ny kind,
will be permitted to exercise the least effect in any question of
promotion or detail; and if there is reason to believe that such
pressure is exercised at the instigation of the officer concerned, it
will be held to militate against him. In our Army we cannot afford to
have rewards or duties distributed save on the simple ground that those
who by their own merits are entitled to the rewards get them, and that
those who are peculiarly fit to do the duties are chosen to perform
them.

Every effort should be made to bring the Army to a constantly increasing
state of efficiency. When on actual service no work save that directly
in the line of such service should be required. The paper work in the
Army, as in the Navy, should be greatly reduced. What is needed is
proved power of command and capacity to work well in the field. Constant
care is necessary to prevent dry rot in the transportation and
commissary departments.

Our Army is so small and so much scattered that it is very difficult to
give the higher officers (as well as the lower officers and the enlisted
men) a chance to practice manoeuvres in mass and on a comparatively
large scale. In time of need no amount of individual excellence would
avail against the paralysis which would follow inability to work as
a coherent whole, under skillful and daring leadership. The Congress
should provide means whereby it will be possible to have field exercises
by at least a division of regulars, and if possible also a division of
national guardsmen, once a year. These exercises might take the form of
field manoeuvres; or, if on the Gulf Coast or the Pacific or Atlantic
Seaboard, or in the region of the Great Lakes, the army corps when
assembled could be marched from some inland point to some point on the
water, there embarked, disembarked after a couple of days' journey at
some other point, and again marched inland. Only by actual handling and
providing for men in masses while they are marching, camping, embarking,
and disembarking, will it be possible to train the higher officers to
perform their duties well and smoothly.

A great debt is owing from the public to the men of the Army and Navy.
They should be so treated as to enable them to reach the highest point
of efficiency, so that they may be able to respond instantly to any
demand made upon them to sustain the interests of the Nation and the
honor of the flag. The individual American enlisted man is probably on