The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-01-30

WASHINGTON, D.. c., Jan. "A
| question which just now is causing
much perturbation in high army and ad-
ministraton circles is that Of properly
assigning a general commanding the
armies of the United States"
| BY grace of an appreciative congress
this nation now has an official OF that
rank and title, but neither congress nor
the army has any work for him TO DO
Gen. Persning is the highest military
dignity in the United States ftoday,
He has back of him such military ex-
perience as has come to no other man.
But peace-time organization PROVIDES
no work for him to do. He is genera!
| without an army which is good deal
| like being a carpenter without tools' OF
a cowboy without pony,
! And general is some pumpkin in TINS
country, In the recent war there were
| three Americans who ranked as gen
| eral for the emergency--Pershin
March and Bliss. OF these three con-
manent Pershing alone emerges as
general for life In the Civil war three
| men attained this coveted rank. Tney
were Grant, Sherman and Sheridan. Be
fore that but one man in the nation
! had ever ranked as general and that
man was George washington.
When congress conferred the perma-
nent rank of general commanding the
armies of United States on Pershing, 1t
seems to have done so without taking
thought of the situation it would ere
ate, 1t Is not the first time that ranks
conferred by congress have created
embarrassment There was Maj Gen
William Gilbert, for instance, who had
a long career Of usefulness back OF him
as an engineer officer. He built the
Gatun dam, at Panama, and congress,
in appreciation, made him major gen
| hot Ahn QtNU TNnn or
corps of the army was so organized that
there was no provision in 1t for an off
Ger who ranked so high. So Sibert's
profession was taken from him and a
situation created that made the utlli-
cation of his services difficult until the
present war presented the task OF Or
| ganizing the chemical warfare service.
Congress smade Rear Admiral Dewey,
Of the DAVIS Of the Spanish American
war, the admiral of the navy" This
was a special post created in his honor
| Yet as admiral Of the navy this popular
| hero found his occupation gone, and
the navy department was at loss to
know what to do with the doughty
| fighter. The final solution was to make
| him chief of the general board of the
navy. an agency which, happily, came
into being about that time.
When Gen. Pershing came back from
France he opened up offices in Wash
ington and there held court for few
days, ostensibly completing the demo-
| bilization. Then he went on a long
deferred vacation, and shot deer in the
! Adirondacks. Returning to Washington,
he went, or was sent, on trip OF In
spection of all the posts in the nation.
| Most of these posts have been created
| since that date in 1917 when he sailed
away to command the American eXpe-
| dictionary force Pershing was TO see
what he could Of the work done at home
in making his army. 1t Is not known
that there is any other object in this
trip than to give the general trip.
! 1t was a temporary solution OF the
question Of what to do with him. The
! trim is drawing toward a close and the
| difficulty will again be thrust to the
! fore.
The problem arises chiefly because of
the present organization of the army. If
| there were field army, the general
! might be placed in command Of it, and
| there the matter would rest. But there
! is no field army. The army is divided
| into departments, The commanders OF
| the different departments are Of equal
rank. There is no individual who eXer-
| cises authority over them all The de-
| partments are directed from Washing
| ton by the commander in chief, VINO
Is president Of the United States, He
works through n secretary Of war. The
secretary Of war has chief of staff
| appointed by the president, He is the
| immediate advisor of the secretary OF
war on all matters relating to the mill
tary establishment, and is charged by
the secretary Of war with the planning.
development and execution Of the army
program According to the old regula-
lions he takes rank and precedence over
all OF the other officers OF the army.
This job Of chief of staff seems to he
the only berth that would suit the rank
OF general Quite naturally Pershing is
mentioned for il, 1t is already snuglv
r ED down. however, by Gen. Peyton G,
March. who is six feet three in height
and descendant of the family OF
Washington. March had something OF
n reputation as n holder down. He was
sent home from France with the an
prevail of Pershing. on whose staff he
served as artillery chief, and IL is un-
derstood that the commander OF over
seas forces was quite satisfied with the
co-operation he received. II March Is
satisfactory as chief of staff, is II fair
TO remove him and to give Gen. Per-
shing his job
Gen. Pershing and Gen. March met
the other night at a reception in WASH
ington. Their greeting was cordial, and
Gen. Pershing pro iuced a newspaper
clipping from his pocket. The clipping
dwelt at length upon the friction be-
tween the two. March asked Pershing
II he had suffered much Inconvenience