The Washington herald., 1907-10-17
TROUBLE WITH THE ARMY.
Service Paper Attributes Much of II
to pull and SeIf-seeking.

From the Amy and Navy Journal.
Everyone has been 10 work 10 show why
1t is that the army IS deteriorating. and
the cry Of more pay resounds from one
end Of the continent to the other. That
is not the trouble The difficulty is way
down deeper than that Some are pleased
% charge il up TO the young company
officers and charge defects on that score
to West Point, but the fact of the case
is that about half Of the company Off
GERS are nongraduates. Somebody a few
months ago attributed the trouble TO self
seeking-an ambition 10 get and TO grab.
There is an ambition to excel and win
through merit, which IS wholesome. but
not 10 the ambition to get something by
fair means or by foul Old officers de-
clare that in the past a large proportion
OF the soldiers enlisted for lifetime
the re-enll lsJment was a mere pro forma
thing. II is TOO much the rule that the
soldier Of the present enlists as does the
volunteer soldier-to fight primariIv-to
see how soldering feeis-tO get our OF
doing things that become a sOIdier-aud
there You are Army critics insist that
the officer is beginning TO be that way
too, and there is undoubtedly too much
talk among officers as 10 how to get a
brgadier geneTalship; next how TO get
stan detail-hOw TO get on the general
stafI-how 10 get a special detail What S
your pHL? is the query. Who have you
working for you2 Merit-bosh. The least
efficient officers of regiments who are i'm
a fair way TO be disciplined and who feel
the iron heel upon their necks are the
r4r=r rR inf
the colonel, who has found them out and
who Is after them. This Is the pernicious
thing about this detail system TO The STA n
departments. Everyone knows IT,
At one time there was a broad dfs+inc-
tion between the officer and soldier in
telleetually, morally, and socially, and the
soldier was glad to feel it and to know
IL He was proud Of his superior. Com
piaint is made that promotion from the
ranks has turned the head Of many non
CONS in the army. who feel that thev are
better than their officers in a multitude
OF ways-far better looking in many in
stances, more sOldierly looking because
they are selected by their company Off
GERS for such qualifications, whereas some
Of the officers who have been put into
tPe army are a sight TO behold. and their
men are ashamed Of them. Beyond all
this where is the social distinction or
superiority OF the one over the other2
In the ranks We find the same element
OF strife for something that each one has
not, and the more one gets the more he
wants, and there is no peace. The worst
or the business is that nothing is sug-
gested TO be done that can be done that
viii stay the growing discomfort. Is II
not possible that the more pay and the
higher class man you get for an ordinary
soldiers job the greater will be his de
mands, and demands mean insubordina-
tion. and INSTRUMENTATION means lack of
discipline, and when there is no discipline
there's mob. Another radical trouble.
The army is fun of boys. and BOYS are
not men, and they lack the sense of re-
sponslbility. These are some Of the things
in the army il is difficult to see how We
are 10 get rid Of. Perhaps more pay will
attract a higher grade of men. and per
haps, too, in that case a stop may be put
20 enlisung men under twenty-five-that
would help matters. It is the only thing
in sight We can do. But we can never
hope to get back again to the old order
Of things where it was hard TO find in
the army the type of soldier who is too
big for his boots, or whose head is too
big for his hat