tion of General Sherman he was sent around the world with two associate officers to study the armies of Europe and Asia, and upon his return he made a report which gave the results of all his accumulated experience and observation. He recommended the three-battalion formation in cavalry and infantry regiments. He recommended interchangeable service in staff and line as against the permanent staff departments. He recommended examination as a condition to promotion. He recommended the establishment of a general staff, and he recommended the general and systematic extension of military education. His recommendations had behind them all the prestige of his brilliant military career. They had the advocacy and support of the great soldier who then commanded the American armies, General Sherman. They embodied the practical lessons of the Civil War and the results of military science throughout the world. Yet his voice was as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The government did not even print his report, but with those of his associates it was filed in manuscript and forgotten among the millions of documents in the archives of the War Department. General Upton subsequently printed the report himself for the benefit of the public, through a private publisher. A copy may now and then be found at a second-hand book

store.

More than a quarter of a century later, and long after death had ended the restless striving of that far-seeing intelligence, other men, working out the same problems with which he dealt, found the sanity and wisdom of his conclusions and gave them effect. Were Upton living today, still upon the active list of the army, he would see all of the great reforms for which he contended substantially secured: the threebattalion system, the interchangeability of staff and line, examinations for promotion, and now, by the wisdom of the present Congress, the establishment of a General Staff, and

the completion of the system of military education under the controlling body which will find its permanent home in the building whose corner stone we lay today.

Many another officer has studied and striven and written and appealed in vain for improvements in the military service, and has passed away, and he and his work have been forgotten. The helplessness of the single individual who seeks to improve a system has settled into hopelessness. The wisdom acquired in each officer's experience has been buried with him. Only an institution perpetual but always changing in its individual elements, in which by conference and discussion a concensus of matured opinion can be reached, can perpetuate the results of individual effort, secure continuity of military policy, and command for its authorized, conclusive expression of military judgment upon military questions the respect and effectiveness to which that judgment is entitled.

I am sure that I speak truly when I say that Presidents and Congresses and Secretaries of War invariably desire such aid in the performance of their duties, and for this I look with hope and confidence to the General Staff of the army and its great adjunct, the War College, which we are now establishing.

I

THE ARMY WAR COLLEGE

ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION, NOVEMBER 9, 1908

'Tis not strange that on the shore of the beautiful Potomac,

in a land devoted to peace, there should arise a structure devoted to increasing the efficiency of an army for wars.

The world is growing more pacific; war is condemned more widely as the years go on. Humanity and the desire to promote the happiness of men are slowly but surely gaining ground. Nevertheless, selfishness, greed, jealousy, a willingness to become great through injustice, have not disappeared, and only by slow steps is man making progress. So long as greed and jealousy exist among men, so long the nation must be prepared to defend its rights. It must be possessed of virile manhood and a capacity to prevent wrongdoing. In order that this defense may be possible and this country may not become a mere hulk of wealth, this institution has been created.

At the beginning of the Spanish-American War, our little army of 25,000 men was an effective force, but it was scattered over the entire country in little bands. Few officers had seen great bodies of troops together since the Civil War. There was no one at the head of the army to do the thinking; to keep pace with the science of war. There were no means by which the study of army officers could be made use of. There was no coördination. The officers, while of the highest personal type, were unused to the handling of large bodies of men. Although they studied, they had no common ground on which they could come together. The benefit of their study died with them. It was necessary that some measure be taken as a remedy for this lack of coördination.

The order of November 27, 1901, which promulgated a general scheme of military education for the army of the United States, and as part of that scheme created a General Staff, was the product of earnest and long-continued study on the part of the ablest officers of the army. This stately building and the group of men here engaged in the study of the highest military science, are evidence that the hope of the promulgators of this scheme has met with fruition, and that the liberality of the people and of Congress has ably seconded this plan of military education.

We are warlike enough, but not military. In this we are singularly like the English, and unlike other nations. We have political ideas, but no mould of military ideas. History shows that men are naturally brave, but that they always have gone down before military science; and we must have a knowledge of military science as well as bravery and patriotism. It remains for the officers of the army now and in years to come to justify the college in which the staff, the Congress and the people are copartners. How are the officers of the War College to justify their existence? I trust I may be pardoned if I go into this subject and state some rules which I believe to be necessary.

Be careful not to let your attention be focussed too strongly on the administration of the army. The General Staff was created with the primary object of studying military science. You are brought together to do the thinking for the army, not the mere administration.

Settle your military questions within the limits of the military establishment. Never permit a controversy of any description to pass beyond the doors of the War Department. It is you who are brought together to settle military questions. The people are generous to the army and proud of it. Don't go to them with quarrels and expect them to settle them. Thrash these questions out, and then let the proper

representative of the army, the Secretary of War, go to Congress with the results.

The army should consider itself an instructor. It is the mould of form and the guide of practice for that greater army of citizens which will take up arms in case of war. Remember that when war shall come, and it is idle to disregard the possibility of its coming -it will be fought not by our little standing army, but by the militia and the volunteers. Instruction is needed to save that volunteer and militia army from paying the frightful price our armies have repeatedly paid for not learning the fundamental lessons of organization. The regular army is to officer the citizen army.

Never forget your duty of coördination with the other branches of the service-the naval, marine, and militia. This is the time to learn to serve together without friction.

Remember always that the highest duty of a soldier is selfabnegation. Campaigns have been lost for no other cause than the lack of that essential quality. Keep dissension and jealousy out of the United States army. Officers, you have no rights to rank and position incompatible with the best interests of the service.

Do not cease to be citizens of the United States. The conditions of army life are such as to narrow your views. Strive to broaden your sympathies by mingling with those outside of the service and learning from them the things they can teach you. As you are good soldiers, be good citizens. Let our army be never one of aggression, but devoted to the interests of justice and peace.