i8 



THE CUBA RE\li:\V Ami Bulletin. 



Cuba's standing army. 



The War Department has transmitted to 

 the military authorities in Cuba a plan for 

 the augmentatii n of the native force so as to 

 bring up the enlisted strength of the Cuban 

 military body to a total of 12.000 men. It was 

 originally provided by the Cuban legislature 

 that the rural guard should be increased to 

 10,000 and the artillery to 2,000. This pro- 

 vision was made in a plan which was adopt- 

 ed by the general staff in Washington and 

 submitted to Havana, where it was made 

 known in an official decree and met with 

 so much opposition on the part of the people 

 that it was found necessary to change the 

 system. There seems to be a suspicion that 

 the effect of the plan would be to render 

 liable for duty all male citizens between 

 certain ages. Of course, no such purpose 

 was intended, the provision in that respect 

 being the same as in this country, where 

 every young man is liable in time of war 

 to duty with the militia. The revised ar- 

 rangement has the same effect, so far as 

 providing numerical strength of the native 

 military force of Cuba. There will be a 

 small standing army as an adjunct of the 

 rural ruard, the effect being, in the end. a 

 total force of 12,000 men. — Army and Navy 

 Register. 



Commenting on this project, the Boston 

 Globe says : "It is a cruel and foolish 

 proposition. The expense would be burden- 

 some. It would mean the withdrawal of 

 12,000 able-bodied workers from the in- 

 dustries of the island." 



The Havana Telegraph says : "It is too 

 monstrous to believe. There is nothing 

 Cuba needs less than a standing army. At 

 the same ratio to population, the United 

 States would be saddled with the support 

 of 640.000 men." 



It is Needless and Perilous. — If there is 

 any place where a standing army is especially 

 needless and peculiarly perilous, it is Cuba. 

 Tp make 12,000 of the population soldiers 

 with arms for their nermanent occupation, 

 would create an instrument sure to be used 

 in_ politics. It is useless and dangerous 

 militarism. — Boston Post. 



TARGET PRACTICE DIRECTED. 



A general order has been issued from 

 army headquarters in Marianao. direct- 

 ing target practice by all of the organiza- 

 tions of the army in Cuba. 



Under authority from the war depart- 

 ment, the regular season for this year 

 will be any period of three months from 

 May I to December .^i. For the year 

 1908 the months of January. February 

 and March are designated as the regular 

 season, and any month from June i to 

 December 31. igcS. in the discretion of 

 the station commander. 



THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT IN CUBA. 



The medical department o fthe Army 

 has established itself with a degree of 

 efficiency in Cuba thoroughly character- 

 istic of that branch of the military ser- 

 vice. _ It was promptly on the ground 

 and in working order at the beginning 

 of the second intervention. Not even the 



.Mipniiiufiit to the Kough Kiders recently unveiled 

 at the Arlington National Cemetery, Washington. 



Monumento fi. los "Rough Riders" (iltimamente 

 desfuliierto en el Cementerio Nacional de Arlington, 

 Washington. — Review of Reviews, New York. 



calamity of wind, rain and fire which 

 visited Camp Columbia, Cuba, last Oc- 

 tober and in Alarch has interfered with 

 the operations of field hospital or the 

 base hospital or the general system. 

 The base hospital at Cam]) Columbia is 

 a restoration of the former hospital 

 which was established when the Ameri- 

 cans were previously in Cuba, and which 

 was inaugurated by Major J. R. Kean, 

 medical department, who is now in 

 charge of public health in Havana. The 

 base hospital is in charge of Major 

 Charles Willcox. There are, with Com- 

 pany A, 108 men, forining a force on 

 duty at the hospital as well as furnish- 

 ing detachments for service at the vari- 

 ous stations of American troops through- 

 out the island. 



The presence of the troops in Cuba 

 has afforded an opportunity for the med- 

 ical officers to practically test a number 

 of devices. One is the galloping ambu- 

 lance, of which vehicles there are two 

 under test in the island. So far as the 

 observations of the surgeons permit a 

 judgment on the vehicle, it is believed 

 to come up to the expectations of its 

 advocates, and undoubtedly will be 

 adopted for permanent use in the mili- 

 tary establishment. 



The hospital has the remarkable rec- 

 ord of not a single death since the hos- 

 pital was established last October. The 

 number of patients have averaged 

 sixty-five daily. 



