Evening star., 1919-10-05

| Ihe return OF the House committee
headed by Mr.. Anhony from an in
! spection of
Infantry School camps and
at Benning Grounds. sues 'or
schools brings with it many reports
| concerning the Impressions which the
actual view of the grounds at Ben
ming made upon the committee. 1t
is currenly reported that they found
the terrain ideal for the purposes of
demand the completion of the pur-
chase and the eventual development
of the enire scheme for the training
of officers and men in the school of
! fire. The Armys need is a paramount
reason for the full development of
this school. whether it be at Benning
! or some other locality.
| Every officer and enlisted man who
saw anything of the fighting in
| France says the same thing; it is
upon the infantry that the bulk of
the fighting as well as. the bulk of
is to be an army, they say, it is the
refinement of cruelty to prepare
masses of infantry without giving to
them the very best preparation that
can be given under the war condi-
tion time and opportunity. Since
there never will be time to prepare
the mass of the infantry thoroughly,
it is Indispensable that in some way
the best possible instructors and
training officers be made in advance
to get the Army ready for battle in
the shortest period of time That is
Mt "a iyoip ipfo
try school, such as that now initiated
at Benning. The object of this school
then is the training of trainers for
the infantry.
Modern warfare has demonstrated
the absolute need of skilled officers
to protect the lives of the men, since
it is little less than murder to send
them into action without that safeA
guard. 1t has shown the danger and
losses that result from a lack of CO..
ordination Qiaison is the worD in
action of infantry and what are really
its subsidiary branches - machine
guns, tanks. field artillery, air service
and other branches. To secure this
liaison the plan for Benning contem-
plates the stationing there of units of
all these branches to be used in the
coordinate training of the force for
battle or other forms of conflict. In
working out the problems for the
successful coordination of these va
rious forces the officers are being in
structed in the most practical man.
ner to lead their troops in such way
as to inf1ict the greatest damage upon
the enemy at the least expense in
casualties to their own troops.
X * 4 X
So much confusion exists, even
among officers of high rank. to say
no h ing of
Views Combined to legis ors
Form General Staff. anu tnstths ,,s tan nians
Of staff officers, both of the A. E. F.
and of those who served on this side
the Atlantic, have been combined to
form their composite picture of an
Army general staff.
of the A. E. F. corresponded with that
which Gen. Peyton c. March installed
in the War Department. Such a body
was so obviously necessary in the A.
E. F.. that Gen., Pershing,s introduce
tion of it for the supply and organi-
riously questioned, especially since in
SO doing he was following the lead of
the English. who found that they
needed more effective system of CO.
ordination than theirs before the war,
which would not function when tested
under war conditions.
However. in France Gen. Pershing
had in only limited degree to meet
the opposition of the supply bureaus,
while in the United States these bu-
reaus viewed with evident alarm any
attempt to interfere with the duties
which Congress had placed upon them.
The theory in existence before the
war and during it's first year was that
certain divisions in the War Depart
ment, called bureaus. were charged
each with procuring one or more of
the several classes of supply which in
sum make up the total equipment
and supply of an army.
Each Of these bureaus received from
Congress appropriations for the man
ufacture or purchase of the supplies
which Congress authorized. These bu-
reaus under the direction of powerful
officers had in the course of long years
acquired in considerable, although va
rying degree, efficiency; and, with the
inception of the war, undertook the
herculean task of magnifying their
personnel a hundredfold or more and
producing on a scale heretofore in
conceivable their contributions to the
supply of the huge armies which the
UD. ted States was raising to aid the
almost discouraged allies. AS soon as
the supply bureaus began to reach
out, on colossal scale, into the produc-
ton of the country they crossed their
lines and produced confusion where
ever they came into contact. Some
where some one mad to exercise au-
thority to control these bureaus and,