Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-04
OTHER NATIONS, HE SAYS, GET
LARGE REVENUE
EXCESSIVE FORTUNES SHOULD
PAY, HE BELIEVES
Nearly one-Fifth of Whole Estate,
When It Is Large, Goes to Gov
ernment in England, His
Argument
1coutinued from Page Five.l

army.
s"Unless ample provision is now made
nv congress to put the medical corps
where il should be put disaster in the
next war is inevitable, and the RESPONSE
bility will not lie with those then IN
charge of the war department, but with
those who now decline to make the nee
essary provision. A we'll organized ned
ical. corps, thoroughly trained before the
advent of war in all the important ad-
1liinistrative duties of q military sanitary
corps. is essential to the efficiency of any
Large army, and especially of large
volunteer army. Such knowledge OF med
icine and surgery as is possessed by the
medical profession generally will not
alone suffice to make an efficient military
surgeon. He must have in addition
knowledge of the administration and SAN
itation of large field hospitals and camps,
IN order TO safeguard the health ana
lives Of meu intrusted in great numbers
to his care. A bill has long been pend
ing before the congress for the reorgani-
zation of the medical corps; its passage
.s urgently needed.
Need More Pay
.sBut the medical department is not the
onIv department for which increased
,,-ovision should be made. The rate of
nav for the officers should be greatly in
creased: there is no higher type OF ciuzen
than the American regular officer, and ne
should have a fair reward for his ad-
,nlrable work. There should be rela-
tively even greater increase in the pay
for the enlisted men. In especial pro-
vision should be made for establishing
grades equivalent to those OF Warrant
officers in the navy which should be open
tn the enlisted men who serve sufficiently
long and who do their work WELL In
fiucements should be offered sufficient to
encourage really good men to make the
army a life occupation. The prime needs
of our present army is to secure anu re-
tain competent noncommissioned Officers.
This difficulty rests fundamentally on the
question of pay.
1.-THE noncommissioned officer does not
correspond with an unslSilled laborcr; he
corresponds to the best type OF skilled
workman or to the subordinate official
In civil institutions. Wages have greatly
increased Ia outside occupations In the
last forty years and the pay of the sol
dier, like the pay of the officers, should
be proportionately increased. The first
sergeant of q company, II good man.
must be one of such executive and ad-
1ninistrative ability and such knowledge
of his trade as to be worth far more
than we at present pay him. The same
is true of the regimental sergeant major.
.'These men should be men who had
fully resolved to make the army a life
occupation and they should be able to
look forward to ample reward; while
only men properly qualified should be
given a chance to secure these hnal re-
wards The increase over the present
pay need not be great in the lower grades
for the first one or two enlistments, but
the increase should be marked for the
noncommissioned officers of the upper
grades who serve long enough to make
it evident that they intend to stay per-
manently in the army while additional
pay should be given for high qualifica-
tions in target practice. The position of
warrant officer should be established and
there should be not only an increase of
pay but an increase of privileges and
allowances and dignity, so as to make
the grade open to noncommissioned Of
ficers capable of filling them desirably
from every standpoint. The rate of de-
sertion in our army now in time of peace
is alarming. The deserter should Ue
treated by public opinion as a man
guilty of the greatest crime; while on
the other hand the man who serves
steadily in the army should be treated
as what he is. that is, as pre-eminently
one of the best citizens of this republic.
After twelve years service in the army
my own belief is that the man should
be given a preference according to his
ability for certain types of office over
all civilian applicants without examina
tion. This should also apply, of course,
10 the men who have served twelve
years in the navy. special corps
should be provided TO do the manual
labor now necessarily demanded of the
privates themselves.
Among the officers there should be
severe examinations to weed out the
unfit up to the grade of major. From
that position ON appointments should be
solely by selection and it should be I'M
derstood that a man of merely average
capacitcy never get beyond the position
of major, while every man who serves
in any grade a certain length of time
prior 10 promotion TO the next grade
without getting the promotion to the next
grade should be forthwith retired. The
practice marches and field maneuvers of
the last two or three years have been
Invaluable to the army. They should
be continued and extended.
"a rigid and not a perfunctory ex-
animation of physical capacity has been
provided for the higher grade officers.
This will work well. Unless an officer
has d good physique. unless he can stand
hardship. ride well md walk fairly he
is not tit for any position, even after
he has become a colonel. Before ne has
become a colonel the need for physical
fitness in the officer is almost as great
as IN the enlisted man. l hope speedily
to sec introduced into the army a far
more rigid and thoroughgoing test or
torsemanship for all field officers than
at present There should be chief of
cavalry Just as there is chief of ar
tillery.
Perhaps the most important of all
legislation needed for the benefit of the
army is law to equalize and increase
the pay of officers and enlisted men of
the army navy. marine corps and rev.
enue cutter service. Such a bill has
been prepared. which it is hoped will
meet with your favorable consideration.
The next most essential measure is to
authorize number of extra officers as
mentioned above.
ITO make the army more attractive
to enlisted men it is absolutely essential
to create service corps, such as exists
in nearly every modern army in the
world, to do the skilled and unskined
labor, inserarably connected with mill
tary administration, which is now ex-
acted, without just compensation, of en-
listed men who voluntarily entered the
army TO do service of an altogether dill
ferent kind. There are a number Of
other laws necessary to so organize the
army as to promote its efficiency and