New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-02-23
THE ARMY STAFF SYSTEM.
CAPTAIN LESLIE j. PERRY DISCUSSES
IT'S DEFECTS.

IT'S DEFECTS.
THE LACK OF sUBoRDINAT1oN OF BUREAU
HEADS TO CENTRAL AUTHORITARIAN
rcAN BUREAUCRACY INTRENcHED
AGAINST HOSTILE LEG
IsLATroN.
To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: Aside from the Miles-Eagan scandal,
which eliminated in the somewhat farcical dis
grace of the Commssary-G between the
lines Of the testimony before the late war Inves-
tigatng Commission one familiar with the ms
! and outs Of bureau work had no difficulty IN
reading the disastrous failure Of the American
staff system in the Spanish war. The Eagan
incident has merely furnished cumulative evil
dence OF its utter impotency and the absolute
necessity for It's immediate. complete and rad
ical reorganization along the lines OF some OF
the best modern military establishments. The
revelations Of the last few months have been
surprising.
II we are to have an army-a necessary oo-
icct now in view OF new condtions-let IL ne
one in fact in every part and adjunct. quickly
answering in all its homogeneous branches 10
the touch Of one competent, responsible MILL
tary chief and not the heterogeneous pretence
/ Of one now I'm existence. But let us not cum
found the Army with the staff; they nave grown
10 he two as distinct bodies as the Army ana
Navy 1t is now becoming pretty generally I'M
derstood that the staff is the real stumbling
block in the way Of satisfactory army meas
ure.
The public has no reasonable ground OF quar-
rel with Eagan: he ia rether n National bene-
factor. He has done the country great service,
md min n
should have been rewarded, not condemned.
While his method was somewhat theatrical and
his literary style too coarse even for the yellow
journals. nothing beyond constructive damages
was inflicted in any quarter except upon him.
self II Is not meant that Eagan should be
landed for his coarse vituperation Of Miles; that
was diseraceful in the last degree. But In the
process Of that he performed some invaluable
public services which he should have been al
lowed to plead before the court in extenuation OF
his crime against decency and military dis
clpline. Perhaps they did weigh with the Presi-
dent. and this in part may explain the extraorul-
nary mitigation Of his sentence
EAGAN AS ILLUSTRATING ITS DEFECTS
General Fagan. in various picturesque forms
in his utterances in his manners. In his vivid
portraval OF the staff Observation-Disclosures
and emphasized some OF the chief defects that
are fatal TO the efficiency Of our cumbrous stan
| department and recently rendered 1t almost use
/ less in the field II lacks correlation and suoor-
/ dination: is amenable TO no military authority;
responsible to no competent head. IL 10 an
entity unto itself. Jealous Of their peculiar pre-
| negatives and tenacious Of their dignity, these
heads OF bureaus decline to take orders from
| anybody except a civilian, and then only those
formulated by themselves. system OF laws
/ and presidents procured and established by
| themselves justifes and protects them Inc
! general commanding the Army or a general
/ commanding an army in the field has no author
,tv over the operations OF these bureaus; affirm
alive action of any kind. matter now distant
he may be from the capital or how urgent us
necessity. he has to procure through this mid
/ dleman. the Secretary Of War.
II is prime object with these bureau chiefs
70 be directly and exclusively under the De-
partment" for the very obvious reason that IN
that relation they are Independent or all military
/ superiors with absolute sway. each In MS own
Sphere Of influence" Through years OF sKilui
,,araeement they have so contrived that In
routine matters the authority OF the secretary
Owe, Of the President himself-uness he is
aroused upon some special matter-has iailen
into q mere vague form; the bureau chiefs con-
/
drafts and presents his own orders to be signed
by his so-caed superior, upon whom, as rule
he secretly looks with contempt.
NOT SOLDIERS AT ALL.
These staff bureaus and precedent to-day COM
mand the American Army. They commanded II
| throughout the Cuban war. Yet by law and
precedent these bureau chiefs are species dis
tinct from the soldiers OF the real Army; al
though they wear shoulder-straps and draw
/ Army pay they not soldiers. They are
/ mere bureau administrators, performing civil
| service and not under the peculiar system of
their own creation. military staff officers at all
in the true sense Of the term. Nevertheless, by
their Vaccinations and their usurpations they
/ place themselves above the Army.
Stranger still, by a hocus pocus OF craft
and humbug reinforced by the precedents Gre
ated from time to time by themselves, they have
seized the machinery Of the War Department
| itself Their wishes in the matter Of legislation
| almost invariably 20 forward in form to Con-
| eress with the Secretary's Endorsement. The
/ composition particularly Of the military COM
rnittees Of both houses they watch with an eagle
eve It is improbable, therefore. that there will
be any recommendations to Congress for adverse
changes from condition Of things so satisfac-
tory to the benefciaries The system appears
to be impregnably intrenched against all re
forms from the inside
There is only one sort Of change the staff bu-
reaus consistently and constantly favor. That
Is expediting promotion by legislation. General
Corbin, discussing STAFF reorganization in his
annual report takes the ground thai nothing
radical should be entered upon" Meanwhile.
there IS, or but now. little bill before Con-
gress to raise his office to the rank of major
general. and the colonel in charge OF the Record
and Pension Bureau desires to be made briga-