Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-03

sential to the efficiency of any large army
| and especially of large volunteer army
| Such knowledge of medicine 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 ad-
ministration and sanitation of large field
| hospitals and camps. in. order to safeguard
| the health and lives Of men intrusted In
great numbers to his care. A bill has
| long been pending before the Congress for
| the reorganization Of the Medical Corps;
| its passage is urgently needed.
More Pay for Officers.
But the medical department is not the
the only department for which increased
provision 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 adml-
rable work. There should be relatively
even greater increase in the pay for the
enlisted men. In 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 gOOo
men to make the army a life occupation.
The prime need of our present. army Is
to secure and retain. competent. nOn-eom-
missioned officers. This difficulty rests
fundamentally on the question of pay. The
noncommissioned officer does not corre-
spond with an unskiled laborer; he cor
responds to the best type of skilled work
man or to the subordinate official in civil
institutions. Wages have greatly increased
in outside occupations in the last forty
gears, and the pay of the soldier. like the
pay of the officers, should be proportlon-
ately increased. The first sergeant OF a
company. If a good man, must be one or
such executive and administrative, ability,
and such knowledge of his trade, as to be
worth far more than we at pres ant pay
him.. The same is true of the regimental
sergeant major. These men shoHlo De
men who had fully resolved to make the
army life occupation, and they should
be able TO look forward to ample reward:
while only men properly quahned snou!o
be given a chance to secure these maj
rewards. -
The increase over the present pay need
not be great in the lower grades for the
first one or two enlistmentS,. but. the IN
crease should be marked for the non
commissioned offic ars of the upper grades
who serve long enough to make 1t evident
that they intend to stay permanently in
the army while additional pay should
be given for high qualifications In target
practice. The position of warrant omcer
should be established and there should be
not only an increase of pay, but an in
crease of privileges and allowances and
dignity, SO as to make the grade open TO
non-commissioned officers car able of NIL
ing them desirably from every standpoint.
The rate of desertion in our army now IN
time of peace is alarming. r.. -.-..
The deserter should be treated by pup
lie opinion as man guilty Of the great
est crime; while on the other hand the
man who serves steadily In the army
should be treated as what he Is. that Is,
as prominently 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 &C.
cording to his ability for certain types OF
office over all civilian applicants without
course, to the men who have served
twelve years in the navy. A special corps
should be provided to do the manual labor
now necessarily demanded of the privates
themselves. -..r-= a---+
Weeding-0ut Process.
Among the officers there should be Sc
we're examinations to weed out the unfit
up to the grade of major. From that posi-
ton on appointments should be solely by
selection, and it should be understood
that a man of merely average capacity
could never get beyond the position of
major, while every man who serves In
any grade certain length of time prior
to promotion to the next grade without
getting the promotion to the next grade
should be forthwith retired; The prac-
-tice marches and field maneuvers- of the
last two or three years have been inval-
liable to the army. They should be con-
tinued and extended. A rigid and not
perfunctory examination of physical ca
pacity has been provided for the higher
grade officers. This viii work we'll. Tn
loSS officer has a Q0nd nhvSinllQ
less he can stand hardship, ride wei and
walk fairly, he is not fit for any position,
even after he has become colonel" Be
fore he has become colonel the need for
physical fitness in the officer is almost as
great as in the enlisted man.. 1 hope
speedily to see introduced into the army
far more rigid and: :, thoroughgoing
test Of hOrsemanship for all field officers
than at present. There should be chief
of cavalry, just as there is a chief of
artillery. -
Perhaps the most important of all leg
islation needed for the benefit of the
army is a law to equalize and increase
the pay of officers and enlisted men of the
army. navy, Marine Corps and revenue
cutter service. Such bill has been pre-
pared, 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. To make the army more attract
i've to enlisted men, 1t is absolutely essen
tial to create service corps, such as ex-
lists in nearly every modern army in the
world. to do the skilled and unskilfed la
Dor. inseparably connected with military
administration. which Is now exacted.
without just compensation, of enlisted
men who voluntarily entered the army to
do service of an altogether different kind.
There are a number Of other laws neces-
sary to SO organize the army as to pro-
mote its efficiency and facilitate its rapid
expansion in time of war; but the above
are the most important.
UnWise to Stop UpbuiIding
of the United States Navy
1t was hoped The Hague conference
might deal with the question of the linn
itation of ornaments But even before 1t
had assembled informal inquiries had de-
veloped that as regards naval ornaments.
the only ones in. which this country had
any interest, 1t was hopeless to try to de-
wise any plan for which there was the
slightest possibility of securing the assent
of the nations gathered at The Hague.
No plan was even proposed which would
have had the assent of more than one