588 Presidential Addresses 



other point, and again marched inland. Only by 

 actual handling and providing for men in masses 

 while they are marching, camping, embarking, and 

 disembarking, will it be possible to train the higher 

 officers to perform their duties well and smoothly. 



A great debt is owing from the public to the men 

 of the army and navy. They should be so treated 

 as to enable them to reach the highest point of effi- 

 ciency, so that they may be able to respond instantly 

 to any demand made upon them to sustain the in- 

 terests of the nation and the honor of the flag. The 

 individual American enlisted man is probably on 

 the whole a more formidable fighting man than the 

 regular of any other army. Every consideration 

 should be shown him, and in return the highest 

 standard of usefulness should be exacted from him. 

 It is well worth while for the Congress to consider 

 whether the pay of enlisted men upon second and 

 subsequent enlistments should not be increased to 

 correspond with the increased value of the veteran 

 soldier. 



Much good has already come from the act reor- 

 ganizing the army, passed early in the present year. 

 The three prime reforms, all of them of literally in- 

 estimable value, are, first, the substitution of four- 

 year details from the line for permanent appoint- 

 ments in the so-called staff divisions; second, the 

 establishment of a corps of artillery with a chief 

 at the head; third, the establishment of a maximum 

 and minimum limit for the army. It would be dif- 

 ficult to overestimate the improvement in the effi- 



