Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-04

pIeted and directed in the day by day
tug-of-war, for the chief commands
an army still in the making. The
staff may refer to him as the chief.
There is something impersOnal about
it and yet personal; for he Is abSo-
lutely the chief There is no sugges-
ton of any commission system in the
command OF the British army these
days.
The man and his method are as
quiet as the room. With battle
front which remains in the same place
month after month, the routine OF his
work has become almost as set as his
habitation and not unlike that of the
autOcrat of some great business or
ganization. The regular staff officers
are in a town not far away. Sub
ordinate chiefs of the different army
branches, be it operations, intelH-
gence, ordnance or supply, come to
him in succession at hours set during
the morning to make their reports
and receive their instructions. They
do most of the talking, and they have
learned how not to do more than nee
essary He listens, decides,
If a longer conference than usual
is desired, it may come a a luncheon
or later in the afternoon when he re-
turns from his ride which he takes
regularly every day. Then more work
until dinner and then some after dim
ner. If he goes down TO the lines or
perhaps TO confer with General JOfre
in the one car which alone of all the
cars carrying staff officers and gen
erals along the roads flies the British
flag, the routine for that day is bro
ken.
Like General Joffre, he sleeps long
hours. A rested mind is a clear mind
for great responsibilities. Like Won
Hindenburg, he never reads fiction.
When reading has not to do with his
profession II is OF serious books and
monthlies and quarterlies. Even dur
ing the battle of Ypres, when it was
touch and go with disaster, he slept
as sOundly as JOffre during the battle
of the Marine At crisis OF the re-
treat from Mons he remarked as quiz
city as if he were giving a direction to
an aide: We shall have to hold on
here for a while if we all die for it.
There is never any fustian about these
modern scientific soldier organizers.
Again, during the retreat, when a Ger
tain general became somewhat de-
mOralized, Sir Douglas took him by
the arm and walked up and down with
him in silence till he was over his mt
of nerves on that terrible August day.
Those who work with him know that
his sign of anger is prolonged 81
lence of a telling kind. He has a
temper, but does not let it get past his
lips, they say. He has, too, a keen
sense of humor. with a Scotch flavor.
The impression he leaves on a call
er is that of q leader without illus
ions; a soldier who sees with a SOL
dier's logic; who is not afraid to be
patient.
In your Civil war" he said. lit was
a case of raising armies of unframed
men to fight armies OF unframed men,
while with US the small nucleus of
regular officers who survived the re-
treat had to train even larger forces
to meet a military machine which had
had 40 years of preparation. Not
only man to man, but in organization
must We make ourselves superior to
our powerful enemy. The training of
battaliOnS and the manufacture OF
guns in England and their transfer to
France represented only the first
stage of real preparation for our task
Here they must be organized into di-
visions. corps and armies under the
actual conditions of warfare before
they could become wOrthily effective
as a whole in any decisive effort
inforced by experience in the field
must remain excellent, however eX-
hausted he becomes Every day he
grows weaker and we stronger. Ow-
ing to the indomitable spirit of our
officers and men in learning we are
accomplishing what seemed the i'm
possible to many soldiers at the out
set Of the war. Our cause gives us
strength for we are fighting for civ
iliZation. Those who have looked to
us for victory Will have their patience
rewarded"
A lieutenant in the trenches knows
as much Of when the blow will be
struck as a corps commander of
staff department head. A quiet order
from that quiet room and then the
struggle. which by the token of the
COMMANDERS strong chin and imper-
turbability, he will carry through with
unbending resolution and Scotch