The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-29
SUGGESTIONS FOR REFORM.


1t would be strange if. our recent expert
ence in mobilizing an army did not bring
forth some suggestions looking to
practical reforms or improved meth
ods AS a practical people Americans are
quick to see where reforms or Improvements
can be made and when defect is discov-
cred they are apt to suggest remedy. Two
suggestions of this kind have been made
growing out of recent experience, which de-
serve consideration. One grows out of the
complaints regarding the poor food. Ad-
hitting that there may be some ground for
such complaint, there is no doubt that the
trouble is due more to poor cooking than
to the character of the rations Every intel
ligent housekeeper knows that good food
material can be almost spoiled by bad
cooking, while inferior food can be rendered
palatable, digestible and nutritious by GOOD
cooking. The cooking in the army is of
haphazard kind, never really good and
often very bad. 1t is done by private SOL
diers who make no pretensions to culinary
knowledge, and who, with the best inten-
tons, are bunglers in the art. The result is
spoiled and soldiers badly fed when, with
proper cooking they might be well fed and a
serious cause of complaint removed. To rem
edy this it is proposed that law be passed
authorizing the enlistment of trained cook
for each company, battery and troop of the
regular and volunteer armies. The sugges-
ton is approved by General Egan, head of
the coYnrniecarv danartment of tho arYoy
and by Secretary of War Alger. General
Egan says:
The presence of skilled cooks in the army
will stop waste and bad cooking and con-
duce to the content of the enlisted man and
the preservation of his health. The detail
of enlisted men for regular tours of duty
assistants to the cooks will serve to edu-
cate them in this necessary accomplishment
of the seasoned soldier, and bad cooking
will disappear and the men become self-re-
liant and Self-dependent when separated
from their commands individually or in de-
tachmentS.
The suggestion is so obviously in the line
of practical reform and for the benefit and
comfort of the soldiers that it should be
adopted without delay.
The other suggestion is on different
line but equally important. 1t relates to
transportation, which. everybody knows,
is very important factor in the assembling
and moving of an army, involving not only
the comfort of the soldiers but sometimes
the result of a campaign. There are some
difficulties incident to the moving of large
bodies of men or expeditionary forces
which are inseparable from the work. es-
pecially in time of war, but they can I'M
doubtedly be greatly reduced by skill sys-
tenn and method. Quartermasters should
understand transportation as railroad men
do, or as commanding officers do strategy
and tactics. prominent railroad official
who recently returned from Tampa is re-
ported as saying:
The delays attending the transportation
of troops from Tampa were caused by the
lack of ability on the part of army quarter
masters, who seemed to be utterly unable to
properly discharge their duties. Many car
loads of provisions for the troops were not
handled promptly. and their contents, in
consequence, spoiled and had to be thrown
into the sea. The magnificent military sys-
tenn is defective in the quartermaster's de-
partment. There is apparently lack of
quartermasters who have thorough
knowledge CT up-to-date rail as well as ship
transportation. 1t seems to me that the
remedy for it is 10 give instructions at West
Point in transportation, so that army Off
GERS can supervise the work of this mpor-
tant department and see that ii is properly
DONE
1t would not be surprising if the quarter
masters department were defective. in this
regard. Transportation is a business by it,
self, and men cannot be expected to under
stand It unless they have made study of
1t. 1t is as important TO know how to move
an army by rail or water as it is to know
how TO command it in battle. The curricu-
Ium at West Point is practical and thorough
as far as it goes but it would be rendered
still more valuable by the addition of a
course of instruction in military transporta-
ton.
AS the Journal was the first paper in the