The Washington times., 1903-11-30
A Military Critic.
He Thinks the Army Is Honeycombed
With Favoritism.

Ever hear of Creelman-James
Creelman9 Well, if you haven't you
have missed something something
that Is Ito laugh"
Whilst timorous knowledge stands considering
Audacious ignorance hath done the deed.
That's Creelman-J James Creelman.
before whose searching glance kings
and presidents tremble. and at whose
command nations throw fits. That old
woman who holds the destinies Of the
Chinese empire in her hand dares not
deprive the meanest of her ministers
Of his yellow jacket without first con
sulting Creelman When the Pope Is
about to issue an eneycical you may
be sur nat he has taken care to Sc
cure beforehand the approval of
Creelman. If you near of the Mad
Mullah as having broken loose anew.
depend upon Ii he has had permission
To do 50 from Creelman. Indeed, we
are quite prepared to believe it-since
We have II on no lesser authority than
Creelman's Own-that he Is on ia
miliar terms with the Deity. How
else could he assume with such conf
denee the direction of the universe
James Creelman takes himself very
seriously. A person who. for a con
sideration, consents 10 Law aside the
burdens of this wicked world and per-
form few more or less amazing
writing stunts IN the columns of a
Newspaper, must needs do that. Few
people, it Is true. wall take him at his
own estimate, but that L. not MS fault
lit is their misfortune. Many great
men have shared IN this regard the
fate Of James Creelman.
just at present Creelman has colt
scented Ia demonstrate IN the columns
III our esteemed contemporary. the
New York World" that the army-
the army Of these United States" is
honeycombed with political favori:-
ism. That Is tc say, no promotions
are made for military merit military
merit as }. G. sees it-and everything
depends upon pnsh and pull. Not to
minee N'crds. the whole service Is rap
idly going TO the "demnition bow
wows"--in the opinion of j. C. Real
fighters a. he calls them. are left IN
subordinate places, while police de-
teetives,' 'persons IN the groceries
end of the ARM" and "a sort Of mag
nifcent military clerk" reap the re-
wards that should have gone 10 other
men. ''The pen" exelaims J. C., IN
despair. lis mightier than the sword
An assertion. we are bound TO adj
nit. which trilled our youthful mid
riff when we heard Cardinal Richie
leu make the remark Ton the STAGE q,
but which, in the mouth Of J. c., fills
u only with misgiyings and distrust.
All j. C''s lamentations anent
General Leonard Wood and others. of
course; Corbin, Young, Grant, Bel,
Funston, Carter, Barry, Bliss, and
Crozier included. All, if the Presi-
dent had only consulted J. c.! What
a different tune we would then have
been permitted to listen to- What
would then have been the wisdom of
Theodore Roosevelt But he didn't In
an evil hour he forgot that J. c. is
himself a great soldier; took a block
house IN front of Santiago "all by his
lonesome" wide J. C.'s war CORE
spondenee IN 1899 and can, as q
matter of fact, tell a ten-inch gun
from mule 1T a single glance. Yes,
il was great mistake on the part of
President Roosevelt and his lamented
predecessor TO overlook J. c. Many
az embarrassment would not have
been theirs. and, most important Of
all, we goulG not have an army run
by a "congeries of scheming clerks
and wire-pulling deputies" Too bad !;
too bad
Still, let not j. c. despair. There