The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-10-22
The Standards OF the Civil War Not
AVaila BILE TO.nav

AAe St""uarus OF the C1V11 War Not
Available To-Day.
New York Commercial Advertiser: They
VINO would defend the war department by
challenging comparison with the adminlstra-
ton of the general staff during the civil war
confess judgment. The civil war lasted fo,r
Years and employed more than a million men.
This lasted less than four months and en-
ptoyed less than 100000. At the beginning
or 1 me civil war we had no general staff. That
like the line, had to be made out Of the raw.
The army suffered horribly at first, but a
volunteer staff was organized with the volun-
teer line. They gained skill and experience
together and by the time the line had the
quality OF an army the staff had mastered
the technical work Of administration: the
army was we'll clothed. armed and feel, was
moved with promptness and CELEBRITY and the
inevitable hardships of camp and field were
reduced to the minimum permitted by the
medical and sanitary science of that time.
mat was an experience by which it was
supposed We had profited, as well as by the
large advance Of administrative and technical
science. Nominally the magnificent star
created by the civil war was maintained The
were kept up. millions Of dollars were an-
propriated to support the staff and a hra ye
snow OF efficient organization was made It
was Inc ooase OF the department in its defense
OF large aPproprlat lions for "a small army that
IN It's stan and regimental organization our
small army was the skeleton of one foa,r t,rres
as great; that the rank and file could be in
without exhausting the trained officers In
the army or at command Of the department
or without exhausting the administrative re'
sources OF the general staff. Yet before hail
or AoO,O men were in the field the boas.ed
general stan, maintained for thirty wears ~
peace 10 mold the country ready for war broke
Gown more entirely than the British commits
sariat IN the Crimea and the war would have
Deen suspended In Cuba by disinteRration of
our own forces had 1t not been brought to
an an e t everywhere through the operation Of
our forces at sea. The difference between this
war and the civil war is that then we aI
no general staff, and expected nothing Till ono
was created. Now we have an elaborate and
costly general STAFF which excused ali Tho
heaVy expense lis caused all the plea tona+ ~
was keeping up Skeleton Organization :, -
be ready for war. War came and the skeie.on
crumbled to dust like an exhumed corpse. leavA
ing US as badly OF as in 1851.
mat Is not the worst Of it, The sc,anca
OF military administration and the technical
sciences, which save life in camp and hospital
nave made as great advance In thirty years a 9
the sciences Of chemistry and mechanics an
pied to firearms and explosives, which destroy
HE on .the field of battle. Every great war
mas SHOWN notable advance over the last I'm
10 the Russo-Turkish war, in movement and
supply OF armies, in sanitation of camns and
IN treatment OF sick and wounded In hosn;taIs
The war of 1859, bad as it was was better in
these respects than the Crimea, and the wa re
OF Prussia were made with scientific precision
ana economy OF human material. Our wretch
ed little war In Cuba, with its fever camns
ana bare hospitals, its deadlocks in admtnistra-
ton and stalled artillery and supply trains,
recalls the worst condition of the Crimea
our army STAFF which seeks to cover itself
behind presidents thirty years old. ia forty
years behind the times. q