The Washington times., 1904-02-03
England Waking Up.
Sweeping Changes to Be Made in the
British War Office.

mission, recently issued. indicates that
sweeping changes are soon TO be made
in the war Office of Great Britain.
The report says:
1t is necessary to make a complete breach
with the past, and endeavor 10 reconstitute the
office with a single eve 10 the effective
training and preparation Of the military forces
for wa-.
Again:
9 The object should be 20 secure for the Brit
ish Empire. wi.h the least possible derange-
ment Of existing machinery the immense ad-
vsntages which general staff conferred upon
Germany.
1t ought to be evident TO any inteIli-
gent person that an army which Is
not constructed with an eye to war Is
not likely to be a very useful insti-
tuition, since its greatest usefulness is
not IN time Of peace, and if the
chances of war are disregarded in lis
construction it IS likely TO prove more
Of a nuisance than anything else in
the event of hostilities. 1t was said
to be an Irishman who delayed mend
ing his roof because when it was fair
weather the hole did not matter, and
when 1t was rainy the hole could not
be mended; but the British army
could not have been conducted Oh
much more Irish principles than it has
been if the Celt of the comic papers
lad been its generalissimo.
The German army proved, In 1870,
Its superiority in all matters of organ
izatiOn and equipment to the other
armies of Europe, but with character
istic Anglo-Saxon assurance, the mill
iury authorities of England and of
this country remained serenely indif-
ferent to the possibility of improve
ment In their own domain. 1t took
the Spanish-American war to show
this country, and the much greater
caiamitics of the Boer war TO show
Englal ], that an army on paper and
an ; ny in the field are two essential
ly different things. The sorrowful
part of it is that in both countries the
men on active service knew all the
time what the rest of the country is
now slowly and painfully finding out;
namely, that the military profession
does not stand still, any more than
any other profession, and that the
business of managing an army IS as
susceptible of Improvement in It's
methods as any other business. Our
own regular army troops, seasoned
for service In the West, knew well
enough how to take care of themselves
in Cuba; most Of the mistakes that
were made were made Dy the unsea-
soued troops and the civilian officials.
Kiplng is perhaps the best known
witness to the fact that the empire
makers, the men on the ground, the
officers who have been keeping the
Bear out of the Punjaub and fighting
savages in Africa, have for many
wears urged on the war Office reforms
which were obviously necessary. His
etustic comment on the first South
African fiasco is, perhaps, not poetry,
but it is a statement of absolute fact:
II our fault, and our very great fault, ana
not the Judgment Of Heaven
We made an army in our own image, on an
island nine by seven.
1t Is this army which King Edward
and some other progressive men who
have power at their back intend to
reorganize until it is somewhere near
the standard of efficiency which the
navy has already reached. And the
lesson which Americans can read into
all this is simply that it is much bet
ter to lock the stable door before the
thief comes along to take the horse.