The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-10-14
WOOD PLANS FOR GREATER
.ss~@ EFFICIENCY OF THE ARMY
To This Eend Advocates Short Enlistments in Armv ona
Militia, Building Up of Reserves for Both. and
Extension of Military Education.
AsEHdUN BROWN, in ashn,,o s..-

ions, tnat Is Suo one tn0t would best /
m, Mai. Gen. Leonard Wood, whose
actual title Is chief Of staff.
lie is general manager Of the army.
directing Its operations Just as the
General manager Of q railroad directs
those of the property for which he is
responsible. Behind the railroad gem
eral manager are the president of the
company and the board of directors:
behind the chief of staff are the Sec
rotary of War, the President and Con-
gress.
Sit in Gen. Woods Office in the War !
Department and observe his work, |
and the similarity impresses you more |
and more. The popular vision Of the
office Of chief Of staff Of the army
may be OF various stiff gentlemen in
Uniform sitting about in melancholy
dignity. swapping out orders to sub
o~rdinates. while brass-bOund orderlies
march in cadenced time in and out
the doris. saluting some one at every
other step.
h real thing is quite different.
The only uniforms to be seen in Gen.
Woods Offices. save on formal occa-
Sions, are those that adOrn the walls,
painted uniforms on painted portraits
of n long line Of distinguished Amer
lean generals. Perhaps these ancient
Gentlemen, as they lOOk down out Of
their gilt frames. are shocked at
the ultra-modern methods Of work
they see in use beneath them. The
chances are, however, that they are
not. They were good soldiers in their
time. Your good soldier, whatever his
age or generation, IS an exponent of
what we call modern efficiency. They
were practicing it long before the
phrase was invented.
Washington, first Of our generals,
was a master OF modern efficiency,
and his chief labors were directed to-
ward obtaining 1t in h army he had.
What we need" he wrote to the
trous battle of Camden, els a good
army, not a large one"
II hat doesn't mean efficiency il
doesn't mean anything.
So one may read into these grim OLD
faces on he wall an expression Of ap'
prevail as they observe the simple. ex
peditious. systematic in which
their young successor discharges hi!
duties. Getting things lone is a knacl
has has. Getting things done Away
has been the ideal Of the best soldiers
He gets things done by moder1
methods. Hence the similarity hi
ofiicn bears to the Office Of q railroa'
general Gen. Wood himsel
IS Of the type of highly develope'
modern executive: the quiet-vOice'
trained, thoroughly educated ma
who wins to high place by alway
making good"
Howard Elliott. the new presider
Of the New Haven, like Gen. Wood,
product OF Harvard, is another Of tn
type. The t~o. by the way, hav
many other qualities in common.
When Lindley M. Garrison ha
been Secretary Of War for a re
weeks he cOmmeDfed publicly on tt
army as being "a wonderfully fir
machine" His impression was cAugl
from observations in the department
Ills phrase was a distinct complinle1
10 the work Of Gen. Wood.
Army = Fine MaGhiney
This vast. complicated. involve
but intensely human mechanism
handled by Gen. Wood as by a ma
ter. He has the quality Of making
move with ease. Of himself always a
%parcntly having leisure. Efficien'
experts say that a guide to an exec
tive efficiency is the condition OF r
mu'ate he is deficient. Gen. Wooe
desk is spick and span and cles
rapers come thereby the bushel. b
they GO away again quickly-act
upon.
One reason is that ne knows how
pick SubOrdinates. No eN
made good who didn't have that ia
ulty.
Gen. Wood has been much in
public eye ever since 1893, when
leaped into prominence as colonel
the LIST United States Volunteer ca
airy. otherwise the Rough Riders.
observation-disclosures being Theodt
ROOSEVELT. 1t is we'll known IL
Roosevelt. himself an eminent tuC
OF men. secured the appointment
tol. Wood out OF many possibilities
the military man best qualified
command the regiment. Roosey
very plainly saying that he (Reo
Seit), without training under such
Competent superior as he knew W.
10 be, was not hen qualified to Il
command. How Wood was promo
Ia brisadier general and Ro0seyeft
the ~regimental command after Il
reached Cuba, is history.