Evening star., 1919-03-02
General Staff Of Army
Service Problem Long.

service problem Long. except tor
of the courage and fighting qualities
of the enlisted men and officers of tn,
Regular Army, led to the adoption o.
general staff system for the A1neri
can Army. This organization did no
place in the staff authority for th'
operation of the Army and the mill
taEy matters of the Army.
It contemplated no dissipation OF
the bureaus which in days: gone by
had accomplished such great results
in their respective fields. The duty
placed upon the staff was to CO.
ordinate the operations of the bu-
reaus and to create through one OF It's
subdivisions plans for the guidance
of the Army in event OF hostiittles
Congress, in order to avoid issue be
tween the strictly military side OF
the War Department and the civilian
Secretary of War, gave the chief OF
staff no authority to issue orders al
fecting the Army, except in the name
of the Secretary Of War. The rela-
ton between the civilian War Secre-
tary and the director of military op-
erations had long been one difficult
to solve, nor has satisfactory So
luton yet been found. If Secretary
of War is strong man, ike stanton
he almost inevitably will, being d
civilian and ignorant of military prin-
ciples and affairs, Interfere with the
direction of the armies. If he is
man unfit by business training ana
experience to cope with the develop
ment of armies in an emergency, ne
will lean upon the advice OF all sorts
of people with all sorts of schemes.
theories and innovations, and wiA
weakly yield his direction OF the
business or civilian side of his Office
to the officer or civilian with the
most dominant will. The scheme OF
Congress, then, by which it seemed
to have solved a question by avoid
ing the issue, in giving the chief OF
staff authority only when acting in
other measure lacking fnality, did
NOT in practice operate with the sue
cess expected of 1T.
The first chief of staff was Maj.
Gen Leonard Wood, who, due to the
Rooseveit Roc and his own conception
Of the duties of a staff, was. able to
carry out many ideas for the improve
ment of the military establishment.
However, he was conbated at many
points by officers firmly entrenched in
bureau positions. men of marked abll-
ity and devoted to their branch of the
service. They objected to Interference
with the development and the internal
mana cement of their divisions, and re-
sented show of authority from the staff
From that time down to the middle OF
the present war the struggle between
staff and bureaus continued. The Sec
retary of War usually supported his
chief of staff and Congress usually CO.
operated with the bureaus.
Congress, by legislation that re-
duced the number of officers of the
staff to a minimum, finally put the
yxrha T1i+ tod
states entered the present war there
was practically no organization that
secured cooperation between the bu-
reaus that were created for the pur-
pose of supplying the Army with ord
nance, food, clothing, Signal Corps ma
terial. coast artillery and created and
trained the personnel. The result was
an utter failure of the supply system
during the earlier part of the war.
1t is worth while for moment to
examine the organization of the Navy.
II has an office of naval operations, of
which Admiral William Benson is the
chief, and the several great bureaus
steam engineering, ord
nance. yards and docks, supply and
others Each of these bureaus has its
complete organization and receives
from Congress appropriations to be
spent by it under the direction of the
Secretary. The office of operations, in
with the Secretary, deter
mines what is required of each bureau;
and the Secretary directs the bureaus
to go ahead and produce what he Or
ders. The office of operations keeps
in touch with the bureaus to make
certain that what the line of the Navy
needs is coming through on time and
in keeping with the service require
ments. The plan has worked out we'll
but the Navy spent more than two
years before the war in getting ready
for any emergency.
The Army after April s, 1917. con-
tinued under its prewar method; and
it was an utter failure as far as Sc
curing live results is concerned. The
passage of the selective draft act and
It's administration by Maj. Gen.
Crowder and the order giving di-
visional commanders authority with
in their camps were redeeming fea-
lures. There was no attempt even
to coordinate the activities Of the
supply departments of the several
bureaus and of the Quartermaster