The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-09-02

do not legitinately belong at the War Department at all and ought to be de- termined by the local or departmental authorities, and on the other hand by the attention they are required to give to oral requests of a personal nature coming from men in high station or to smhemes or proposals more or less vi- sionary pressed upon the Secretary or Assistant Secretary, and which they feel bound to have investigated and re- ported upon. Under the circumstances questions vitally affecting the policy or welfare of the army at large have little chance to receive just consideration, and in many cases must be, and are, al- lowed to drift When war-comes the hurly-burly and confusion at the War Department, apparent even in ordinary times, is turned into chaos, and this is instantly felt by the troops or at the front, and may produce disastrous re- suits. Let the war office be held by the ablest and strongest man living, and he would stagger or be crushed under the weight of the labor and responsibili- ty falling on his devoted head. This lack of unity, this pulling and hauling at cross-purposes, cannot justly be laid at the door of the chiefs of bureaus, each of whom, in his own way, accord ing to his own lights, is conscientiously striving to work out the destiny of his speciality. It is not their fault if there is no united effort toward common end"
 After reviewing the provisions of law for the general staff corps, pointing out that the corps will consist of two parts, one of which will serve directly under the chief of staff as the organ of the Secretary of War and will be stationed at Washington, while the other part will be attached to commanding gene rals of departments, General Schwab proceeds: .. -..--,
 'tIn examining, now, the all-important subject of the kind of officers to be chosen for the general staff we should once more center our minds upon the fact that the object of its existence is the insurance of success on the field of battle; that the effectiveness of the fighting force is the thing aimed at. This being the fundamental considera- tion, that which overshadows all others, it follows that the general staff officer should be one who has grown up in, un- derstands the nature, needs and limita- tions of, is in full sympathy within fact, is of that force. In other words, the general staff officer should, as a rule, be selected from the line, and, in asmuch as the demands upon him will be greater than those upon the average officer of the line, from the best officers of the line. The officer who has been es- tranged from the troops by long service in bureau, who has lost his physical activity, is no longer an expert rider, has not a quick and trained eye for country does not understand or has forgotten how to handle troops in the field or to place them properly in posi- tion for battle-such an officer would, unless he possessed rare compensating talents, be of little use in the general staff. @8. .t.. Tn Germany, where the national life is thought to depend upon the army's 1 preparedness to strike no tests are omitted that seem calculated to insure the selection of the elite of the line for the staff; no pains are spared to pre- vent the general staff officer, while en- gagged in work tending to sharpen the intellect and strengthen the, judgment, from deteriorating physically; and no consideration, however potent. is all lowed to stand in the way of his elimi- Enation from the general staff if from any cause he has become unfit for it. Thus, general staff officer who grows corpulent or physically indolent, or who l is noticed not to take his daily gallep, Is unceremoniously sent for a short term 1 to an infantry battalion atEa season when it marches at daylight every morning to it's drill ground and is there put through its paces for four or five hours before returning to barracks. And, as rule, all general officers are employed as umpires, or on the staff of umpires at the maneuvers. It is told of General von Moltke that when he found he could no longer mount his horse without difficulty he asked the emperor to relieve him from duty as chief of staff. It is seen, therefore, that the provision in our law for the periodical return of the general stiff. officer to the branch of the army in which he holds commission is based on valid reasons. !"