And State Papers 585 



ing is of a kind to insure the highest possible ex- 

 pression of power to these units when acting in 

 combination. 



The conditions of modern war are such as to make 

 an infinitely heavier demand than ever before upon 

 the individual character and capacity of the officer 

 and the enlisted man, and to make it far more diffi- 

 cult for men to act together with effect. At present 

 the fighting must be done in extended order, which 

 means that each man must act for himself and at the 

 same time act in combination with others with whom 

 he is no longer in the old-fashioned elbow-to-elbow 

 touch. Under such conditions a few men of the high- 

 est excellence are worth more than many men with- 

 out the special skill which is only found as the result 

 of special training applied to men of exceptional phy- 

 sique and morale. But nowadays the most valuable 

 fighting man and the most difficult to perfect is the 

 rifleman who is also a skilful and daring rider. 



The proportion of our cavalry regiments has 

 wisely been increased. The American cavalry- 

 man, trained to manoeuvre and fight with equal 

 facility on foot and on horseback, is the best type of 

 soldier for general purposes now to be found in the 

 world. The ideal cavalryman of the present day 

 is a man who can fight on foot as effectively as the 

 best infantryman, and who is in addition unsur- 

 passed in the care and management of his horse 

 and in his ability to fight on horseback. 



A general staff should be created. As for the 

 present staff and supply departments, they should be 



