Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-07-15
NATIONAL GUARD.
Recent Work Demon
strates Its Efficiency.
Many Improvements IN The
Medical Department.
Work Of Capt. AnssII Of Great Help
To the Officers,

ApropOs to the great stride recent
ly taken by the officers of the Maine
National Guard, which, by the way,
has been called by some of the officers
the Ansell Stride" there arises not
little interest in separate arms or de-
partments of the National Guard SER
vice. Whenever this nation has be-
| come mixed UP in a war the general
| unpreparedness of the nation for such
conflict has been most pronounced and
noticeable. The campaign against old
| mother Spain brought to light a few
things which now appear to be abso-
| lutely necessary to the success of an
army. The English Boer campaign in
| South Africa proved the value of q
thoroughly organized medical crops
by its absence from the camp of either
| army. Japan proved the value of the
| department by a thorough prepared
ness. The United States was not far
| behind in the up-to-date science of
medicine during the Spanish campaign
and the lessons So well learned in that
| shcrt conflict has stirred the war de-
| partment to vigorous action. The med
| ical department is to be one and dis
| tinct in itself hereafter, as much so as
the artillery and infantry are separate
from one another and the engineer
corps from both while all must work
| in unison and to the one great end
success of the army. Under the Dick
bill provisions the medical department
is to be controlled by surgeon gem
eral who shall have the appointing of
all regimental surgeons and assistant
surgeons and contract surgeons as
we'll.
Heretofore surgeon generals on the
| staffs of governors of states have been
appointed by the governors and have
been commissioned for a term of six
years but the custom has been that
all such surgeon generals retired at
the close of the term of the govern
or. Under the new order of things
| surgeon generals hereafter will be
commissioned for six years, appointed
to the office by the governor and shall
continue in office during the life of the
| commission unless some necessity de-
mands change. In the past surgeon
| generals have been appointed by gov
ernors as compliments to some poll
tical friends but now the surgeon gen.
eral must thoroughly understand the
duties OF the Office before he is to be
appointed.
| When Governor William r. Cobb
made up his military staff three years
ago he appointed DR.. James b. O'Neill
| of Portland to be surgeon general. 1t
was understood at the time that DR..
| O'Neill was to go to the staff for the
express purpose of taking charge of
the medical department under the
provisions of the then pending Dick
bill. The office of surgeon general
carries the rank of colonel and when
| Colonel O'Neill took his place on the
| general staff, he brought with him
more than a dozen years of experience
| as surgeon and assistant surgeon of
the 1st Infantry, and this included
services with the first at Chickamau-
ga during the Spanish campaign. Last
January, in accordance with the pro-
visions OF the Dick bill, Colonel
O'Neill was ceappointed and again
commissioned tor period of six
| years.
1t was not until during the recent
camp of the officers of the Maine
Guard that the change in the depart
ment of medicine from the state to
the general government control was
| made. 1t is probable that when the
brigade camp opens next month Col
opel O'Neill will not have completed
the details of his department but is
| reasonably certain there will be a
| great change in the management of
that department The writer recalls
the first issue of the first aid packets.
These ar. little packets so arranged
that they can be carried by the soldier
of the fire line and are intended for
use by one soldier when ccmrade
| falls with a wound. The sudden dis
appearance of the large issue at the
| hospital rather astonished many Oifi-
| GERS of the Guard and these all Won
dered why they hadn't heard Of some
! Of the incidents Of the camp which
were filed with wounded soldiers. In
yestigation showed that one of the
| reeimental assistant surgeons, on duty
at the camp hospital, had made a
practice of presenting q packet to all
| visitors at the hospital as souvenirs OF
| the camp. The passing of the old time
surgeon is being noted with interest
| and hereafter there must be IA strict
accounting for every packet sent to
| the Maine medical corps by the war
| denartment Colonel O'Neill has given
his department the minutest attention
| in the past three years and 1t is be-
| .ieved will be able to give the Maine
service medical department second
| to none in the country. Surgeons and
assistant surgeons now carrying COM
missions in the State Guard are not
| affected at once by the new order but
as their commissions expire will be
reappointei or new men put in their
places by the surgeon general, as ne
deems proper.
The officers of the Maine National
| Guard Association are weighing we'll
the question of succession to the mill
tary staff of the Governor and COM
mander n4chief. The Governor may
appoint a number of aids with mill
| tary secretary as his immediate mill
tary family but the offices OF adJu-
tant general, surgeon general, quarter
| master general, paymaster general, in
spector general, chief of ordnance and
commissary general have attachment
directly with the service of the Guard.
1t appears. to be the opinion OF the
| SLot fhnc