Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-04-15
OUR LACK OF
MILITARY PREPAREDNESS.

Sir:-In one breath, or issue, you are
alarmed for fear the military win be-
come efficient and thereby a threat 20
civil institutions, and In the next you
give column of editorial matter to
the importance of preparedness. 1t
would seem necessary to know what
you want and fight Tor it.
Your treatment of the latter subject
is very striking because the general
public never gets beyond the band and
brass buttons in their comprehension
of military matters, and in this editor
ial you have rubbed some very raw
places.
To get at the chief cause of our I'M
preparedness would be helpful to the
public good, so / contribute my idea
OF what that cause is, inspired by your
editorial The English war department
is apparently as rotten as ours, or near
ly so, but let the English take care of
their own plumbers, because while we
have so large a beam in our own eye,
we are not in position to pull the mote
out of their eye The question with us
is, why were We and why are we I'M
prepared? / was in Washington when
war was declared against spain and
the turmoil and confusion in the war
department was pitiful, and that same
confusion followed throughout the war
with results well known to the coun-
try.
What ails us? Like the peach trees
we have the yellows. An insect con-
sumes us, but for the disease specific
remedy can be found in the right man
in the right place"
Everybody knows that if Grover
Cleveland had been President the war
department would have been run by
the main force of common sense as
snug as man of war.
Presidents, however, are the result
of politics, and we can't always count
on a President with plenty OF horse
sense and Mr. Cleveland'S backbone.
Therefore barred out from President
able to see clearly and strong enough
to act, the only available thing is to
create an environment for the not
strong, enveloped in which the least
harm will result when the weak attain
positions of responsibility.
Now l expect TO show that all our
difficulties, our sufferings, our unpre-
paredness came from a wrong idea cul-
tivated by Mr.. Mckinley when he was
Governor of Ohio. He came from the
executive mansion of Ohio to the
White House. Ohio has no military
organization. Her militia is command
ed by the adjutant general, a political
0iy,tr fQ e m e
tion given for political value received.
If Ohio had had G perfect military or
ganization MIR. Mckinley would have
gone to the White House with very
clear insight as to what was needed
in case of war. But his environment
in Ohio was the adjutant general in
command, and, alas! that same envi-
ronment enveloped him in Washing
ton. Miles, stand aside. Corbin to the
front. The adjutant general the power
in control. inexperienced in military
matters of the large kind, no executive
ability and a sharp politician. Is it
worth while to look further for the
cause of trouble. 1t lay in McKinley's
environment. Adjutant general is
high sounding title, much abroad in the
land now a days, and the public COM
prehension of military now includes
the band, brass buttons and the adju-
tant general. Clothed in his title and
decorations he flouriSneS in great mag
nificence. His chief duty is to keep the
book and records for his commanding
officer, but his duty is sadly neglected
now for more ambitious things. He
tries hard to reach up to the dignity
of his title and the President tries hard
to palm him off as the real thing, but
only to bring him into ridicuie and
have his record looked up. And such
a record! And such military advisori
Parcelling out commissions to degener-
ates and incompetenus wherever they
will strengthen he intrenchments of
himself and the President and charging
them up to Alger.
II the environment of Governor Me-
Kinley had been different how many
poor fellows who rotted in filthy and
diseased camps would now be smiling
among their friends.
If the State of Ohio had sought a
perfect military organization with
commanding general responsible only
to the Governor and the whole ma
chine in order and ready TO move at
nod, is it fair to presume that Mr.. Nc
Kinley would have carried the idea to
Washington with him? If his mind
had been fed with proper organ
ization, he naturally would have looked
for the right man for the right place,
and the right place for the man would
naturally be the head of the military
establishment with every single soul
connected with it subject TO him-the
one man responsible to the President
through the Secretary of War. No in
dependent adjutant general, nor COM
missary general, nor quartermaster
general, but each and every one under
the orders of the commanding general.
The Germans moved on France with
the swiftness and smoothness of ma
chinery. Won Moltke devised his plans,
wrote his orders and put them in a
pigeon hole He didn't ask permission
of the commissary or the quartermas-
ter or the adjutant general. He wrote
instructions for them and required
them to be ready. Ii is said that about
two O'Clock in the morning an aid rush
ed to his room in excitement and an
nounced that the government
had declared war against France
and that Won Moltke said to
him, Look in pigeon hole No. s and
find general order No. /, Franco
Prussian series, and promulgate II"
and then turned over and slept until
morning. Won Moltke was the head Of
the German army, responsible TO the