Almost all the states of continental Europe have gone over to the principle of universal military service, with the result that the armies are greater now in time of peace than ever before in time of war, and that when mobilization is called for and the reserves are summoned, the number of men in the field amounts to millions. The first result has been that far other means of transporting and concentrating such masses have to be employed than used to be the case and that networks of railroads have had to be built for purely strategic purposes. In the maneuvers that were to have taken place this coming autumn at Münster in Germany it had been intended to make a record in the matter of quick transportation and to dispose of 120,000 men in the course of a single morning without interrupting the regular passenger traffic. The old method of victualing armies, too, has had to be changed, for it is impossible for such hordes to nourish themselves by what they chance to find in the enemy’s country. Problems of another kind have arisen. Modern armies are composed of regulars and reservists alike: the reservists are not so hardened as the regulars and often not so efficient, so that it has become a custom to distribute them in such a way as to achieve the best results. As a rule, the regulars must be spared for decisive actions and reservists must occasionally be sacrificed, apparently needlessly. There may be cases, for instance, where the reserves must expose themselves to a murderous fire while the regulars are engaged in the more difficult but less dangerous task of cutting off the enemy’s line of retreat. [Illustration: Arrival of Recruits] [Illustration: The Field Kitchen]