Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 129, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1914 — MY IS EFFICIENT [ARTICLE]

MY IS EFFICIENT

Officers of General Staff Compare Chaos of 1898 to Now. X System Also Seen In Work of Navy— Every Road and River In Mexico Mapped by Agents of United States Secret Service. Washington, D. C.—" The difference between preparations for war in 1898 and now,” said an officer of the general staff of the army, "Is just the difference between a general staff and no general staff, a state of relatively high efficiency and chaos. There are a lot of people going around this town today who think that the army and navy are asleep at the switch, so to speak. They will awaken some day to find some foreign military observers complimenting this government on its ability to furnish fighting men, fully equipped bn short notice.” This observation was based on the assertion of a veteran corespondent in Washington, who complained that he could find no basis of comparison between the Spanish war days in Washington and the present time. “You will recall,” said the army officer, “that the Spanish war literally fell on “the war department like lightning out of a clear sky, comparatively speaking... While there had been intimations from time to time that the United States would be compelled to intervene In Cuba, sooner or later, and while chiefs of division and of bureaus In both the war and navy departments had done all they could to bring order out of chaos, the fact was that there were no central men or organizations about which the whole departments revolved except the civilian secretaries. “No one central body, like the present general staff of the army and navy, no one individual like the chief-of-staff or the admiral of the navy, was officially responsible for the efficiency of either the army or the navy. There was no one charged with the work of taking steps in advance to meet a crisis.

“In the present crisis work on the Mexican situation began in the war and navy departments when the Madero revolution broke out. From that time down to the present the staff at the war college of the army and navy has been in the closest possible touch with the situation in Mexico. The names of the commanders and their fighting characteristics have been learned and studied; the size of their respective forces has been known, particularly those of the Independent commands, whose following is largely personal in the territories In which they operate. “There is today not a road or river in Mexico that Is not sketched on the war maps of the war department, even down to available drinking water. Last January the secret service of the navy department put marine officers into Mexico in civilian clothes, and what they do not know about the railroads of Mexico and the by-paths, should those railroads be destroyed. Is not worth knowing. “Scott marched to 'Mexico City without a railroad, and the army will if it has to do so. While the railroad would help matters much and would materially expedite the forward movement, the army is on its mettle in the present crisis and will make good to the satisfaction of the people who support it. “The main test, so far as the army goes. Iles in the rapidity of mobilization of the state' militia and the volunteers. This nation does not maintain a standing army large enough to meet an emergency even such as this one. Invasion of any foreign country Is no longer an easy matter. The state militia will always find a place hereafter in the first army that goes to the front “Every effort has been made to imbue that service with the high ideals,

the spirit and the loyalty of the regular army, and the army maneuvers of recent years have done much In that direction. We hope to see the state troops literally fly to the flag, gun and knapsack in hand, when called, and the quicker they get to the border the better. “Theregular troops will embark for Mexico as fast as transports can be secured. It will be squarely up to the state troops to guard the border in their place and to follow as rapidly as possible. Behind them will come the raw recruits, and we of the army believe that they will not be so raw at that. A man who ha§ once served under the flag Is usually the first to respond in time of stress, and there are enough of them In this country now to make up she first grand army. “The military policy of this administration is the one thing the country does not know about until It becomes an accomplished fact. We are not yelling from the houseWps what our next move is going to be, but the heads of the army and navy have known for weeks and months. Every conceivable detail of the Mexican situation has been worked out. If an, officer of either service has had an idea he has been ordered to put it on paper. It has been chewed over until every man knows just what to do in an emergency.

“When facts develop which make this or that strategic move necessary the country will be apprised fit what is going on just as soon as there is no danger of spoiling the movement by publicity.