Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-09
WOULD PAY RETIRED
Stimson Favors Pensions for
Civil Service Employees.
REVIEWS RECOMMENDATION
Condemns Premature Grant of indie.
pendence to Filipinos.
DISCUSSES NEEDS OF ARMY
Would Not Remit Tolls to American
Shipping Using the
Panama Canal.
REVIEWS Recommendation
DISCUSSES NEEDS OF ARMY

Strong advocacy of pensions for civil
service employees is a striking feature
of the annual report Of Henry L. Slim
son, Secretary Of War.
Regarding civil service retirement, he
says:
In my last annual report I expressed
myself as being heartily in favor Of some
measure by which employees of the fed
eral government might be retired and
pensioned when they reached a condi-
ton of impaired usefulness after years
of faithful service. 1 earnestly renew
that recommendation. l regret the at
tack made against the retirement plan
during the last session of Congress.
when an effort was made t. attach a
limited tenure of office rider to the legis-
lative. executive and judicial appropria-
ton bill. I believe the effect of such
legislation would have been to overthrow
the merit system. The tendency of the
merit system. as established by the
civil service law. is to make service in
classified position under the govern
ment life work or profession, and some
sort of retirement provision follows as
necessary consequence, just as 1t does
in the army, the navy and the judiciary,
if the best results are to be secured"
The Secretary INDUCES in unsparing
condemnation Of those who would cast
the Filipinos upon the world before they
had acquired the full benefits Of Amer
lean civilization.
Many other subjects Of topical interest
are treated in the war report such as
the relations of the National Guard to
the Army; the improvement in the army
tactical methods: the fnadequacy Of the
present reserve law; the crying need of
citizenship for the Porto Ricans: the con-
col nf ho TO. in
navigable streams, and the ACCESSIBILITY
Of amending the Panama canal tolls act
so as to reimpose tolls on American
coastwise shipping leaving the water
way.
Opposes Philippine Independence.
A remarkable recital of the develop
ment Of the Philippines in ways Of civil
ization during the fourteen years Of
American occupation is given in the re-
port. It is declared that there is no
other instance in history where. after
four years Of war and insurrection, to
over 100000 Of an entire alien race have
been SO soon given July I, 1909 not
merely the forms of civil control. but i'm
mediate and extensive participation in
their own government. Similarly, there
is no parallel to the material, mental and
moral progress shown in these ten years
of civil government by SO many millions
Of people. held for centuries in ignorance
and in effect in political and economic
bondage.
After making this statement Secretary
timsOn proceeds to detail at length what
has been accomplished in each separate
direction in the islands: the sanitation.
the education. the development Of new
industries. the opening of the lands to
small farmers. the construction of harbor
works and railroads and irrigation plants.
Yet with all this progress our work in
IN Dt1f1 nfvSoc hne, f,rok
clares the Secretary; half Of the chill
dren born in Manila die in infancy: a mill
lion children are without schools: the
old system Of peonage is still accepted by
Americans. would fall ready victims to
the rich and educated Philippine minority.
The American policy should be continued
to completion, insists the Secretary, who
adds: Until that time all proposals for
independence are pleas for national rec
reancy on our part, and for the repudia-
ton Of the heavy and difficult burden
which thus far We have been brayely and
consistently SUSTAINING Even more is it
unjust to the great masses Of Filipino
people. in whose behalf the high-sounding
slogans Of liberty and independence are
shouted. After having been for centuries
sunk in ignorance and held in economic
subsection, they are now being aroused
to self-supporting manhood and being
welded into national solidarity. Along
this line, and along this line alone, lies
the true port of liberty and independence"
Spirit Of Personnel Improves.
Dealing with purely military subjects
the Secretary says the spirit Of the per-
sonnet of the army continues to improve.
attributable not only to the work of the
service schools and the general staff. but
to the practical opportunities afforded by
the recent maneuvers and changes in or
ganization and methods. Unfit officers are
speedily discovered under the searching
tests of field conditions. Treating of the
morale Of the army. Secretary Stimson
asserts his belief that the so-called anti
canteen legislation, has been responsible
for much vice. He supports the state
ment by a recital of the results of his
own inspection of forty-nine of the mobile
army posts, where he found the military
reservations adjoined by dives and ILL
resorts of the vilest character. These
conditions he believes to be the ultimate
causes which make the record of our
army in this respect shameful beyond that
of the army of any civilized nation"
The report directs attention to the bene-
fits attending the substitution for twelve
reduced strength regiments in the Philip
pines by a garrison Of six regiments of
full strength, with resulting saving of
over $1,OOO.OOO per year.
The Army Reserve Plan.
TOuch1ng the army reserve, toward
which Congress has made start in the
present appropriation bill. the Secretary
said that the most serious defect in the
plan is that 1t, creates too long a period
of service with the colors. Our own ex-
perience and that Of European nations
has shown that the soldier can be ade-
quately trained for his duties in consider
ably less than three years. A shortening
Of the period of training with the colors,
said the Secretary, will greatly improve
the character Of the young men who will
come into the army, while in no way d.
minishing the effectiveness of their train
ing.
So far from showing any purpose to re-
sist the execution of the law requiring
officers below the grade of major to serve
with their companies or commands at
least two out of six years. Secretary
StimsOn states that he is in thorough
sympathy with it's purpose, though this
reform should have been left to executive
action.
The Militia Pay Bill.
A strong plea is made for the passage
of the militia pay bill, now pending the
100000 men now in the National Guard.
eager and ambitious to be of service in
case OF war. being practically unavaila-
BILE under present conditions.
These men should not only be trained