The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-09-13
IN TWO PARTS.
UR government has nearly
completed the fine new build
ing in Washington, which will

completed the fine new build
~ ing in Washington, which will
be the future home of war |
college, and it has also commenced to !
establish Great General Staff. This
latter institution must not be con-
founded with what we have hitherto !
been used to call general staff
namely, number Of executive officers
attached to the person of the COM
mander of an army IN the field, to act
as his advisers and to carry out his
orders. Probably, not one in twenty
thousand of all our inhabitants has
clear conception of the great impor
tance of modern general staff.
Therefore, it may be timely to post
ourselves on this matter; for, whether
we believe in the necessity of stand
ing armies or not, we certainly are all
agreed that, if a nation has decided on
having an army, such army should be
made as effective as its numerical
strength permits.
The modern general staff is Ger
man, or to be precise, of German
origin. 1t came into existence in it's
present form in 1861, and in order to
distinguish it from the old-time staff,
was called Der Crosse General Stab,
The Great General staff. Its services
proved of such immense value in the
wars of 1866 and of 1901, that most
of the other military powers have fol-
lowed the example of Germany.
France and Austria commenced to es-
tablish their new staffs in 1872, Italy
in 1884, japan in 1895, the United
states in 1905. Russia created a staff
in 1879; hut, for reasons that need not
now be enumerated, has not as yet
succeeded to get it into effective work.
ing order. Great Britain, secure from
territorial aggression thru her geo.
graphical position and her naval pre-
ponderance and, also, because her
standing army consists of hired SOL
diers, and does not compel the service
of every able-bodied inhabitant, as
is done in the above-named countries
retarded to establish modern
staff till after the Boer War, and, as
yet, has made but small progress IN
making it effective. For similar rea'
sons-and fortunate for us-it is likely
that our new general staff will never
require such tremendous work anC
preparations, as are required by
nations whose frontiers are open tt
assault from two, three and more diff
ferent directions. In the concensu'
of military opinion, the German gen
eral staff is still considered the mos
complete in all its details, and for thai
reason we shall conine ourselves to I
, description of this special institution
The German general staff at presen
, consists of two hundred and eight.
! officers, and employs about five hun
q dred non-commissioned officers, ant
, from six hundred to one thousan'
q secret agents; sometimes considerable
, more of the latter. To be selected
member of the staff, an officer mus
have served at least three years in tn
t regular army, SO as to be familiar wit
= all its duties. Then he must hav
absolved two-years' course in tn
q war college, and those selected fo
a special appointments must. besides
{, have absolved course In the cavalr!
1 artillery, or engineer academy, as th
It case may be. With rare exception
q all must be able to speak at least tw
q modern languages besides German
They are selected exclusively on a,