The Colorado statesman., 1917-05-19

however, VIII need officers ana more
officers, and II all the willing men. and
men In whom the qualities of command
are latent and can be brought out, nre
sent out with the first forces, II Is
asked If II Is to be expected that out
Of the ranks Of the unwilling the Unit
ed States can get officers of spirit and
understanding.
slsckers Not Good Officers.
Here Ia what an American soldier
has said:
"No Stacker ever made good col
onel. nor a good second lieutenant, nor
good corporal nor n good private.
Sometimes the Stacker Is only lndlffer-
ent in temperament and when he gets
into the service he makes good sol
der but he needs proper leadership.
He could get 1t from the men of will
ing spirit and adaptability to the les
sons of command. If all such men
had to he taken into the ranks at the
first and sent TO Europe, there perhaps
to be killed or MANNED who would be
left to give to the Stacker who is only
letharglc the proper training to make
Some of our troops probably will go
quickly to Europe, but enough good
soldiers will stay here for training
purposes. When the troops of our
army get into the instruction camps
they will enter school which Is diff
ferent in its instruction and in Its
methods from the army schools of an
other day. On the continent maneu-
vers, tactics and strategy have shown
marked changes from the battle and
campaignings of other years. Men
read daily of entangements of barbed
wire and of obstacles to advance which
make the old pointed stake obstruc-
tion seem easy going. The American
troops will be trained to get over and
through things no matter what they
are.
Wall-scaling is n comparatively easy
practice. but wall-scaling is the cas-
lest of the things which the recruit
soldiers of eight weeks standing will
be taught at the American camps of
military instruction.
Generals in Their New Posts.
Mai. Gen. Leonard Wood has gone
into headquarters at Charleston, S. c.
to take command of the Southeastern
department; Maj. Gen. ]. Franklin
Bell has moved into the quarters just
vacated by General Wood ut Govern
or's Island. and Brig. Gen. Clarence
r. Edwards has found station and
quarters as commander Of the New
England department with headquar
ters at Boston.
So it is that May, the moving month
of Americans, has seen the first army
transportations probably solved. Gen
eral Wood, ranking officer of the Unit
ed States army, has gone to his semi
subordinate command at Charleston
with loyalty to orders and cheer
fulness of demeanor that marks the
true soldier.
Major General Bell, who will find
that his predecessor, General Wood
has set things in order for him in the
big New York department, is soldier
of rare experience and rare attain
ment. 1t is understood that he feels
the responsibility which rests upon his
shoulders to make good in command
in which superior officer made good.
General Edwards who left his for
mer command on the dsthminn Canal
Zone two weeks ago, stopped in Wash
lngton for day and then went TO
New York to confer with General
Wood, and thence he went to Boston
to take up the problems which Will
confront him in the newly made de-
partment.
Edwards, like Bell, will discover that
Wood has helped him much. General
Woods former command included all
the eastern part of the United States.
The coast problems from the Gulf to
East Cape, Maine, were solved in large
part by the man who has gone to
Charleston.
New Problems Confront Them.
1t must not be thought, however,
that the three general officers now on
the eastern coast and the other gen
eral officers. Pershing in the South
west Barry in Chicago, Sibert on the
Pacific coast and others elsewhere,
will not have new problems confront
ing them. A great army is to be raised
and trained, and detachments of 1t Will
90 into camp at different places
throughout the United States. The re-
sponsibility for the proper training OF
these men, for the proper care, and for
turning them as quickly as possible In
TO good soldiers will rest on the major
generals and brigadier generals In
whose departments the camps are
pitched.
,l,o
Some of them are prime factors an6
before the solution comes the proper
methods to be followed in arriving al
the result must be determined. The
general officers of the United States