mpany property, and the
disbursement of the company fund.

System and care are prerequisites of good administration.

The efficient administration of a company greatly facilitates its
government.

THE CAPTAIN

=868.= With regard to his company the captain stands in the same light
as a father to a large family of children. It is his duty to provide
for their comfort, sustenance, and pleasure; enforce strict rules of
obedience, punish the refractory and reward the deserving.

He should be considerate and just to his officers and men and should
know every soldier personally and make him feel that he so knows him.

He should by word and act make every man in the company feel that the
captain is his protector.

The captain should not be indifferent to the personal welfare of his
men, and when solicited, being a man of greater experience, education,
and information, he should aid and counsel them in such a way as to
show he takes an interest in their joys and sorrows.

When any men are sick he should do everything possible for them until
they can be taken care of by the surgeon. He can add much to the
comfort and pleasure of men in the hospital by visiting them from time
to time and otherwise showing an interest in their condition.

In fact, one of the officer's most important duties is to look after
the welfare of his men--to see that they are well fed, well clothed
and properly cared for in every other way--to see that they are happy
and contented. The officer who does not look after the welfare of his
men to the best of his ability, giving the matter his earnest personal
attention, neglects one of the principal things that the Government
pays him to do.

The soldier usually has a decided feeling for his captain, even though
it be one of hatred. With regard to the higher grade of officers, he
has respect for them according to regulations; otherwise, for the most
part, he is indifferent. At the very most, he knows whether his post
or regimental commander keeps him long at drill, and particularly
whether he has any peculiar habits. The average soldier looks upon his
captain as by far the most important personage in the command.

There is no other position in the Army that will give as much
satisfaction in return for an honest, capable and conscientious
discharge of duty, as that of captain. There is a reward in having
done his full duty to his company that no disappointment of
distinction, no failure, can depr