The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-05-05

BY FREDERICK PALMER, who has
been only official representative Of the
entire American press with the allies.
Copyright. 1875. by the Wheeler Syndicate
Inc.
n 70 matter how good the infantry,
nj artillery or cavalry or how COM
plete equipment or munitions,
there can be no real defense
without a competent staff. While
France and Germany have been con-
tinually developing their STATS to meet
modern needs. we have been reducing
ours till it is a skeleton.
The staff is the brains, the nerve
center, of the army. Won Moltke once
said that, even given superior enemy
soldiers, Germany would always win
because OF its staff system.
All preparation for war, either of Of
Tense or defense, must begin with the
staff. The larger the army the greater |
must be its authority, the more COM
plex and efficient its working. 1t takes
longer to make good staff officers than
artillery, planes, aviators or infantry
without good staff work the French
could never have held their position on
the Marne. the Germans could never
have made their drives into France or
taken Warsaw and Brest Etovsk.
In Napoleon's time a battle front
might be mile and half or two
miles long. Napoleon stood on n hill.
surrounded by few officers, watch
ing the variation of the tide of battle
and sent galloping aids with orders to
his reserves.
Americas staff In Horseback Stage.
A modern general has about as much
business near the firing line as the
president or general manager of a rail-
road has to act as a train dispatcher
Lee and Meade ut Gettysburg had
three mile front; Joffre has one of $50
If he travels, 1t is in motorcar, with
out regard to speed regulations. The
tendency is to keep our staff in the
horseback, smoke powder stage
Be 1t Joffre or Won Hindenburg, he
sees not through tieldglasses, as did
the commander of old, but through the
eyes vi the tIdllleu StdlI OLlSeiS Vi III
mics corps, divisions and brigades.
Joffre can talk over the long distance
to Foch or to Douglas Haig or to
Kitchener in London as the New York
manager talks to the Chicago manager
of q great business concern. He can
know the result Of any aerial recon
noissance or any trench attack by
lifting telephone receiver, only 1t
must be a very important reconnois.
sance or attack for him to hear of 1t.
The big man is not bothered with de-
tails, and details form the principal
occupation of our chief Of staff
These famous generals OF up to date
warfare, whether Joffre Won linden
burg, Mackensen or Haig, are the bal
ance wheels, the men of Judgment,
who must keep their minds clear to
the big issues
What Modern War Requires of Staff.
The business of the staff before the
war, to mention a few details, Is to
have system of intelligence planted
in the enemy's country which will keep
1t Informed of the enemys operations
throughout the war; to know how long
It will take to send a certain number
Of troops to any given point and ex
actly how to send them; so to plan thai
the transport OF food for millions OF
men will leave no man hungry at night
and the ammunition supply will leave
no gun hungry; that communications
nv xuiro NJ IDit with unIf oro olxvo vs
intact; that each days plan of the gen
erals shall never interfere with any o.
these requisites; that every squar,
yard, every tree, every house, lane anC
street of the country where the army
is operating should be carefully map
ped Besides this, the staff has Il
handle that vast force of human being
organized into a machine in battle u
make sure all regiments operate to
gether.
In case of big war, for want of |
staff we should have railroad COLI
sions and accidents, which would cos
US not the lives of twenty or thirty
but thousands of men. We could no
expect our troops to be on time or an.
schedules kept
A staff ought to have men who know
railroading as railroad men know II
The German and French railroad
have worked like clockwork In thl
war. They have done the army's serv
ice and yet kept the maximum Of civi
traffic going.
But the handling of a railroad sys
tenn is only a small part of STAFF
duties. including everything from pc
lice work and administration to In
slant decision as to the next move in
crisis of battle. The British exped
tionary force went through the Mon
retreat without a man missing his n
tons for day because the British di
have a staff adequate for a sma
army. Consider what happened |
Cuba. for we had no general staff q
all before the Spanish-American war.
Examples of French staff Efficiency
Like the railroad system, the bettt
the staff does its work the easier
seems, the less fuss there is. Yo
may appreciate this by observation {
efficient business concerns.
Wherever we have maneuvers of re
ulars and national guardsmen togeth,
on a small scale you will see office
hurrying up and down, warning th