was about to fail in his
examinations, when the powers that be passed the word that he must
pass, _nolens volens_. The professor in whose class he was and who had
found him deficient resented this, and when he learned that it was the
intention to pass the boy over his head he resigned and was ordered to
his regiment. The young man was graduated, entered the army and, aided
by influence, jumped many of his class men and finally acquired rank at
the request of the wife of one of the Presidents. This was a very
exceptional case, the result of strong national sentiment that favored
the father.

The management of the army does not seem rational to a foreigner. To
preserve the idea of republican simplicity and equality, army men are
not rewarded with orders, as in other countries, which is a great
injustice. Few officers, though veterans of many wars, wear medals, and
when they do they were not given as rewards for bravery, but are merely
corps badges, showing that the officer belongs to this or that army
corps. But if an officer does a brave deed he may be promoted several
points over his fellows, as brave as he, but who did not have the same
opportunity to show bravery. Ill feeling may be the result. Every man is
expected to be brave, and extraordinary examples of bravery are
recognized in other nations by the presentation of medals, the
possession of which creates no ill feeling. The actual head of the army
is the Secretary of War, a political appointment, an adviser selected by
the President, who, usually, has no military knowledge. This officer
gives all the orders to the general of the army, and, as in a recent
instance, a vast amount of friction has been the result. Intense feeling
was occasioned by the elevation of certain officers, who were supposed
to possess remarkable executive ability.

Civil war veterans at the Army and Navy Club complained to an
acquaintance of mine that when they arrived at the seat of war in Cuba
they found their superior officers to be, first, General Wheeler, an
ex-Confederate, against whom they had fought in the civil war; second,
Colonel Wood, who had been a contract army surgeon under nearly all of
them; and finally, Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt, who was a babe in arms
when they were fighting the battles of the civil war. This story serves
to illustrate the point that political "pulls" and favoritism are
rampant in the service, and are the cause of much disgust among
officers. General