To illustrate some of the material with big titles sent to "assist" in
running the staff departments, two incidents will suffice.
On the 11th of June, at a certain headquarters, it was desired to send
a message, demanding reply, to each transport. A gray-haired officer
turned to another and said, "Whom shall we send with this? Will
So-and-so do?" naming one of the before-mentioned civil appointments.
"For heaven's sake, no! He would tie up the whole business. Send an
orderly," was the reply. The orderly, an enlisted man of the Regulars,
was sent. The officer thus adjudged less competent to carry a message
than a private soldier was perhaps actuated by a high sense of duty;
but he filled a place which should have been occupied by an
experienced and able officer--no, he did not fill it, but he prevented
such a man from doing so.
The second incident was related by an officer on a transport bound for
home. Say his name was--oh well, Smith.
Smith went, on the 20th of July, to a certain headquarters in the
field on business. Those who could have attended to it were absent,
but there was one of the recent arrivals, a high-ranking aide, there,
and he, sorry for Smith's worn-out look of hunger, heat, and thirst,
asked if he would have a drink.
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