The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-04

der, which means that each man must
 act for himself and at the same time
 act in combination with others with
 whom he is no longer in the old-fash-
 toned elboW-to elbow touch. Under
 such conditions a few men of the high
 est excellence are worth more than
 many men without the special skill
 which is only found as the result of special training applied to men of ex- ceptional physique and morale. But nowadays the most valuable fighting man and the most difficult to perfect is
 the rifieman who Is also skillful and daring rider.
 1 The proportion of our cavalry regi- ments has wisely been increased. The American cavalryman, trained to man. oeuvre and fight with equal facility on foot and on horseback, is the best type of soldier for general purposes now to be found in the world. The ideal caval- lyman of the present day is a man who | can fight on foot as effectively as the best infantryman, and who is in addi- tion unsurpassed in the care and man. agement of his horse and in his ability to fight on horseback.
 A general staff should be created. As for the present staff and supply depart ments, they should be filled by details from the line, the men so detailed re- turning after while to their line du ties. It is very undesirable to have the senior grades of the army composed of men who have come to fill the positions by the mere fact of seniority. A sys- tenn should be adopted by which there l cLo1 I. rIiY tow 1h txrp n of those who seem unfit to render the best service in the next grade. Justice to the veterans of the civil war who are still in the army would seem to re- quire that in the matter of retirements they be given by law the same privi- legeS accorded to their comrades in the navy.
 The process of elimination of the least fit should be conducted in manner that would render it practically impos- sible to apply political or social pres sure on behalf of any candidate, so that each man may be judged purely on his own merits. Pressure for the promo tion of civil officials for political req sons is bad enough, but it is tenfold worse where applied on behalf of off, cers of the army or navy. Every pro- motion and every detail under the war department must be made solely with regard to the good of the service and to the capacity and merit of the man himself. No pressure, political, social or personal, of any kind, will be per- mitted to exercise the least effect in any question of promotion or detail; and if there is reason to believe that such pressure is exercised at the insti gation of the officer concerned it will be held to initiate against him. In our army we cannot afford to have rewards or duties distributed save on the sim pie ground that those who by their own merits are entitled to the rewards get them, and that those who are peculiarly fit to do the duties are chosen to per form them
 Every effort should be made to bring the army to a constantly increasing vice no work save that directly in the line of such service should be required The paper work in the army, as in the navy, should be greatly reduced. What is needed is proved power of command and capacity to work well in the field. Constant care is necessary to prevent dry rot in the transportation and com missary departments.
 Our army is so small and so much scattered that it is very difficult to give the higher officers Gas well as the lower officers and the enlisted men) a
 (Continued on Twelfth Page.)