The Washington herald., 1914-03-08
GENERAL WOODS
rise WAS RAPID
Sixteen Years Ago Assistant
Army Surgeon. He Is Now
Chief Of Staff.
ALWAYS READY FOR JOB
Lawmaker. Judge. Sanitary Expert
and Governor. All in One.
Equal to Tasks.

Many are there who have attempted to
account for the startling rise to power
and fame OF Gen. Leonard Wood. Six
teen years ago an assistant surgeon with
little or no regular military training, how
| is 1t possible that today at the astonish-
ingly youthful age Of fifty-four he should
! be the ranking major general and Chief
| of Stan OF the army of the United States?
Crooked natures have sought devious ex-
plantations of Gen. Woods advancement;
as OF undue political influence, or selfish
striving for advancement. at the cost of
others, or they have taken refuge in the
| easy and foolish Implication that II has
all been q miracle OF luck"
Somewhere In one of his essays Emer-
| son observes Of q certain extraordinary
man that he was prepared for his age"
| No better description OF the success Of
Gen, Wood could possibly be written
Without especially brilliant qualities to
commend him, with little promise In his
| earlier years. he has been. at every
| crisis he has had to meet, peculiarly the
man who was ready. There stood Leon
ard Wood-prepared. 1t was not that he
| sought the places which he has filled SO
successfully. but that he was supremely
the man who was ready for them.
Courage aud Es,ciency.
~ hc Ntfs pcSlniiiflB OI ni1 career IN
| the army, although only an army sur
| geon, he was assigned to lead a detach-
ment Of soldiers in pursuit Of Geronimo's
Apache warriors. far down among the
mountains and cactus deserts of old
Mexico. He performed this difficult task
with such courage and efficiency that he
was especially commended by his COM
manding general and rewarded by Con-
gress with one OF its rare medals. Theo-
dore Roosevelt said of him:
No soldier could outwalk him. could
live with greater indifference on hard
and scanty fare. could endure hardship
! better. or do better without Sleep
At the beginning of the Spanish war,
when 1t was proposed to raise a regiment
OF Rough Riders, the man naturally
chosen to lead was this same reticent,
low-spoken. well-prepared army surgeon
He became colonel and led the Rough
Riders on the bloody hill OF Las Quasi
mas.
"Was Prepared for His ARe.o
After that. when the high ones at
Washington looked about them for a
man to command the conquered province
OF Santiago, there stood Leonard Wood
ready. There were scores of officers of
higher rank, but none who combined SO
many OF the necessary qualities for that
difficult and dangerous position. Anoth-
er man might have been chosen who
would have preserved order as well as
did Gen. Wood. a lawyer might have
reorganized the government, and a pbv
sician re-established the hospitals: but IL
would not have been easy to find another
man with the varied mental ecuipment
and the requisite physical endurance to
serve In tropical country as lawmaker,
judge, sanitary expert, and governor ali
in one; to build roads and sewers; to es-
tablish hospitals; to organize a school
system and devise new scheme Of
hnance; to deal amicably with a powerful
chnrch influence. and yet to remain, in
spite OF such autocracy, the most popular
man in the province. In short, he proved
an admirable colonial administrator, and
from that moment onward he has been
the Imminent man" in connection with
the most difficult problems of our foreign
dependencies. He became governor of
Cuba then he went to the Philippines.
outrankcd Many Others.
As he has held more and more imnort-
ant positions. performing each task with
that high sort OF quiet efficiency which
americans admire. he has risen. natur-
any, IN rank in the army. until now he
Is Chief OF Stafr with Headquarters AT
Washington. Objection has been mad.
that he was advanced again and again
over the heads Of men who had served
long and ably in the regular army, men
trained at West Point and further dis
clplined by long service in army posts.
All this Is true: but Gen. Wood was never
yet given command or set to do a new
task because of his rank: he was rather
given his rank because of his task.
The name follows the deed.
And II ever this country sbouId h.
plunged into war, no man would be
turned to by the rank and file of the
army or by the country at large, with a
greater sense OF security than to the i'm
menseiy encient. energetic, modest SOL
der who has a way of doing every task
to which he is set better than anyone cx-
pected. For he has the genius Of being
always ready.