Evening star., 1941-07-20
Member of the Associated Press.
RevitoIizinq the Army

The recent drastic Shake-up in
commands among twenty of the
highest ranking generals of the
Army, which followed a mass pro-
motion of brigadierS in recognition
of ability, marks forward step in
the new War Department policy
aimed ct revitalizing the military
services.
In effect, the shifts served as a
timely warning to all officers to make
good or risk the forfeiture of their
commands. For this reason Army
commanders will be more than ever
on their toes during the fall maneuv-
ers, which will provide the acid test
of efficient leadership in the field.
Other changes in command, the War
Department has warned, may be ex-
pected to follow these maneuverS.
Charged with the responsibility of
building up and training the armed
forces almost from scratch in the
face of revolutionary changes in the
art of modern warfare, General
George c. Marshall, Chief of Staff,
has exercised good judgment, firm
ness and tact in contributing to a
solution of the problem of command
IN American defenses. First, he was
compelled by the eXigencieS of the
emergency to discard in many cases
the peacetime rules of seniority In
selecting new commanders on basis
Of merit alone. This he has sue
ceeded in doing without noSceably
affecting the morale or the loyalty
of older officers who were passed
over.
The merit system of promotion and
selection, which General John J.
Pershing found it necessary to use
in the A. E. F., gives the Chief of
Staff a free hand in putting younger
and more vigorous men IN the i'm
portant field commands. He has
searched for and found commanders
with vision, ingenuity and touch
of the daring in their makeup, a
preferred quality, he explained, in
leaders of combat forces. Men who
adhere to fixed ideas or whose minds
cannot readily grasp the new con-
ceptS Of a war of rapid movement
and surprise, are being placed in
desk jobs where they can still render
valuable service. That is as it
should be.
In other respects, General Mar
shall has introduced policy that
will have far-reaching effect on the
strengthening Of defense commands.
This was aptly illustrated by CIV
ing the Caribbean Defense Com
mand, which stands guard over the
Panama Canal and the island bases
marking its approaches, to Major
General Frank NJ Andrews, an air
officer. Hereafter, the policy is to
put the supreme command in the
hands of the service which carries
the greatest potential responsibility
for given task.
Many of the moves now found
necessary might have been avoided
II merit, not hide bound seniority,
had been adopted as the guiding rule
in the years following the first World
War. Now that the emergency has
reintroduced it in the Army as
temporary policy, the dictates of
common sense require that it should
be made permanent.
Upon the men in the ranks, who
can always be trusted to follow a
trusted leader "blindfolded," as
"Stonewall" Jackson once remarked
of Robert E. Lee, the new policy has
had a tremendously improved moral
effect. 1t is in wise recognition, also,
of the latent talent that exists in the
ranks, an augury that enlisted men
who show evidence of capacity for
leadership now may be given the
chance of winning officers bars.