Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1907-12-06
Of the shipyards in which our batuesi!ps
must be built.
Asks Increase in Pay
for Army Officers and Men.

! AAkh increase Ah
y for Army Officers and Men.
The president devotcs much space to
the affairs of the army, and strongly
: urges that our regular military organi-
cation be kept up TO the highest possible
, standard of efficiency, and says:
5 The medical corps should be much
greater tLan the needs of our regular
} army in war. Yet at present it is small
cr than the needs of the service demand
even in peace The Spanish war &C.
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 it has already been
forgotten, for not the slightest effort
has been made to prepare medical
corps OF sufficient size to prevent the
repetition of the same disaster on a
much larger scale if we should ever be
engaged in serious conflict.
But the medical department is not the
only department for which Increased pro-
vision should be- 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 a fair reward for his adj
mirnble work. There should be rela.
lively even greater increase in the pay for
|
should be made for establishing grades
equiv alcnt to those of warrant officers in
thr navy, which should be open to the
enlisted mon who serve sufficiently long
l. and WHO do their work well. Inducements
, should y. offered still lent to encourage
really good men to make the army a HE
occupation. The prime needs of our pres
| ent army Is to secure and retain Cofnpe-
tent npnrommissioneu officers. This dlfh-
Guilty rests fundamentally on the ques-
| lion of pay. The nOnCOmmSSlOned of1l'er
! does not correspond with an unsliiil"d Ia
/ burrr; he corresponds to the best type or
| skilled workman or to the subordinate
| oliit ial 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 frst
! sergeant of company If good man.
! must be one of such executive and adj
! minstrative ability. and such knowledge
! Of his trade. rs to be worth far more than
we at present pay him. The same is true
| of the regimental sergeant major. THESE
| mon should be men who had fully re>
| splt ed to make the army life occupa-
| ton and they should be able to look for
ward to ample reward while only men
properly qualified should be given a
lance to secure these final rewards. The
increase over the present pay need not
! one or two enlistments. but the increase
should be markcd for the nOncomms-
stoned officers of the upper grades VINO
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
| az, Of Tor
that position on appointments should
be solely by selection and it should be
understood that man of merely av-
eragc capacity could never get beyond
tn" position of major, while every man
who serves in any grade certain
l,ngth of time prior to promotion to
the next grade without getting the
promotion to the next grade should be
forthwith retired"
President Sees Need Of
Largely Increased Navy.
The president asks for continuous
increase in the navy and asks present
congress for appropriations for four
new battleships. and says:
We need always to remember that
in time of war the navy Is not to be
used to defend harbors and sea-coast
cities: we should perfect our system OF
coast fortifications. The only efficient
use for the navy is for offense. The
only way in which it can efficiently pro-
tect our own coast against the possible
action of a foreign navy is by Destroy
ing that foreign navy. For defense
against a hostile fleet which actually
attacks them, the coast cities must de-
pend upon their forts mines. torpedoes,
submarines and torpedo boats and de-
stroye"s. All of these together are Eff !
ticient for defensive purposes. but they !
in no way supply the place Of thor
oughly efficient navy capab BILE Of acting /
on the offensive: for parryin. never yet /
won fight. 1t can only be won by |
hard hitting. and an aggressive sea-gO- /
ing navy alone can do this hard hitting |
Of the offensive type. But the forts
and the like are necessary so that the
navy may be footloose. In time of war
there Is sure to be demand. under pres
sure of fright. for the ships to be scat
tered so as to defend all kind Of ports.
Under penalty Of terrible disaster this
demand must be refused. The ships
must be kept together. and their OBJ
jcctive made the enemies fleet. II
fortiflcations are sufficiently strong. no
modern navy will venture to attack
them. long as the foe has in exist
cnce a hostile navy Of anything like
the same size or efficiency. But unless
there exists such a navy then the FORTH
fications are powerltss Ivy themselves
to secure the victory. For of course
the mere deficiency means that any
rcsolute enemy can at his leisure COM
bine all his forces upon one point with
the certainty that he can take it.
Gives Reasons for Despatch
Of Fleet to the Pacific.
"Cnt.i our pattlc fleet Is much larger
than at present 1t should never be split
int a n ~ fl M VI hat
could not in event Of emergency be
speedily united Our coast line is on
the Pacific just a. much as on the At
lantic. The interests of California,
OREGON and Washington are as en-
phatically the interests of the whole
union as those of Maine and New York.
Of Louisiana and Texas. The battle
fleet should now and then be moved to
the Pacific. just as at other times It
should be kept in the Atlantic. When
the isthmian canal Is built the transit
Of the battle fleet from one ocean to
the other will be comparatively easy.
Until 1t Is built I earnestly hope that
the battle fleet will be thus shifted be-
tween the two oceans every year or
two. The craftsmanship on all our
ships has improved phenomenally dur
ing the last five years. Until within
the last two or three years it was not
possible to train a battle fleet in SQUAD
ron maneuvers under service conditions
and it is only during these last two or
three years that the training under
these conditions has become really eff
fective. Another and most necessary
stride in advance is now being taken.
he battle fleet is about starting by
the Straits Of Magellan to visit tha
Pacific coast. Sixteen battleshps ara
going under the command of Rear Ad. |
miral Evans. while eight armOrcd !
cruisers and two other battleships will
meet him at San Francisco whittier
certain torpedo dcstroycrs are also 60
ing. No fleet Of such size has cvor