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Show Hailed a3 First Military Genius Historians seem to have acknowledged that nothing new can he said on Wash- lngton's character, statesmanship or patriotism. Nothing Noth-ing old can be said on these subjects with much chance of being better phrased than Hymn's Hy-mn's Immortal summary of hlrn: The nrst. tha lnt. the !"t. The Clnolr.nntun of the Vst, Whom envy durrd not hate; or Kipling's more detailed presentment present-ment In "If." Hut In spite of nil that has been written on the mun, few stu-fents have taken Washington's full measure as a soldier, nnd tewer still realize how far he prefigured the scientific sci-entific and Industrliil age in which we are living today. The average person thinks of a great general as one who commands n great ! nrmy. It would he possible to get to that by which Napoleon caught General Mack asleep at Ulm. No Errors Mar Record. n' one point of military genius. In deed. Washington Is superior even to the Corslcim Cnesar, who In all things else rmiks at the head of the martial world. No. man can put his fingers on any point In Washington's campaigns cam-paigns and sny: "Here tills mnn made a serious mistake." The soundness of his Judgment was almost uncunuy. I'crhnps this judgment was due In some measure to the scientific quality of h!s ndniL Ills approach to science vwin more practical than that ol Franklin, hut equally zealous. Washington Wash-ington conducted experiment nfter experiment ex-periment In drainage, crop rotation different methods of fertilizing. Ills Holes on these mutters are worthy of attention from agrlcnitnr.il colleges today. He berated Virginia's depend erne on tobacco tin bitterly as. more than a century later, utatesmen lashed the dependence of the (Julf states on cotton. Always seeking better and more economical methods of production, always al-ways trying to utilize by-products, nl- lvt:v-B potnlv fnr n '0vut-" In luml n-lilr.h was the Klghtoentb century substitute f.ir Industrial promotion. Washington was startling!)' modern in many aspects as-pects of his mind. Where this mod-cnlsin mod-cnlsin falls. It might pay us to get closer to the Wnsblngtnntan viewpoint even at the cost of being somewhat old fashioned. farther from the truth than Hint, but not without prolonged effort. There Is a point ot which the mere size of an army taxes the genius ot Its com-, mander; hut that point was not reached until the Twentieth century. Judged by the rent test, that of achievement In proportion to means and obstacles, Washington Is one of the four or five greatest commanders produced by the F.ngllsh-spenklng race; probably the greatest. Greatly Handicapped. Consider his difficulties. o begin with, he was Rervlng a revolutionary committee, not a real government: nnd was not backed by any of the governmental powers which supported Kitropetin commanders. The congress of that day could not levy taxes, could not enforce conscription, could not pay Its men or provide tupplles. The men were enlisted for varying terms, nl-mo.t nl-mo.t always for short terms. The officers offi-cers had little training. The different colonies were unaccustomed to act together. to-gether. There was only the beginning of a national feeling nnd national consciousness, and the British, whatever what-ever their weaknesses, had splendidly disciplined troops and held the sea. Vet, In the face of obstacles like these, Washington kept an nrmy together to-gether and made headway against the enemy until he could deal the finishing finish-ing blow at Yorktown. The skill with which lie milled Clinton to New York while the Continental army was making Its -KKt-mlle march to catch Cornwallls at Yorktown Is fully equul |