Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-12-24
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The plat, Of Secretary Root to have
the affairs pf the United States Army
in the immediate charge of general
stan Of experienced onicers, the head Of
:. which shall be the chief military officer
!. Of the war department, appears to be
meeting with very general favor. as its
provisions become known and under
,stood throughout the country.
~ The old arrangement of dual control
Va commanding general with his own
staff as nominal head Of the army
while the chiefs Of the various depart
ments made their reports directly to
the secretary of war and were under
his immediate control, has been a
heavy handicap to the country's mill
tary establishment, and the direct
cause of the almost endless frictions
and heartburnings that have vexed the
war department Under existing con-
ditions the general Commanding the
rarmy is a good deal of a figure head,
with a sonorous title, and little real
authority.
With this cumbersome system Of adj
ministration, unity OF effort. and the
GENERALIZATION of responsibility, was
difficult, If not Impossible, Of attain
.stment
The men who have served as the
'dhominal commanding generals of our
army have in most instances been
graduates of West Point, and with one
or two exceptions. men who have won
their way to the front out Of "the fiery
furnace" of war.
1t is not strange that such men, ex-
perienced in the handling of armies. in
actual warfare, have been inclined to
be restless of civilian direction and
control; that they have chafed under
the restraints of a position whose
'"'powers were merely nominal, oftentmes
exhibiting the professional soldiers
bluTtness. and the purgnacious tena-
city that had proved of such practical
ssvalue in time of war. To be the
HOIillilti Htdu VI NHoSt
were controlled ana directed by man
without military training or experience,
is situation we'll calculated to arouse
the resentment of a man who had ex-
hibited capacity to command in. the
storm and stress Of actual hostilities.
Th;ScOndtion of affairs has operated
against that spirit of cooperation, and
harmony of purpose essential to the best
practical results. 1t was a heavy
handicap to the government during the
searly days of the Civil War. and was
responsible for much of the confusion
sand lack of preparation that was the
occasion of so much criticism-most of
tit MISUNDERSTANDING our war with
sIspain. ,- p
To Secretary Root belongs the credit
& Of evolving a practical plan for doing
I away with this anomalous and unsatis-
. factory condition of affairs. He re-
swScommends the creation of board of
- military experts. At the head of
/ which, as recently stated by General
frank. who shall be the chief military
officer of the War Department and
tknown as the chief of staff-subordi-
nate to the President and Secretary of
War. yet clothed with authority to con-
81, troll all the staff corps and departments,
and who, Through the adjutant- general,
. '~shall make orders in the name of the
Secretary of War. the constitutional
representative and spokesman OF the
President. the law now requires all
- the chiefs OF staff departments to re-
port to the Secretary of War
This in brief. puts the direct and ac-
tive management Of Army affairs into
- the hands of trained and experienced
"'cf the President and secretary of war.
In the language of the bill now pen
ding before Congress the duties of the
chief OF Staff. shall be to prepare
plans of national defence and for the
/ mobilization of the military forces in
time of war; to investigate and report
t,npon all questions affecting the
efficiency Of the army and it's state Of
preparation for military operations; to
render professional aid and assistance
80 tho Sacro+orv of W. - 81. :.
officers and other superior eomman.
ders, and to act as their agents in in
and eo-ordinating the action
Of all the different officers engaged in
s,usarrying out their orders, and to Z Der
form such other duties as may be from
time to time prescribed by the Presi-
dent
by this method OF organization it is
-, hoped to secure unity Of action. and
a division of labor and responsibi,,tv
.that has, heretofore. been Impossible
VI as General Corbin we'll SAYS "perfec,