The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-12-05

OF the shIpyards in which our battieships
must be built.
Asks Increase In PNy
for Army Omcers and Men.
The president devotes much space to
the affairs OF the army, and strongly
urges that our regular military organi-
zation be kept up To the highest possible
standard OF efficiency, and says:
The medical corps should be much
greater than the needs of our regular
army in war. Yet at present IL is small
.cr than the needs of the service demand
even in peace. The Spanish war oc-
CURED less than ten years ago. The
chief loss we suffered in it was by dis
ease among the regiments which never
left the country. AT the moment the
nation seemed deeply impressed by this
fact; yet seemingly il has already been
forgotten. for not the slightest effort
has been made TO prepare "A medical
corps of sufficient size 10 prevent the
repetition of the same disaster on a
much larger scale IL we should ever be
engaged i'm a serious conflict.
But the medical department is not the
only department for which increased pro-
vision should he made. The rate of pay
for the officers should be greatly in
creased; there Is no higher type of citizen
than the American regular officer, and he
should have n fair reward for his ad-
mrable work. There should be a rela-
lively even greater increase in the pay for
the enlisted men. An especial provision
should be made for establishing grades
equivalent to those of warrant officers in
the navy, which should be open to the
enlisted men who serve sufficiently long
and who do their work well. Inducements
should be offered sufficient to encourage
really good men to make the army life
occupation. The prime needs of our pres
ent army is to secure and retain compe-
tent noncommissioned officers. This diff
Guilty rests fundamentally on the ques-
| ton of pay. The noncommissionedo officer
| does not correspond with an unskilled la
| borer: he corresponds to the best type OF
| skilled workman or to the subordinate
| official in civil institutions. Wages have
| greatly increased in outside occupations
| in the last 40 years and the pay of the
| soldier, like the pay of the officers, should
be proportionately increased. The first
| sergeant of company if a good man,
must be one of such executive and adj
| ministrative 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 res
solved to make the army a life occupa-
ward to ample reward: while only men
properly qualified should be given
chance to secure these final rewards The
| increase over the present pay need nor
be great in the lower grades for the first
| one or two enistments but the increase
should be marked for the noncommis-
stoned officers of the upper grades who
serve long enough to make it evident that
they intend to stay permanently in the
army, while additional pay should be
given for high qualifications in target
practice.
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 1t should be
understood that a man of merely aV-
erage capacity could never get beyond
the position of major, while every man
who serves in any grade a certain
length of time prior to promotion to
the next grade without getting the
promotion to the next grade should be
forthwith retired"