The Landwehr battalion districts, the company districts, and the regimental depots are the links which, in foreign services, connect the people with the army. In each battalion district in Germany, for example, there is a cadre consisting of a field officer, an adjutant, and three noncommissioned officers. The rolls of all men in the reserve, in the Ersatz reserve, as also in the Landwehr, are kept at the district headquarters. A sergeant-major, or first sergeant, lives in each company district and serves as a medium of communications with the men at their homes.

When war is declared, each regiment designates a battalion to serve as a regimental depot. It consists of 22 officers, and may be recruited as high as 1,208 noncommissioned officers and men. The three battalions in the field, the depot battalion, the cadre of the Landwehr battalion, and company districts, all form part of one and the same regiment. Whenever a regiment loses 10 per cent of its men from battle or disease, the colonel does not apply for recruits to the adjutantgeneral at Berlin, but sends an order direct to the commander of the depot battalion to forward at once the number required. No man, after having once been enrolled in the army for active service, can skulk away and return to his home. The regulations require that all men in the reserve, the Landwehr, Ersatz reserve, or on furlough, shall, on returning to their company districts, report in person to the sergeant-major. The Government thus knows where every soldier is, who owes military service. If one deserts, and does not return to his home, he cannot long remain undiscovered by the many officers and

By a General Order of the Headquarters of the Army, dated August 31, 1899, the third battalions of the First, Second, Fifth, Eighth, and Tenth regiments of infantry were designated depot battalions, in contradistinction with the other two battalions, which were to be known as active battalions. Later in the same year, the provisions of the order were extended to the Fifteenth, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-fifth regiments of infantry and the Second regiment of artillery; and in the following year (1900) it was further extended to the First, Third, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth regiments of cavalry and the Second, Fifth, Eighth, and Eleventh regiments of infantry. In all cases it was provided that the officers and men of the regiments named who were unfit for active service should be transferred to the depot battalions or squadrons and replaced by an equal number of able-bodied men from those battalions. In no case was the system applied until the regiment concerned was about to depart for foreign service, and ceased with its return to the home station. The system has not worked satisfactorily in practice, and has been allowed to lapse-regiments at the present time being sent on foreign service intact.

In Europe-Germany, for example-there is a fourth battalion, which in time of war becomes the depot battalion. It transfers its personnel to the other battalions to bring them up to war strength, and immediately begins recruiting to maintain that strength by successive detachments of reenforcements to the active battalions in the field, thus leaving the three active battalions of the regiments intact.-EDITORS.

men who are undergoing military training in the districts where he may seek refuge.

This district regulation, as a dead letter, has existed in our military system since 1792, and was again reenacted in section 1626, Revised Statutes, which reads:

It shall be the duty of every captain or commanding officer of a company to enroll every such citizen residing within the bounds of his company, and all those who may, from time to time, arrive at the age of 18 years, or who, being of the age of 18 years and under the age of 45 years, come to reside within his bounds."

Wherever Congress has shown a disposition to adopt the principle. of military organization observed in continental armies, it has been dissuaded from its purpose by the demagogic admonition that foreign organizations are dangerous to liberty. This cry has frequently been uttered in the Army, and is still held in reserve by those who are selfishly interested in the perpetuation of our present effete organization.

Whether their advice up to the year 1862 was for the good or evil of the country, will appear upon examining the measures adopted by the Government to suppress the evils of desertion and absence without leave. Congress had been generous in voting a million of men, but in blindly relying on voluntary enlistments and the cooperation of governors it did not consider territorial recruitment, regimental depots, and obligatory military service as worthy of consideration. As a consequence, the only territorial limits recognized by the law. were the States which, as in the cases of Rhode Island and California. varied anywhere from 1,300 to 159,000 square miles.

After the refusal to accept individual offers to raise troops, there was no direct link between the Government and the people. A mustering officer was stationed here and there in the large cities, who received and mustered into the service such organizations as were tendered by the States. Within these muster limits the Government had no military agents. It was not deemed necessary, nor were any efforts made to credit localities, like townships or counties, with the number of men furnished. When, as in the beginning of the Revolution, it was not thought possible for military enthusiasm to die out, governors whose quotas had been filled, saw with indifference, rejected organizations tendering their services to the governors of other States.

This option to enlist in any part of the country, regardless of the place of birth and citizenship, was another means of facilitating and encouraging desertion. In the absence of battalion and company districts, no stranger was looked upon with suspicion; if a deserter, there was no one to arrest him; if he reenlisted, the new community considered him a patriot. While all these evils had their origin in the law, the remedies applied had to be devised by the War Department. Adopted by a Secretary of War whose civil ability was unquestioned, the inadequacy, not to say absurdity, of each successive measure, should teach us the wisdom of adopting in time of peace a system, which will need no development or remodeling in time of war.

a Under the act of Congress approved January 21, 1903, the militia shall consist of every able-bodied male citizen of the respective States, Territories, and the District of Columbia, and every able-bodied male of foreign birth who has declared his intention to become a citizen, who is more than 18 and less than 45 years of age. Under section 2 of the act, certain persons are exempted.-EDITORS.

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The first General Order for the correction and control of absenteeism was dated April 7, 1862. The first paragraph, already referred to, placed all General Hospitals under the direction of the Surgeon-General. The second paragraph, partly quoted, placed all the General Hospitals in any particular city under the charge of a chief medical officer, who alone was authorized to sign certificates of disability, which were then forwarded for the action of a military commander.

The seventh, eighth, and ninth paragraphs read:

7. It is made the duty of each military commander to correct, as far as may be in his power, the evils and irregularities arising from the peculiar state of the service at this time, by collecting stragglers and sending them forward to their proper stations or discharging them on certificates of disability, if on examination by the chief medical officer they be found unfit for the service.

8. The military commander in each city will have control of such guards as may be furnished to preserve discipline and good order at the several military hospitals. He will advise the Adjutant-General of the Army, what number of companies will be required for such guards. He will cause them to be properly posted, relieved, and instructed.

9. Whenever the chief medical officer shall report a number of patients as fit to join their regiments, the military commander will give the necessary orders to have them forwarded in good order and under suitable conduct.a

The eleventh paragraph, relative to paroled prisoners, devolved upon governors duties pertaining to a regimental depot. It prescribed:

All officers and enlisted men of volunteers who are on parole not to serve against the rebels, will be considered on leave of absence until notified of their exchange or discharge. They will immediately report their address to the governors of their States, who will be duly informed from this office as to their exchange or discharge.

To perform all the labors incident to discharging the sick, collecting convalescents, stragglers, absentees, and deserters, and forwarding them to their regiments. the order designated in all but four military commanders. These officers were the Military Governor of the District of Columbia, the commander of the Middle Department in the city of Baltimore, a lieutenant-colonel of artillery in the city of Philadelphia, and a colonel of artillery in the city of New York.

May 10, 1862, General Orders, No. 51, directed commanders of departments to designate-

some officer in each city or town where there is a General Hospital to perform the functions assigned to military commanders in General Orders, No. 36.

The effect of this order was to place a military representative of the Government at every point where there was a General Hospital. Before it was issued, as will be seen from General Orders, No. 36, there were none for the New England States, nor any for the States West of the Alleghenies.

June 6, 1862, in General Orders, No. 60, the aid of the governors was invoked to enable absentees fit for duty, to return to their regiments. To this end, the governors were authorized to grant passes or certificates to the absentees, which entitled them to transportation to the station of the nearest United States mustering officer or quartermaster. These officers in turn paid the transportation under the passes, and further provided the means for the men to join their regiments in the field.

a General Orders, No. 36, A. G. O., 1862.

The next day, June 7, General Orders, No. 61, was issued, relating to absent officers. It began:

The great number of officers absent from their regiments without sufficient cause is a serious evil which calls for immediate correction.

*

* *

The third paragraph directed all officers who were able to travel, whether sick or wounded, to repair, those in the East to Annapolis, those in the West to Camp Chase, Ohio. For want of the War Department's own representatives, the next to the last paragraph began:

Their Excellencies the governors of States are requested to make known this order and to contribute to its execution as may be in their power.

Copies of the order were furnished them for distribution, as also to mustering and recruiting officers.

June 12, General Orders, No. 65, prohibited captains and colonels from granting furloughs on any pretext whatever, and declared that any soldier provided with such a furlough would not be relieved from the charge of desertion. The next paragraph declared that all enlisted men absent without proper authority were, "in fact, deserters,” subject to forfeiture of pay and allowances and to all the penalties awarded by the law to such an offense. If otherwise unable to join, the deserters were informed in the next paragraph that—

by application to the governors of their States, or to any military commander or United States mustering officer in a city, transportation could be procured to their regiments.

The necessity for more officers to perform the functions of " military commanders," as prescribed by General Orders, Nos. 36 and 51, constantly increased. The next paragraph, therefore, directed that where no military commander had been appointed, his duties should be performed by the senior officer of the army on duty as mustering or recruiting officer in the place," until such an appointment should be made. The next paragraph sought to present a clumsy substitute for regimental depots, and stated:

Under General Orders, No. 36, it is the duty of military commanders to collect all stragglers and forward them to their regiments. To do this they must establish camps or depots, under strict military discipline, and maintain sufficient guards to maintain this order. Convalescents in army hospitals will be reported by the surgeons in charge to the military commanders, to be kept at their camps or depots until they can be sent to join their regiments. Muster rolls of each detachment will be made out from the best data at hand, the statement of the men being taken in the absence of other information concerning them. A duplicate of each muster roll must be forwarded to the Adjutant-General, the day the detachment starts.

It will be observed that all the above duties are those which would have been performed by the regimental depots, which more than a year, before had been recommended by Generals Franklin and McDowell, but were summarily rejected by the Secretary of the Treasury. The first effect of the system of State Hospitals, was of course to deprive military commanders of all control over their absent sick. The commanders did not fail to warn the Government of the evil. The next paragraph therefore aimed to restore military supervision, but in another form. It prescribed:

To avoid confusion and retain necessary control over all soldiers in the United States service, those who are entertained in State or private hospitals must be subject to the nearest military commander, and are hereby required to report to him in person as soon as they become convalescent.

There being no means of communication with men at their homes through a district sergeant-major, the next paragraph began:

Immediately after receipt of this order, each military commander will publish three times in some newspaper, a brief notice requiring all United States soldiers in that city and the country around, who are not under treatment in a United States Hospital, to report themselves to him without delay, on penalty of being considered deserters. In cases of serious disability from wounds or sickness, which may prevent obedience to this requirement, the soldier must furnish a certificate of a physician of good standing, describing his case, on which, if satisfactory, the military commander may grant a written furlough for not exceeding thirty days, or a discharge on the prescribed form of a certificate of disability, made out strictly according to the regulations. But no discharges will be given on account of rheumatism, or where there is a prospect of recovery within a reasonable time.

Five days later, June 17, another substitute for regimental depots had to be provided for paroled prisoners of war. General Orders. No. 67, dated June 17, 1862, directed that special posts or camps be established for their reception. A Commissary-General of Prisoners was appointed, who was directed to select positions for the camps and submit estimates for the necessary buildings, which, as soon as approved by the Quartermaster-General, were ordered to be erected by officers of the Quartermaster's Department.

Instead of being sent to depots where the prisoners could have been drilled, armed, and equipped by their own officers, and held in readiness to be sent to their regiments the moment they were exchanged, large camps were formed at great expense, commanded by officers on detached service, who had no regimental nor any local interest in the welfare of the soldiers. The only inspections to which the camps were subjected was a visit from the Commissary-General of Prisoners, once a month, if he found it practicable.

June 28, another order, No. 72, again showed the want of regimental depots. In default of one or more in each Congressional district, all paroled prisoners who had been permitted to go to their homes, were directed to repair-those in the New England and Middle States, to Annapolis, Maryland; those from the States of Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, and Michigan, to Camp Chase, near Columbus, Ohio; those of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri, to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. Officers and men who failed to obey the order were declared deserters. Commanders, mustering and recruiting officers were directed to give the order "the widest circulation in their neighborhoods," and to use their utmost exertions to carry it into effect. The same paragraph concluded: And their Excellencies the governors of the several States are res ectfully solicited to lend their efforts to the same end.

For this purpose they were authorized to grant the necessary transportation.

July 14, Paragraph II, General Orders, No. 78, read:

At large camps, depots, or posts, where absentees arrive en route to their companies, the commanding officers will immediately set apart a particular place where the men may be quartered in buildings, tents, or huts as soon as they arrive, and may, without delay, receive food and clothing. Parties will be detailed to await at landing places the arrival of such soldiers and to direct them to their quarters. They will be assigned immediately to temporary companies, composed as far as possible of men from the same regiments or brigades; and each of these companies will be forwarded in a body to the command to which they belong, according to the directions contained in Paragraph I, of General Orders, No. 72.

Thus far it is manifest the Government had done nothing but issue general orders. It is true that these had courteously invited the