Abilene Weekly Reflector

House Military Affairs Committee
Receives a Letter on Measure.

PROVISIONS CONTAINED IN THE BILL

During War the Country Must Rely Upon
Volunteer Soldiers, but Conditions Now
the Secretary Says, Demand More
Regulars for the Work.

Washington, Nov. 30.-The house
committee on military affairs last
night made public a letter from Secretary Root, under date of the 28th
instant, transmitting a draft of a bill
prepared by the war department for
the reorganization. of the army. The
letter says that the army as at present organized under the present law
will cease to exist on July 1, 1901,
and thereafter will consist of a total
enlisted strength of 29,025 men. Without further legislation, he says, the
volunteers now in service must be discharged July 1, 1901, and the regular army reduced from 65,000 to 29,025
men.

Continuing, the letter says: "Without leaving much, if any. margin for:
sickness, such as the campaigns of
the past two years warn us must be
counted as an important factor in
any occupation by the army, peace-
ful or warlike, of many of the islands
which constitute the Philippine group
the strength thus fixed must prove
utterly inadequate."

In the preparation of the present
bill the minimum number of men is
fixed for each organization, with a
proviso that the president may, in
his discretion, increase the number of
enlisted men in any troop, battery
or company, provided that the total
number of enlisted men authorized
for the army by congress shall not
at any time be exceeded. By the adoption of this plan the absolute fixed
strength of the regular army can be
shown at a glance, and any increase
of numbers above the minimum will
be limited by such authority as may
be conveyed from time to time by the
congress. The peace strength of each
troop, battery and company is fixed
in this bill as now authorized by existing law. The number of regiments
has been increased by five of cavalry.
five of infantry, numbers which would
correspond to five regiments of artillery and two battalions of engineers.
As the increase in the artillery is intended for the seacoast defenses, the
only increase of the regular army for
field service will be an additional
regiment of cavalry and infantry and
the two battalions of engineers.

The bill contains provisions for a
better distribution of chaplains; for
authorizing veterans of the war with
Spain to wear, on occasions of ceremony, their uniforms, similar to the
authority given by congress to veterans of the civil war; authority for
the retirement, with an increased
grade, of veterans of the two wars--
the civil war and the war with Spain;
for the addition of a nurse corps, the
necessity for which has been developed during the past two years; for
preliminary surveys for the establishment of camps for the militia and regular army; authorizing the president
to appoint chiefs to vacancies occurring in the staff corps and departments from the army at large, and
the introduction of the detail system
to several of the staff corps and departments.

To replace the volunteers and regulars who will be discharged prior to
July 1 and give an army of sufficient
size to meet the exigencies confronting it, or such as may hereafter
occur, provision has been made
so that the president may increase the number of enlisted men
without the creation of new organizations. The bill provides for a minimum of 58,924 men and a maximum of
96,766.

"Under the act of March 2, 1899
authorizing a force of 35,000 volunteers, one regiment of cavalry, 24
regiments of infantry and two battalions of Porto Rico troops were enlisted. The experience of the department in placing regular officers at the
head of these regiments and causing
, them to be enlisted and drilled under
a number of experienced officers has
been most satisfactory in putting into the field thoroughly good and
serviceable organizations in a remarkably short time, but the experiment has been a most expensive one for the
country, compared to what would
have been the case had the same number of troops been raised for three
years' service as regulars. This excess of cost arises from the necessity
of sending, these regiments many
thousand miles away from home for
a short term of service, during which
the allowances are much greater than
would be the case if the service extended over three years.

"For short terms of service and
during war when large numbers of
men are required the country must
always rely, as it has done in the
past, upon the volunteer soldier, but
the conditions now confronting the
department demand that it shall have
at hand a sufficient number of regular regiments to furnish the garrison
and perform the work now required
of the army. The number of regiments must be sufficient to enable
the department to relieve regiments
from time to time from duty outside the United States. The experience of the past two years has shown
that it will be next to impossible to
continue the American troops indefinitely in the Philippines without relief."