Evening star., 1916-01-16
NATION WILL LACK REAL DEFENSE WITHOUT
COMPETENT STAFF IS ANOTHER OF EUROPES
IMPORTANT BATTLE LESSONS FOR AMERICA
Modern Warfare Waged by Board Which Has Modified and
Organized Resources of the Country-U. S. Army
Staff lnnocuous, Says Frederick Palmer.

| tlOn IN the waters OF MS own ci.!. ~
the navy officers say that the place o.
that squadron is with the fleet prepar-
ing for battle. The Secretary OF the
Navy either has to yield or a political
enemy is made.
If New York has a navy yard, VIII!
shouldn't Charleston? If Norfolk-wh!
not Boston? If San Francisco-wh,
not Seattle: The experts are not
listened to with us; but in Europe they
are-because in Europe nationa ma.
armies and navies are taken seriously
Politics are pretty rife in France
but before this war to any member OF
the senate or the chamber of deputies
or powerful magnate found saying, III
the staff will not do this for me, we
will get rid of the staff, the staff hao
only to answer: I'VE are responsible
for the defense of France. as experts
and we insist upon being let alone
and the French people would support
the staff Yet the French people rule
the army.
People Must Help to Prepare Nation
Who in the United States ever thinks
of supporting the staff? We hardly
know of its existence. To say that il
is responsible for the defense of Amer
lea has no meaning. Nobody has
thought that America was in any
danger until lately
Public opinion in the United States is
omnipotent and it's barometer is the
press. What American newspaper
regularly employs a military or a naval
| expert to keep watch. as an expert. OF
what the army and navy are doing
and what Congress is doing to them:
| We don't have experts on our papers
because our public does not demand
them. though the public in France
where they spend 5000, 100000 a year
hef nd he n
land. where they spend $250,00o.0o0 on
their navy, regard it as a duty to see
how that money is spent. They are
just as interested as we are in the
tariff schedule
You can never have any real pre-
paredness without critical interest. In
Germany the kaiser keeps watch. Our
kaiser is the people. They should
known in America in our army and
navy appropriations would be imposs'-
BILE in any of the great powers of Eu-
rope. Not because their army or navy
! cause their senators and representa-
tives are more honest. but because
there is concentrated patriotic inter
est In the army and the navy. 1t be
comes more difficult for any man TO
slip something over to please his
constituents. or to crafty any army
or navy clique which has a pull with
the legislators.
| One Of the most damning things ] ever
heard said about the American army and
our whole military system was made by
an officer who had been able to maintain
himself as head of one of the depart
ments in Washington for many years.
political friendships are most import
ant in order to get appropriations for
what you want" he said
No army officer ought to have any
political associations. The moment he
tries to use senatorial or congressional
influence. he ought to be sent to an army
cost and some hard-workng, efficient OFF,
Ger out there who doesn't know senators
or congressman should be brought to take
his place.
Lesson of the Panama Canal.
/. Both in the British navy and the
French and German armies this sort OF
thing has been practically banned, by the
kaiser In Germany and the public in Eng
land and France. So it has with US in some
ing with our postal system We go for him
but We pay no attention to anybody who
interferes with our army system. We let
the medders work their sweet will. Each
of US knows through his mail delivery
about the efficiency of the postal system.
Nobody has the slightest ided whether
the army is efficient not. We appropri-
ate some money, We send some young men
to West Point, we enlist 1885, 900 regulars
and We leave the rest to Congress. The
people are to blame for not looking after
their own.
Yet we have only to turn to the work
at Panama to see that we have the ma
terial in our army and in our nation to
make the most efficient army for its size
in the world. For public interest was
really centered on Panama The press
kept watch, as the British press has KEEP.
watch of the British navy. When We put
a man i'll charge we didn't choose the
friend of Senator So-and- who had
lobbied for his position. We didn't choose
him because he was the oldest man in the
Engineer Corps, either. We took him be-
cause he was Col. Goethais. whom his
colleagues considered one Of the ablest
and soundest of the engineers.
Then We gave him full authority. We
put the responsibility on his shoulders
His business was to build that canal If
Bill Jones, who ran donkey engine, took
torders. and Goehals discharged him, il
did no good for Bill Jones to get his
Isecond cousin, who represented a district
in Congress, to go over TO the War De
partment and complain about ths lin
justice" TO a poor and honest youth who
had always voted right. The President
of the United States decided that we
could not afford that sort of thing Here
its use for petty politA. The people
knew this. They were back Of the Presi-
dent AS one foreigner. who saw the
Panama canal when the work was at its
zenith. said: When you show that YOU
can do this 20 well. why don't you re-
form your army"
Why not? We shall the day that the
people who rule these United States will
say. as the British people said to parlia.
ment about their navy: I'VE propose Ia
give authority to the men who know how
to do the work, to hold them responsible
and to back them up" That means the
choice Of the right men. and that lag
CARDS shall get their due.
Handicap of Civilian Secretaries.
In the United States both the secre.
tary of War and the Secretary of the
Navy are civilians. 1t is right tha,
they should be. But it is unfortunate
that too often they are civilians chosen
not because they are fit to be the head
of these organizations but because the ,
get place in the cabinet for politica
reasons. Whenever a cabinet is formed
by the President you will hear political
gossip saying that Smith may get the
army. the navy or the interior" Nc
one seems to consider whether or no,
he has suitable qualifications for the
post. The same custom holds in Eng.
land. and the English have suffered "a,
1t. The Secretary OF War or the NAVY
should be most carefully chosen. fol-
he is put at the head. not of a civilian
but of military organization. which
Is the most difficult kind of organiza
tion for civilian to understand ant
to develop.
In France, at the beginning of th.