Good Soldiers Must Know How to Shoot
Straight and How to Handle Themselves
in the Field.
A large delegation of members of the Interstate National Guard Association
was received by the President on January 22d. He strongly impressed
certain practical recommendations in regard to the training of both
militia and regular army. Parade-ground marching and tactical maneuvers
are, he said, nowhere near as important as training which will make men
good soldiers in time of war, and he continued:
As war is carried on nowadays, ninety per cent of the
ordinary work done either on the parade ground or in the
armory, either by a militia regiment or a regular regiment,
amounts to nothing whatever in the way of training except so
far as the incidental effect it has in accustoming the men
to act together and to obey; but they are not going to fight
shoulder to shoulder when they get out into the field. It is
absolutely not of the slightest consequence what their
alignment is, but it is of vital consequence that they shall
know how to take cover, how to shoot, and how to make
themselves at home under any circumstances.