The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-02-21
WORK HAS BEGUN.
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other things being equal the officer who
keeps his mind alert by Intellectual ex-
ercise, and who systematically studies
the reasons Of action, and the mater
ials and conditions and difficulties
with which I'VE may have to deal viii
pc the stronger practical man and the
better soldier. The same considera-
tions which have led individual enter
prise to build up the great universities
and technical schools to which the
graduates of our schools and colleges
resort to perfect themselves in every
profession and in every branch of ap-
Piled science apply with equal force to
education and in the science
Of war It is fitting that our
government should profit by the lesson
which all its citizens have learned, that
for success in any business the evolu-
ton from the simple to the complex
must be accompanied by more per
rect system, more careful selection
OF agents and q broader training of
the men upon whom fall the RESPONSE
bilties of control.
No better illustration of the necessi-
~ OF such an institution as this, and
of a general staff to make its work eff
fective can be found than in the fate
which befell the work of a soldier to
whose memory I wish to pay honor to-
day, Brevet Major General Emory Up
ton, colonel of the Fourth artillery
Graduated from West Point in the
year 1860 ne became while almost a boy
one of the most distinguished officers
of the civil war He commanded sue
eessively a battery of artillery. a regi-
ment of infantry a brigade of infantry,
d brigade of artillery and a division of
cavalry. Constantly in the field he ex-
hibited in camp and march and in
scores of battle dauntless and brilliant
courage. strict and successful discip-
line, and the highest qualities of COM
hort
said of him:
No one can read the story of his bril-
liant career without concluding that he
had real genius for war, together with
all the theoretical and practical knoWl-
edge which any one could acquire N
regard to it. He was the equal if not
the superior of HOche DesaiX, or SkObe-
loft In all the military accomplishing
and virtues and up to the time when he
was disabled by the disease which caus-
ed his death he was, all things consider
ed, the most accomplished soldier in our
service His life was pure and upright,
his bearing chivalric and commanding.
his conduct modest and unassuIolnS and
his character absolutely without bleTn-
ish. History can not furnish d brighter
example Of unsellish patriotism or Of
ambition unsullied by an ignoble
thought or an unworthy deed.
After the close of the civil war he ad-
dressed himself to the task of interpret
ing the lessons of that war to his cOun-
LINlnGn LOT IlE Improvement OF our mil
itary system. OF his own motion he
devised new system Of tactics " hich
being capable OF adoption by a simple
military order was adopted and revolu-
uonized the tactics of the army on
the recommendation of General Shef-
man he was sent around the world with
two associate officers to study the arm
les of Europe and Asia and upon his
return he made report which gave the
results of all his accumulated experience
and nhSeTW1 fiOTl recommended the
three battalion formation in cavalry and
infantry regiments. He recommended
interchangeable service in staff ana line
as against the permanent staff depart
ments. He recommended examination
as "a condition to promotion He recon-
mended the Establishment of a general
staff and he recommended the general
and systematic extension of military ed
ucatiou. :. His recommendations had be-
hind them all the prestige OF his brill
liant military career. They had the adj
vOcacy and support of the great soldier
who then commanded the American
armies-Ge Sherman They en-
bodied the practical lessons of the civil
war and the results of military science
throughout the world, Yet his voice
was as the voice of one crying in the
wilderness. The government did not
even print his report. but with those of
his associates it was filed in manu-
script and forgotten among the millions
of documents in the archives of the war
department.
General Upton subsequently present
ed the report himself for the benefit of
the public through a private publisher.
A copy may now and then be found at
a second hand book store. More tnan
quarter of a century later and long after
death had ended the restless striving OF
that farseeing intelligence, other men
working out the same problems with
which he dealt found the sanity and
wisdom of his conclusions and gave
them effect. Were Upton living today,
still upon the active list of the army. he
would see all of the great reforms for
which he contended substantially Sc
cured
The three battalion system, the in
terchangeabi lity Of staff and line. eX-
aminations for promotion and now, by
the wisdom OF the present congress, the
establishment of general stan and the
completion of the system of military
education upon the controlling body
which will find its permanent home in
the building whose cornerstone we lay
today.
striven and written and appealed in vain
for improvements in the military ser
vice and has passed away, and he and
his work have been forgotten The help
lessness of the single Individual who
seeks to improve a system has settled
into helplessness. The wisdom acquired
in each officers experience has been
buried with him Only an institution
perpetual but always changing in it's
Individual elements, in which by con-
ference and discussion a consensus of
matured opinion can be reached can
perpetuate the results of individual eff
fort, secure continuity of military policy
and command for Its authorized, con-
elusive expressions of military judgment
upon military questions the respect and
effectiveness to which that judgment is
entitled
Il am sure that I speak truly when
I say the president and congresses and
secretaries of war invariably desire such
aid in the performance of their duties
and for this l look with hope and con-
fidence to the general staff of the army
and its great adjunct, the war college,
which we are now esta blishing.
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