GENERAL CARFIELD AND WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2576, 25 September 1915, Page 13

GENERAL CARFIELD AND WAR.

Sir,-—When the Civil War in America had. raged for'a,. while' 'General Garfield, thon principal ;of a, large college .in Ohio, ,\vas led -ijo'': seriously consider his attitude! • For-a whole, fortnight ho secluded ! himselfj and'; with prayer and study of the Word endeavoured to ascertain; the mind of God on the matter. The result 'was.that, he became convinced of the righteousiiess of the war, audconsequently of' the need of taking a practical part in the same, and- that If' War had to be waged it must be dono thoroughly. . He •then.: went through Ohio, and 'elsewhere, addressing meetings, .and all to take up arms. In a little while many thousands of men were; enrolled.. He sent up word Ito headquarters for. a comma'Ucfer and officers. Tho reply waii to appoint him commander, but that no officers were available.' Securing some old drill; instructors, and picking out a nmnber of [likely men, about a fortnight was spent ■in 1 learning the ' elements 'of 'military 'tactics. Then, getting his : raw material .together, he gave them all the training that could be squeezed, into two months. The uniforms were most?uuuniform. the arms very various; and a critic in military, matters would have plenty of scope for his talents ; but time was pressing, not a minute was to be lost, and so he led out > his army to meet the enemy, and the regu-: Jar army wondered how this very heterogeneous division'would/shape. ' During .the battle it happened, that theso halftrained;, men had; to bear the brunt of the attack.; A commanding spur was -held by the enemy,. Garfield ' sent a company of boys from his school;' some only sixteen years old; about 200 strong, to dislodge the enemy, and they did it; and it'was Garfield's division that first began to, turn , tho, onslaught of the Southerners, and ultimately , a decisive victory .was gained. ■ All felt that this was due to. Garfield's divisions, •., and somo experienced Generals discussed the question of how Garfield had so distinguished, himself, and one remarked: "Because he had never been at West Point" (the-Military Training College). _ Clive, a factory clerk, .of the East ■Indian' Company at Calcutta, organised a small army 9f about : 3000,, and with it-obtained the decisive victory of: Plassey over several-times as many men as he had. .•, . What is my/ffoint in mentioning these incidents? It is to draw the' Government to throw open tho great work before us; and to demand tho co-operation of all . the thousands of civilians in New Zealand who are sick at heart at the tardiness of the Government in calling out the great resources laying dormant, and who see tens of',thousands' squandering time and money, in horso racing and other sports and amuse? ments, and in witnessing increasing drunkenness,, whereby thousands of our youths are being demoralised—all dead loss and no gain to the nation. What is gained in taxes on drink is something like licensing a man for five shillings so that he may take a pound from you. • Sir/1 am delighted with the energy of your leading articles. I trust they will bear abundant fruit, and that before it is too late. New Zealand may really begin to' do what she ought to. A soldier just returned gave me a good description of tho landing at All- - and said that had they had about ten thousand moro men they 'would have probably swept Aehi Baba and several more square miles of Gallipoli that first day, when they bad the Turks fairly on the run.. Wo had lost about 80,000 men there, and- possibly that number would never have been reached had wo sent- moro men at tho first.—l am, etc., FRED H. SPENCER