The Strenuous Life 15 



tion seriously. If we are such weaklings as the prop 

 osition implies, then we are unworthy of freedom in 

 any event. To no body of men in the United States 

 is the country so much indebted as to the splendid 

 officers and enlisted men of the regular army and 

 navy. There is no body from which the country 

 has less to fear, and none of which it should be 

 prouder, none which it should be more anxious to 

 upbuild. 



Our army needs complete reorganization, not 

 merely enlarging, and the reorganization can only 

 come as the result of legislation. A proper general 

 staff should be established, and the positions of 

 ordnance, commissary, and quartermaster officers 

 should be filled by detail from the line. Above all, 

 the army must be given the chance to exercise in 

 large bodies. Never again should we see, as we 

 saw in the Spanish War, major-generals in com 

 mand of divisions who had never before commanded 

 three companies together in the field. Yet, incredi 

 ble to relate, Congress has shown a queer inability 

 to learn some of the lessons of the war. There were 

 large bodies of men in both branches who opposed 

 the declaration of war, who opposed the ratification 

 of peace, who opposed the upbuilding of the army, 

 and who even opposed the purchase of armor at a 

 reasonable price for the battleships and cruisers, 

 thereby putting an absolute stop to the building of 



