Were we to have a clash with ! ' fl any European power, quick wonc would have to fl be done and it would be criminal, after the coun- BR try's past experiences, not to be at least partial- BR ly ready. When the Spanish war broke out most , Bfl of the coast artillery did not have powder enough f m to fire a dozen salutes. That was simply tempting , 'jH Providence. 1 H |