Excerpt from Journal of the United States Artillery, 1896, Vol. 5 Europe has learned the lesson which the franco-prussian War taught; all the great nations of the world, except America, have studied the military problems which confront them, and have endeavored to secure the best possible organization for their forces; Japan's unbroken series of victories over her foe, geo graphically and numerically so great, is but the latest illustration of what all future wars will prove; but regardless of proof, we bury our heads, ostrich-like, in the sands of indifference and ignorance; there has been more advance in military science during the past twenty-five years than in any preceding century, yet we have done but little to improve the organization of our military forces. The Honorable Daniel S. Lamont, Secretary of War, in his report submitted to the President, November 1895, says The organization of the line of the army has undergone no material change since the close of the civil war. During this period of thirty-years every large foreign army has been com pletely reorganized. With great wealth and millions of able bodied men, we have neglected those simple precautions which common sense and military knowledge point out as necessary, and as a result of this policy of indifference, the lives and property of our people and our national honor are at the mercy of a dozen possible enemies. Arguments may be advanced to prove to the satisfaction of many of our citizens that we should not keep a large standing army; but can a single American be found who will argue that what forces we have should not be well organized, or that we should retain a defective or imperfect organization? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.