The news & observer., 1905-12-06

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that the troops may learn how to
take care Of themselves under actual
service conditions; every march, for
instance Icing made with the sol
dier loaded exactly as he would be i'm
an active compaign. The generals
and co onels would thereby have op-
portunity of handling regiments,
brigadus, and divisions. and the COM
missary and medical departments
would be tested in the field. Pro-
visions should be made for the ex-
erc.se at least of a brigade and by
preference of a division in marching
and embarking at some point on our
coast and disembarking at some other
point and continuing its march The
number of posts in which the army is
kept in time of peace should be ma
terially diminished and the posts that
are left made correspondingly larger
No local interests should be allowed
to stand in the way of assembling the
greater part of the troops which
would at need form our field armies
in stations of such SIZE as will per-
nit the best training to be given to
the personal of all grades, including
the high officers and staff officers. To
accomplish this end we must have
not company or re@imental garri-
sons, but brigade and division garri
sons. Promotion By mere seniority
can never result in a thoroughly efti-
cient corps of officers in the higher
ranks unless there accompanies it
vigorous wedding out process. Such
Weeding-out proCess--that is such
a process Of selection--iS a chief fea-
ture of the four years course of the
young officer at West P0int. There
is no good reason why il should stop
Immediately upon his graduation.
While at West Point he is dropped
unless he comes up to a certain
standard of excellence, and when he
graduates he takes rank IN the army
according to his rank of graduation.
The results are good at West Point;
and there should be in the army iself
something that will achieve the same
end. After a certain age has been
reached the average officer is unfit
to do good work below a certain
grade. Provision should be made
for the promotion of exceptionally
meritCrious men over the heads of
their comrades and for the retirement
of al men who have reached given
age without getting beyond a given
rank: this age Of retirement of
course changing from rank to rank.
In both the army and the navy there
shout be some principle of selection
that 5 of promotion for merit and
there should be a reSOlute effort to
elm mate the aged officers of reputa-
be character who possess no special
rllClclCy.
here should be an increase in the
coast artillery force, SO that our coast
fottInCutions can be in some degree
adequately manned. There is special
need for an increase and reorganiza-
ton of the Medical Department of the
- rIIy. In bOth The army and Navy
there must be tlc same thorough
tsaining for duty in the staff corps as
in the fighting line. Only by Such
training in advance can we be sure
that in actual war field operations anu
those at sea will be carried on sue
The Importance of this was
shown conciusiYelY in the Spanish
American and the Russo japanese
wars. The work of the medical de-
partments in the japanese army and
navy is especially worthy of study. |
renew my recommendation of January
9. 1905. as to the Medical Department
of the Army and call attention to the
equal importance of the needs of the
staff corps of the Navy. In the Medi-
cal department Of the Navy the first
in Importance is the reorganization
of the Hospital Corps, on the lines OF
the NTdlliDBGE Dill OJCfs L CO. StS'A =
/. 1900. and the reapportionment of
the different grades of the medical
officers to meet service requirements.
1t ceems advisable also that medical
officers of the army and navy should
have similar rank ana pay in their
respective grades. so that their duties
can be carried on without friction
when they are brought together. The
base hospitals of the navy should bc
put in condition to meet modern re-
"uirements and hospital ships be pro-
vided Unless we now provide with
ample forethought for the medical
needs of the army and navv appalling
suffering of a prevontabie kind is sure
to occur if ever the country goes tn
war IT is not reasonable to expect
successful administration in time or
war of a department which lacks q
third of the numbo~ of officers neces-
- w to ,po"rn~'l .Ne medical service in
time of peace We need men who are
not merely doctors; they must he
trained in the administration OF mill
tary medical service.
our navy must, relatively to the
navies of other nations. always be of
greater size than our army. We have
most wise.y continued for number
OF years TO build up oar navy, and IL
has now reached fairly hign stand
Iru OF efficiency. his standard OF
must net only be main
tanned but increased 1t does not
seem TO me necessary, however, that
the navy should--at least in the inn
mediate future-be increased beyond
the present number OF units What is
now clearly necessary is to substitute
for inefficient units as the lat
ter become Wonl-out or as it becomes
apparent that they are useless. PROB
ABLY the result would be attained by
adding a single battle ship to our navy
each year, the superseded or outWorn
vessels being laid UP or broken up as
they are thus replaced. The four sim
sle-turret monitors built Immediately
after the close of the Spanish war,
for instance, are vessels which would
be Of but little use in the event OF
war. The money spent upon them
could have been more usetully IN oth-
er ways. Thus it would nave oeeh
far better never to have built SIN
gle one of these monitors and to have
put the money into an ample supply
of reserve guns. Most of the smaller
cruisers and gunboats, though they
serve q useful purpose SO far as tney
are needed for international polce
work, would not add to the strehgth
of our navy in a conflict with a Sc
rious foe. There is urgent need OF
providing a large increase IN tfle nun III