Evening star., 1921-05-05
Editorial Digest
A Peace-Tme War Chief.

"a 1edCe.11me war Ohle1.
Creation of the position of chief
of staff for war" with Gen. Pershins
as the incumbent. is commented upon
with satisfaction by the majority Of
the newspapers. The chief satisfac-
ton derived by editorial writer's
retary Weeks has at last found some
thing for full general to do that
will neither disturb the Army organi-
cation. ruff1e the feelings of Per-
shing's high-ranking interiors. nor
yet prove unworthy Of the tituiar
Some writer's feel that this has not
been altogether successfully accom-
plished by the formation Of the new
some
One of the few to see slight to
City Tribune independently, which
declares that it means he will be
"shelved.' The paper says: Gen.
Pershing is supposed to prepare for
Army with which he is to have moth
ing to do in times of peace. The only
army Gen. Pershing would have any
command over these days would be
paper army"
This charge, the Cincinnati Com
is given impetus by the democratic
press and "the American people will
not readily accept it, for they do
not believe Pershing "is being dis
criminated against" and eff they did
they would become vigorously vocal
in protest" However. the Hartford
Times (democratic) finds 1t hard ITO
understand" what Secretary Weeks
has achieved.
So far as stated the function Of
the new organization. in the opinion
Of the New York Times Gndependent
the activities of the carefully or
ganized general staff" Further. since
the President. as commander in chief
in time of war may select whom he
pleases to lead an army in the field.
the assumption that in the event OF
war Gen. Pershing would command,
because in time of peace he Is to
have a general headquarters staff and
assist in preparing the Army for ac-
tive service, is untenable." The plan.
indeed to the Boston Post Cndepend-
ent democratic), resolves itself into
nothing very different from that Of
the strategy board which proved
generally useless as applied to the
Navy in the Spanish war"
The Buffalo Commercial independ-
in it. for while cit will enable US to
be ready for immediate action should
we be forced into another war; 1t
also may be said to provide an
Army bureaucracy aside from the
present general staff But the
Commercial concludes. "it. at least,
means preparedness, the lesson we
learned in 1917"
For the rest. the papers are gener-
Gus in their praise both of the plan
itself and the reward 1T means Tor
the general. The Baltimore News Gin
% fnr nf.f0 a n
view of the situation when 1t says:
Gen. Pershing has become. all by
himself, a problem. and this seems an
excellent way to solve him. 1t gives
him job commensurate with his
rank. and job that should concelv-
ably be Of service"
The Florida Times-Union demo
cratic) thinks that there will be
general approval of the appoint
ment of Pershing ito have charge OF
this important matter" and the st.
Louis Globe-Democrat republican).
warning it's readers that experience
and sound judgment must not cease
to plan for the future" of our nation
al security, asks. IF Pershing is not
the man" to keep America up to
date" then who is:" Since there
high Army organization" for the for
mer comma nder of the A. Z. F., this
innovation seems to provide the ideal
assignment" since, as the Whining
ton (Del) Star (democratic) puts it.
Gen. Pershing's Service in France is
sufficient, justification for the selec-
ton" and, in the phrase of the Day.
ton News (democratic). hardly any
one man in the United States is bet-
ter prepared for handling the job OF
the Reorganization work Of the mill
tary forces" This task Of keeping
the country "instantly" ready for an
emergency is worthy of the best" in
the opinion of the Philadelphia Bulle-
tin Independent republican,. with
which a chief engineer Of war" may
he endowed.
AS to the plan itself. the Indianapo-
lis Star independent republican,
thinks that it will permit America to
center the field with more con-
fidence," and the New York Globe
independently considers 1t "a sensible
move toward" meeting the Difficult
ties Of shift from peace to
war" a plan the outcome Of which
the New Bedford Standard frepubli-
CAM hesitates to predict, but which
it declares "basically sound" With
out involving great ornaments or
armies" the Kansas City Journal (re-
publican) believes that Gen. Per-
shing can formulate plans which will
save precious time and billions Of
dollars" if the need comes. and with
him at the head the Fresno Repub-
lican independently feels we can we'll
use small share of the budget Of
the United States to strengthen the
defensive arm of the government"