And State Papers 319 



reducing the cost at which they are done. The last 

 Congress repealed the law for the war taxes, and the 

 War Department has reduced the Army from the 

 maximum number of one hundred thousand allowed 

 under the law to very nearly the minimum of sixty 

 thousand. 



Moreover, the last Congress enacted some admi 

 rable legislation affecting the Army, passing first of 

 all the militia bill and then the bill to create a gen 

 eral staff. The militia bill represents the realization 

 of a reform which had been championed ineffectively 

 by Washington, and had been fruitlessly agitated ever 

 since. At last we have taken from the statute books 

 the obsolete militia law of the Revolutionary days 

 and have provided for efficient aid to the National 

 Guard of the States. I believe that no other great 

 country has such fine natural material for volunteer 

 soldiers as we have, and it is the obvious duty^of the 

 nation and of the States to make such provision as 

 will enable this volunteer soldiery to be organized 

 with all possible rapidity and efficiency in time of 

 war; and, furthermore, to help in every way the 

 National Guard in time of peace. The militia law 

 enacted by the Congress marks the first long step 

 ever taken in this direction by the National Govern 

 ment. The general-staff law is of immense impor 

 tance and benefit to the Regular Army. Individ 

 ually, I would not admit that the American regular, 

 either officer or enlisted man, is inferior to any other 

 regular soldier in the world. In fact, if it were 

 worth while to boast, I should be tempted to say 



15 VOL. XIII. 



