Evening star., 1921-05-25
Editorial Digest
The Four-Star Chief of Staff.

AAAS Aou4-Std4 CU1C1 VI Juan
: Although most of the newspapers
OF the country felt that Gen. T"rshins
hao been awarded an Office worthy OF
the man when the War Department
created made to-measure war
/ staff for him to take care of. now
that he has been regularly appointed
chief of the general staff of the
Army. to succeed Gen. March. the
I editorial writer's almost una nanimously
express themselves as still better
pleased The effect on prepared
ness" and disarmament" according
to the angle from which the ques-
| tions are regarded, with the a. +. F.
arat'"ns and peace plans. is also the
subject for interesting discussion.
The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette
(democratic) thinks that Pershing
now assumes his place" which head
OF paper army did not give him
dependent democratic) believes was
wisely abandoned" The whole ar
rangement is better" says the Hart
ford Times fdemocratic). since the
impossible plan to set Gen. Persh!nS
to playing with a set of blocks la
beled war plans has been dropped
That the original organization to
which the Times refers is not to be
entirely done away with is noted hy
the Louisville Courier-Journal (dem
ocratic). which. however. points out
that the important thing is that the
only soldier who wears a Sam Browne
because he wants to. notwithstand
ing War Department order to the
contrary. now has been presented
with regular job" And finding
this Job" the Boston Globe Gnde
pendent remarks, has been some
thing OF BRAIN -wracker'
Abandoning the dU.t staff arrange
ment and giving Pershing full authority
is supported by the New York Herald
independenD and the Detroit Free
Says the former:
The existence Of two general :tahs
side by side would have created Confu
sion: 1t would have been the cause OF
unending jealousies and daily collisions
between their members"
tn" action OF the PRESIDENT then.
the Free Press points out. in appo:n ing
fershing clears up complications and
jealousies and questions of relative
ranks which mean little to the average
citizen. but are nightly important to
the Army man The New York Times
independent democratic) echoes this
satisfaction. prais!ng the second choice
"f Gen. Harbord as Persh!ngs assist
ant.
''Retw cen them it says. they should
bring the army up to its highest stand
ard Of efficiency. Everybody will have
to show his worth and do the days
work. There will be no favoritism and
swivel-chair jobs will not be made for
any one"
The difficulties and the duties. as well.
Of the new chief Of staff will be in.
independent republican,. the former
because of 'the reaction from war
With "complcte charge not only of tn"
Regular Army" the Buffalo Commercial
independently points out. but of the
national guard and national reserve now
under the process of rebuilding.' he will
have "a much broader responsibility
than his predecessors.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer Gnde-
pendent democratic) looks upon the ap-
is tendency apparent on all sides to
slip back to our former Indifference to
military preparedness. and it reminds
its readers that the general recently
spoke of the need Of military training
camps and "the obligation Of every citi-
zen to prepare himself for maximum
service to his country in time of dam
GER The Nashville Tennessean in-
dependent democratiC) rejoices in the
fact that:
.'In his new assignmen he will be
given the opportunity to work out his
plans for citizen reserve and the pres
erva ton Of the units which participated
in the world war in skeleton form. Con-
gresS will not give him large standing
army to experiment with. but he will
have plenty to do in overhauling and
improving the material he has to work
with"
Whether or not he may develop the
idea Of preparedness, many writers feel
that Pershing will be a strong influence
for peace and an antidote for the mill
tary spirit THE mere fact" says the
New York Evening World (democratic).
that. as a military leader. the general
reflects the peaceful ideals of level
rattiers OF the military clique. is his
best recommendation"
The Des Moines Register independent
republican) is one Of the few voices
m iSed m distrust. for il scents in. the
talk concerning military training an in
tention ito prepare us for the generals
new service of recruiting and training a
citizens reserve army.