The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-09

American commissioners have visited Japan and the postponement will mere- 1 ly give amper opportunity for Amer- lea to be represented at the exposition. Not since the first international expo- sion has there hcen one of greater im- i portance than this win be, marking as 1t doe3 the dftieth anniversary of the ascension to the throne If the emperor of Japan, The extraordinary eap to q foremost place among the nations of the world made by Japan during this hal century $ something unparallel- cd iu all previous history, This expo- sition will atly commemorate and sig naIi2e the giant progress that has been achieved, It is the first exposition of it's kind that has ever been held in Asia The United States, because of the ancient friendship between the two peoples because each of us fronts on the Pacific, and because of the grow ing commercial relations between this country and Asia takes peculiar in- terest in seeing the exposition made q success in every way,
 
 state my appreciation of the way in which Japan, in Australia in New zea- land, and in all the states of South America, the battle fleet has been re- ceived on Its practice voyage around the world. The American government can not too strongly express it's appre- citation of the abounding and generous hospitality shown our ships in every port they visited
 The Army.
 As regards the army | call attention to the fact that while our junior off, cers and enlisted men stand very high, the present system of promotion by seniority results in bringing into the higher grades many men of mediocre capacity who have but a short time to serve No man should regard it as his vested right to rise to the highest rank in the army any more than in any oth- CT profession It is 3 curious and by no means creditahle fact that there should be SO often a failure on the part or the public and it's representatives to understand the great need from the standpoint of the service and the na- ton, of refusing to promote respectable, elderly incompetents. The higher places should he given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority, at least seniority should be treated as only one consideration. In the stress of mod ern industrial competition no business firm could succeed If those responsible for it's management were chosen simply on the ground that they were the old est people in it's employment; yet this la the course advocated as regards the army, and required by law for all grades except those of general officer. As a matter of fact. all of the best off, ficers in the highest ranks of the army are those who have attained their pres ent position wholly or in part by pro- cess of selection.
 The scope of retiring boards should be extended so that they could consld- CT general unfitness to command for any cause, in order to secure far more rigid enforcement than at pres ent in the elimination of officers for mental physical or temperamental disabilities. But this plan is recom- mended only if the congress does not see fit to provide what in my judg- ment is far better; that is, for selec- ton in promotion, and for elimination for age Officers who fail to attain certain rank by a certain age should be retired--for instance, if man should not attain field rank by the time he is 45 he should of course be placed on the retired list. General officers should be selected as at pres- ont. and one-third of the other pro- motions should be made by selection. the selection to be made by the pres- dent or the secretary of war from a list of at least two candidates pro- posed for each vacancy by board of officers from the arm of the service from which the promotion Is to be made. A bill is now before the con gress having for its object to secure the promotion of officers to various grades at reasonable ages through a process of selection, by boards of off, ccrs. of the least efficient for retire. ment with percentage of their pay depending upon length of service. Tho bill, although not accomplishing all 
 the right direction; and I earnestly recommend it's passage, or that of ai more completely effective measure.
 The cavalry arm should be reor- { Ganized upon modern lines. This is an arm in which it is peculiarly nec- essary that the field officers should not be old. The cavalry is much more difficult to form than infantry, and it should be kept up to the maxi mum both in efficiency and in strength, for 1t can not be made in hurry. At present both infantry and artillery are too few in number for our needs. Especial attention should be paid to development of tho machine gun. A general service corps should be established As things arc now the average soldier has far too much labor of non military charac- ter to perform.
 National Guard
 Now that the organized militia, the National Guard, has been incorporated with the army as part of the nation- al forces 1t behooves the government to do every reasonable thing in it's power to perfect it's efficiency It should be assisted in it's instruction and otherwise aided more liberally than heretofore. The continuous ser- vices of many well,trained regula.of' ticers will be essential in this connec- ton. Such officers must be specially trained at service schools best to qual- fly them az instructors of the National Guard But the detailing of officers for training al the service schools and for duty with the National Guard en-