The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-04-19


tary committees to the plan |
of army reorganization urged |
oy Secretary Root. 1t seems that the |
staff, with honorable exceptions, is us
ing it's tremendous influence, gained |
through years of official opportunity |
to confer favors upon members of
congress, to checkmate the proposition |
of a flexible staff, subject to periodi- |
cal service in the line. The staff today |
is an aristocratic institution, feeling |
superior to the rest of the army and |
virtually a law unto itself. It's mem- |
bers in time of peace have little to Go |
except to wear respondent uniforms
draw their salaries and bask In the |
sunlight of the social privileges which
the brilliant society of the capital has
from time immemorial allotted to them,
leaving the hard work of the army
to be done by officers of the line, sub
ject to whatever conditions the staff
may deign TO lay down. Naturally the
staff does not look with favor upon n
plan which would subject it's gaudy
members to intervals of real soldering
vi II pOSSlDlt lpI al illGIc llllc
officer to rise to a staff position in
virtue of soldierly merit. AS Secretary
Root truly says:
There is running throughout the line
of the army today a feeling amounting
almost to bitterness-a feeling of
strong dissatisfaction with the creation
of what seems to them to be a sep
ing the staff of the army here in WASH
ington. 1 have found many cases of
officers who have been doing their
duty silently and uncompainingly,
asking no favors and having no friends
at court, out on the frontier, enduring
the hardships of army life, and who
have the feeling that men get appoint
ments here at Washington and that
they are at the center of things and
know the president and the secretary
OF war and the senators and members
of congress, and that they can get
about what they want; that they have
a fine time and an easy life, and that
the line has no chance compared with
the staff. The feeling is that the staff
officers constitute close corporation
here, with all the luxurics and all the
privileges and all the power. 1t is a
very unfortunate feeling"
Warming up on this subject, the Sec
retary, in addressing the senate mill
tary committee the other day, pointed
ly said, and not a senator dared to
challenge the accuracy of the asser-
tion: "Genrlemen, it is of the highest
Importance to efficiency that, instead
of the different branches of the army
sitting and glaring at each other, and
finding fault with each other and
opposing each other, and throwing re-
sponsiblity off their shoulders on 70
somebody else's shoulders, they should
work together and that as far as pos
sible, the artificial and permanent
lines OF demarcation should be broken
down, and that the members OF the
army should have the esprit de corps
OF the army, instead of having the
esprit de corps of particular section
of it. Two-thirds of the trouble we
have had in the past has come from
the fact that the men in our different
departments are thinking about the
difference between their departments
and the rights of their departments,
and the aggressions of other depart
ments. The quartermaster and COM
-lnssary are 'scrapping' about who
shall get out bill of lading and who
ehall call a board of survey to deter
mine whether keg of butter is lost.
The, ordnance and the artillery are
finding fault with each other-the ord
nance with the artillery, who do not
take care of of the guns, and the ar
tillery with ordnance because they do
not keep all the parts Of the guns
there. The line and staff are grum-
bling at each other around dinner
tables, instead of laboring each man
with all the others for the good and
efficiency of the whole service"
4. We have seen how this corroding
spirit of jealousy and petty pickering
interfered with the early proceedings
in our late war; costing the lives of
hundreds of brave soldiers who died
martyrs to staff incompetency and
causing Immense suffering and annoy
ance in every camp where our soldiers
were. concentrated. We have seen how
II produced an Egan; we have seen
how it has fed the sensitiveness, van
ity and garrulousness of a naturally
brave and brilliant soldier like General
Miles; officer after officer of the line,
fighting men like Lawton, Henry, Nc
Arthur, has suffered from it, powerless
to apply the remedy; and now, when a
measure OF reorganization is prepared.
which meets the. approval Of an over
whelming proportion of the real SOL
diers In our army, are the staff fay-