Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-06
MILITARY PREPAREDNESS.
Condition of the Army and NAVY in
IS9S Contrasted.

sohuitioh OF the Army ana Navy in
IS9S Contrasted.
Gov. Roosevelt in the Century.
As fast as the new navy was built we
had to break I'm the men to handle IT, The
young officers who first took hold and de-
reloped the possibilities of our torpedo
boats. for instance. really deserve as much
credit as their SUCCESSORS have rightly re-
ceiyed for handling them with dash and
skill during the war The admrals who
first exercised the new ships in, squadrons
were giving the training without which
Dewey and Sampson would have found
their tasks incomparably more difficult. As
for the ordinary officers and seamcn. ~
course it was their incessant practice m
handling the ships and the guns at sea, IN
all kinds Of weather. both alone and IN
company. year in and year out. that made
them able to keep up the never relaxing
night blockade at Santiago. to steam into
Manila bay in the darkness to prevent
breakdoWns and make repairs of the ma
chinery, and finally to hit what they aimed
at when the battle was on. In the naV.d
bureaus the great bulk OF what in the army
would be called staff places are held 10y line
officers. The men who made ready the
guns were the same men who aft-TWaTi
used them. In the engineering bureau were
the men who had handled or Mere to handle
the engines in action. The bureau Of naNi-
cation. the bureau of equipment. the bu-
reau Of information, We're held 10y men who
had commanded ships in actual service or
who were thus to command them against
the Spaniards. The head of the bureau II
navigation is the chief Of staff and he has
always been an officer Of distinction, d.
tailed, like all of the o. her bureau chiefs,
for special service. From the highest 10
the lowest officer. every naval man had
seen and taken part during time OF peace,
in the work which he would have To do in
time Of war. The commodores and captains
who took active part in the war had com
manded fleets in sea service or at the least
had been in command of single ships in
these fleets. There was not one thing they
were to do in war which they had not done
in peace save actually receive the enemy's
fire.
Contrast this with the army. The mate
rial in the army is exactly as good as that
in the navy, and in the lower ranks the eN-
cellence is as great. In no service. ashore
afoat, in the world could better men Of
their grade be found than the licutenanJs.
and indeed the captains, Of the infantry
and dsmounJed cavalry at Santiago. But
in the army the staff bureaus are peTma-
uent positions. instead Of being held as Of
course they should be, by officers detailed
from the line, with the needs of the line
and experiences of actual service fresh
in their minds
The artillery had for thirty-five years
had no field practice that was in the slight
est degree adequates 10 its needs. or that
compared in any way with the practice Te-
ceived by the different companies ana
troops of the infantry and cavalry. The
bureaus in Washington were absolutely en-
meShed in red tape. and were held FOR the
most part by elderly men, Of fine records
in the past, who were no longer fit TO break
through routine and u show the eXfTaOr-
binary energy, business capacity. initiative.
and Willingness to accept reSponS. bitv
" hich We're needed. Finally the higher Of
fcers had been absolutely denied that
chance to practice their profession TO which
the higher officers Of the navy had long
been accustomed. Every time a warship
goes to sea and cruises around the world
its captain has just such an experience as
the colonel of a regiment would have r
sent off for six or eight months march,
and if during those six or eight months he
necessarily practiced his regiment in every
item of duty which it would have to per
form in battle Every warShip in tho
American navy. and not a single regiment
in the American army had had this expert