Omaha daily bee., 1907-07-07
MARKED CHANGES IN SERVICE
New Conditions that Bring About tn,
General Hardship.
MANY MORE OFFICERS NEEDED
Suggestion as 60 Remedy that May BE
Applied by Congress Alone and
Appears to BE Part of
Wisdom.


and spent several hours at Department of
the Missouri headquarters. General Bell
| is probably the foremost military authority
! in the country today, and, occupying tho
prominent position he does, anything that
he might say upon the status OF the
] United States army of today Is of the
| most important interest. General Bell OH
Saturday afternoon, gave his views on the
! general army situation in great fullness.
| He said
There seems to be some misapprehension
| in the newspaper world to the real
| character of some remarks made by me
| in addressing a recent graduating class at
| Fort Leavenworth. / have never said
there was something radically wrong with
] the army. That is not true, and no man
| would say 1t who has regard for the truth.
| The pay of officers and soldiers was fixed
by congress about forty years ago. Ex-
| cept in a few isolated and unimportant
| cases. 1t has not been increased since. Tho
| expense OF living, as every one knows, has
very materially increased and both officers
| and men, especially those who are mar
ried, find considerable difficulty meeting
their obligations at times. Ordinary eX-
penses of living, which AFFECT all classes
of society as well as military men. have
not only greatly increased, but changed
| conditions in military service since the
! Spanish-American war impose additional
expense upon ocers and soldiers
some Changed Conditions.
''They no sooner get themselves well set
tied at some station before they are likely
| to be called upon to move somewhere else.
Prior to the Spanlsh-American war the
stan departments were permanent. Now
they are constituted by detail from the
army at large and as there are great
many of these details to be made, and
must be changed every four years officers
are liable to much more frequent changes
of station on this account
''Prior to the Spanish h-American war. the
entire army was serving in the continental
limits of the United States. Now very
considerable portion of 1t is serving In the
Philippine Islands, China, Cuba, Porto
Rico, in the Hawaiian Islands, Panama
and Alaska. II is very expensive living in
some of these places, but the main ex-
pense is involved in getting there and back.
The government transports an ofhcer free
and also a certain allowance Of pounds OF
baggage, but the allowance seldom equals
the number of pounds possessed by the
oficer. He must pay the cost Of transport
ing the surplus. The government furnishes
no transportation except on army trans
ports for the families OF oficers or soldiers.
These expenses must be paid by the indi-
vidual It is the expense incident to stern
ally packing up and moving and settling
again which keeps the noses of officers and
soldiers on the grindstone. When they OBJ
serve that the compensation of nearly
everybody else, either in or out OF the pub
L. ia ,.1 fnr ffa hat
ter by the great prosperity of the country.
they cannot but feel under the circum-
stances that there are other callings In
which they could earn larger recompense
for the same amount of work than in the
army. A sound and able bodied boy. who
can earn s3 per day in the harvest field,
naturally does not jump at the chance of
earning 3ls a month in the army. notwith-
standing there are many advantages IN
addition to this small amount of money.
which a country boy would enjoy during
the three years of service in the army.
Extra Work for Army Men.
Numerous laws OF congress have been
passed recurring the detail OF army officers
for four years at a time away from their
regiments. For example, the law requires
the detailing OF such offieers to teach mil
itary science and tactics in agricultural
and mechanical colleges and in military
schools situated in every state OF the Union
They are detailed with the militia OF the
several states to assist in their instruction.
They are detailed on duty away from their
commands in connection with the govern
ments Of the Philippine islands, Cuba,
Porto Rico, Panama and Alaska. There
are numerous other duties whic harmy
officers are detailed TO perform away from
their regiments which are not OF e strictly
military character. but with their peculiar
training renders them especially qualified
to perform. In fact they have proved
themselves so valuable and reliable in such
a variety OF administrative work that a
custom has been steadily growing OF ask
ing IN eWar department for an oficer every
time any department of the government
needs well qualified man, but has no
appropriation available to hire one. An
army onicer can be detailed without any
extra cost TO the government. as his pay
goes on all the time
other Causes for Detachment.
'In addition 10 the above causes for the
detachment OF oficers from their COM
mands. we must keep a large number de-
tached ali the time for purely military
reasons. For instance, 1t has become so
dificuIt to get sufficaent recruits for the
army that four or hye times as many
recruiting ofices are now constantly main
tained on recruiting duty than there were
prior 10 the Standardization war. and
notwithstanding this fact the army is sew
eraI thousand men short Of its authorised
allowance. and probably win remain 90
as long as the present prosperity con-
. tinues
In time OF peace the army h nothing but
q school Of education. We have a dozen
or more different kinds Of schools which are
maintained in the army in times OF peace
in addition to West Point, in which on
GERS and men are taught and tAained In
their duties IN war. The maintainanee OF
ali these military educational establish
ments necessitatss detaching a Iarge4 num-
| ,f,.s...,.x =. 60 ~.