Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-01

| army must have to work successfully Com
| mon experience has shown that this cannot
| be furnished by any single man without as
sistants and that 1t requires BODY OF ON
GERS working together under the direction
| Of chief and entirely separate from and
Independent OF the administrative staff OF
| an army (such as the adtutants quarter
| masters commissaries, ETC., each Of whom
| is engrossed in the duties OF his own special
| Department.. This body Of officers, in dis
| tinction from the administrative staff. has
| come to be called a general staff
Proposed Chief Of staff.
in creating a general staff / think we
should change the designation of the officer
whom we have called the commanding gen.
eral of the army to chief Of staff, and at
the same time enlarge his powers by giving
him the immediate direction of the supply
departments, which are now Independent of
the commanding general Of the army and
report directly to the Secretary Of War
THE change of title from commanding
general of the army to chief OF stan
would be of little consequence were IT not
that the titles denote and Imply in the off,
GERS bearing them the existence Of widely
different kinds Of authority. When an off,
Ger is appointed to the position OF com
manding general Of the army he naturally
expects to command, himself, with high
degree Of independence. following his own
ideas rather than the Ideas of others. we
cannot ordinarily expect an oHcer piaced IN
such position and thus endowed Win
what purports to be the right and title to
command, not to stand up for his right to
really command and not to regard any at
tempt to control his action or limit his
power as unjustifiable interference. The
title Of chief of staff on the other hand.
denotes & duty to advise inform and assist
a superior officer who has command, and
to represent him, acting in his name and
by his authority in carrying out his pol
icies and securing the execution Of his com
mandS.
Experience has shown that 1t is impos-
sible for any officer to really exercise In
this country In time of peace the powers
which appear and are assumed to be con-
ferred along with the title Of commanding
general of the army
Effect of the Anti-Canteen Law.
On the canteen the report says in part:
ct am convinced that the general effect Of
prohibiting the use Of beer and light wines
within the limited area of the army post Is
to lead the enlisted men to go out Of the
post, to frequent vile resorts which clus-
ter in the neighborhood, to drink bad whis-
ky to excess and to associate intimately
with abandoned women. men and more
abandoned women, and that the opera
ton of the law Is to increase drunkenness,
disease of the most loathsome kind, insub-
ordination and desertlon and moral and
physical degeneration.
In advocating a change IN the transport
service Secretary Root says:
I'm October bids were invited from COM
mercial lines for transportation Of pas
sengers and freight for the army between
San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Ia
coma and Manila, until June 80, 1903. A
number of bids have been received but the
comparativ advantage of operating under
them has not yet been worked out, and no
contract has been awarded AS rapidly as
1t becomes apparent that the government
business can be done more economically in
any part, or a whole, by this method,
1t is the purpose of the department to fol-
low the same course which has been fol-
lowed upon the Atlantic In disseminating
the use of government transports, and to
put the business in the hands of CONNER
cial lines on the basis Of open competition.
Il am satisfied that it is practicable for
private shippers to do all ordinary business
much cheaper than it is possible for the
COVER nment to do 1t, under the limitations
which rest upon government action, and
that they can afford to do the business for
less than 1T costs the government and still
make profit. At the same time by follow
ing this method the government will be aid
ing to build up regular commercial lines be-
tween the Pacific coast and Manila, which
is much to be desired"