12. ARMY AND NAVY. Military service is compulsory to all Argentine citizens for the nominal term of 25 years, between the ages of 20 and 45. By means of an annual drawing of lots conscripts of 20 years of age are designated to serve for one year (army) or two years (navy). Conscripts who can not read and write are taught during the term of military service. Those joining the army are also given instruction in agriculture. After the conscription service the citizens do not receive military training although they belong to the active army (first 10 years), then make up the national guard (following 10 years), and lastly the territorial guard (remaining five years).
There is also provision for soldiers enlisting under contract, for citizens serving as a punish ment for breach of the Military Law, and for voluntarily enlisted musicians. The standing army has 20 infantry battalions of three com panies each, nine cavalry regiments of four squadrons each, five regiments of field artillery, each having four 6-gun batteries, one regiment of howitzers, some mountain artillery and heavy artillery, six battalions of engineers of two companies each, cyclist, administrative companies, etc. The army expenditure in 1915 was $28,334,556 paper.
The total establishment of the standing army was about 22,000 in 1916. The com pulsory service was created in 1901 and since that time nearly 200,000 men have been trained.
All officers in the army are graduates from the military school at 'San Martin. Besides there are a Superior Military School, a Cavalry School, a school for petty officers, a school for marksmen, another for gunsmiths and an Aviation School.
In the navy the two-year conscription sys tem provides the men for ordinary -duties of the navy while officers are selected from the Naval School at Rio Santiago. In addition there are special training schools for mechanics, electricians, artillerymen, torpedo crews, stok ers, clerks, wireless operators, pilots, sailors and ship boys. The entire fleet is mobilized for four months in every year and during that period a number of reserve men are called up for service. The reserve force consists of 12,000, of whom one-half belongs to the first reserve and the other half to the second. Before graduating as midshipmen the students of the Naval School spend the last year of instruction on board of a training ship making a cruise around the world. The war navy consists of 2 dreadnaughts, 2 pre-dreadnaughts, 4 armored cruisers, 3 protected cruisers, armored gunboats, 2 torpedo gunboats, 15 destroyers, 8 torpedo boats and some miscel laneous craft.