Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-02-02
by FREDERICK l. NJ

, system is wrong. out of date. and
wholly stultified by the experience CT
his great war.
When our officers who have been
turn home. they always say: You
nave no idoa how hard those fellows
work on the other side"
They must. The nation demands it
OF them. They must in order to keep
up with modern requirements. They
cannot escape working. 1t is the GUS
ON, the requirement. Before this war
the German officer ;sld the French Of
ilcer worked eight hours a day. There
is not more than three hours work a
day for the average infantry officer in
an American post. Any additional in
dustry is u to his individual initia-
tive. The amazing thing is that he
can retain n at all. II is not his
fault. let it be said again, but that of
the system which, in a nation of 1OO,-
100000 people. flies in h face of all
the experience of Europe; for Europe
may learn Industrial efficiency from
us, but We can learn war efficiency
from her. Our officers would be the
most industrious in the world-it is
the American nature-if they had any
thing to be Industrious with.
They get about double the pay of
British officers, about three times the
pay of French and German officers. A
boy Of 16 can go penniless to West
Point and from the day he enters it
does not cost his parents a cent. If
he went to Harvard or Yale they would
him before he was equipped for any
profession. Yet there has been no
great rush OF young men to West Point.
The arm has not been popular with
our youth.
From the day a young man is gradu-
ated from West Point. he is secure so
far as a livelihood is concerned. He
has only to escape court martial in
order to retire at 63 on sufficient pay
to keep him comfortably to the end
of his days. The nation gives him a
sinecure. All it requires of him is to
lead a quiet life and never express an
opinion at any army post which is
isolated because congressional repre-
%sentation in that part Of the country
wants it's share of the upkeep of the
army. If Jones is graduated ahead Of
Smith, then Jones will be the first to
become a captain, major, or brigadier
general. 1t doesn't matter if Jones
goes to seed, IL he becomes idle minded
he is nailed to IL moving platform
which will bring him to the top in reg
ular order. Fancy applying that sys-
tenn to civil life and expecting eff
cheney! Fancy "a young engineer en-
tering one of our corporations and be
ing assured that he would rise to be-
come a general manager without re-
gard to his individual efficiency! But
that is the method of our army.
In the German army. if you fail, you
get a note from the kaiser, thanking
you for your services and stating that
they are no longer required. In six
months after the beginning of this war,
about 20 French generals lost THEN
places because they failed. IL we went
to war, the same thing must happen.
elimination. They clean away dead
tissue before it commences.
Disheartenina to American Officer.
In Europe universal service each
year brings it's big draft of new re-
cruits. who must be trained. The au-
thorities require that h plant be kept
ficers kept busy. But when a young
American officer goes to a post, he
finds that out of those 65 men in the
company of which he is a second lieu
| tenant, many are r~e-enlisted men who
know their drill already. There is
nothing to be gained in drilling them
further. The officers work becomes
necessarily more or less perfunctory.
An American officer rarely has any
chance to take h a company out in
maneuvers with thousands of other
men and learn actual war conditions
which gives the European officer con-
tinual practice and keeps up his I'M
bition. The American q to treat his
soldiers very gingerly. He has to make
life very comfortable for them. He
must not work them hard. Why? Be-
cause they are hired. They are in the
army more or less because existence is
easy. without long hours or hard
work. They get their $3.50 a month
and a good home. II he wants to put
them out on a long march or digging
trenches. he finds he has made the
army unpopular. DesertiOns will fol-
low. Congressional complaints win
The directing force Of the most eff
cient industrial plant in the United
States would soon lose spirit under
such conditions.
An officer. after having drilled with
65 men, can go to his rooms II he will
n spend hours. as many do. In the
theoretical study of maneuvers. He
may go to the school at Fort Leaven-
worth and there learn the theory of
tactics and the theory of the immense
detail that goes with the command Of
practice On. He il in the position OF
a man who learns how to run an au-
tomobile through q correspondents
school, and then. never having once
run q car. 10 suddenly Gin case OF wary
ordered to take It around mountain
precipices. or through the crowded
street traffic OF New York. and. re-
pair (which - Just what every Eu-
ropean offlcer u taught Otherwise.
there would have boon chaos In AN-