Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-26
A DIVIDED SPIRIT MUST BE
AVOIDED IN THE ARMY
Troubles That Loom for the War Depart
ment in the Friction Between Old
and New Officers

and New Officers
THERE is a tough and trying job
L ahead for the men who must find
plans for a reorganization of the armys
official personnel and means for the IN
evitable establishments of rank and
rating between officers Of the old and
new crops after the last gun has rolled
home.
The situation is one that will require
endless tact and wisdom. The news hat
there is friction in the army between the
men of West Point and the men OF the
training camps and that the newer OFF,
GERS are making plans to unionize, as
The word goes, reflects a condition nat
actually exists and that has existed from
the beginning. Impulses altogether hu-
man and natural animate each group
But a knowledge that some such state OF
affairs was unavoidable is not adequate
to prevent a feeling Of keen regret
among those whose pride has been stimu-
lated by the dazzling record made every
where and under all circumstances by
our new army under its mixed leader
ship.
1t is a question whether there was ever
anywhere a more competent lot OF men
as a whole than those who entered the
army as reserve officers. They repre-
scented the very heart Of the country its
best enthusiasm, its youth, its undls-
MAYED energy. The work that they have
done in strange places, under the pitlleSs
exigencies of war, has had the quality
of inspiration. By the force Of circum-
stances and necessity these men were
lifted suddenly out of civil life and moved
up, after half a year or so, to an equal
footing with others who had given five
or six of their best years to the acquire
ment of a similar rank. A great many
Wcst Pointers have Cheerfully admitted
the necessity of this procedure and as
frankly refused to admit its justice.
Men who trained for an army commits
sion in the days Of peace abandoned all
other ambitions and devoted themselves
to a service that is in many ways OBJ
scure, eXacting. uncomfortable and, as
things go nowadays, underpaid. They
submitted themselves for years Of grind
ing study and relentless discipline. To
assume that West Point training c~onfers
only a formal distinction is to fall into
error. The West Point tradition gave
America an army that was u~nequalcd in
it's way. Wherever soldiers are known
the American Irregular is celebrated as
the hardest, cleanest, calmest fighter
upon this troubled earth.
Few persons understand how much of
the fine quality of the old regulars" was
re-established in the great American
army of today by the corps Of regular
officers who were charged with the work
of laying foundations for our present
military organization. Technical knowl'
edge, ethics, inspiration and all the diff
cult art necessary in the maintenance OF
a huge fighting force are not things that
NAV be obtained out of the thin air. II
is a matter of fact that the spirit of the
American expeditionary force radiated
from the old regulars. When American
units wouldn't fall back in France, wher
newer officers of less than a years stand
ing found the thought Of retirement
wholly intolerable, even though the odds
were all against them, they were &C
tuated by an American trait. But they
were also sticking instinctively to the
austere code of the older service.
The brilliant and moving record o,