THE CANADIAN ARMY'S NEW CHIEF

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3175, 28 August 1917, Page 5

THE CANADIAN ARMY'S NEW CHIEF

IFROSI REAL ESTATE BROKING TO

GENERAL

A-FIGHTING COMMANDER

jßy IVA. IL'Konzio, in the "Daily Mail.")

Three years ago Sir Arthur Currie was & Teal (•state broker in Victoria, B.C. To-day—still iu tho early forties—he sno•ceeds to the command of a British army torps. Everyone who knows his work is agreed that he has earned his rapid pro(motion. For he is a first-class fightinj man, a great organiser, nnd a general ■who, in the language of the West, "delivors the goods." The promotion o£ a "civilian-soldier," ii I mny coin the word, to an army corps commp.nd is a sign of the times. Not so >ory long ago the rank of general of division was thought to be a prerogative of the professional soldier—the man who liad devoted his life from early manhood to the study of war. The commander Kit an army corps is director of one of the most complex organisations in the •world. ]Hs-range of duty is in.the highest degree technical. On hie organisms ability ultimately depends the full use nf the great artillery, the numerous brigades of infantry, the multiple machinery of transport. He controls a department: nf intelligence who?e completeness would 3iave rando Napoleon wonder, of a strength in hoaw runs that Oyama or Kitchener never had. There !s full confidence among all who 1-now Mb work that' Currie with the Canadians, like Smuts with the South 'Africans, will prove the right man for jhis groat post. .This confidence is jrreat■opfc of all among tho Canadian soldiers of all rarlts who now servn under him. I speak with assurance on that point, for I Jiavo discussed their new general with them in dug-out and , .trenches, in rest camps and restaurants. Everywhere I found only one opinion—"Give us Curiio." Hero is a big man, a giant physically, OTth big, clean-shaven face. The eyes iaro laughing eyes and his face has the freshness and clearness of youth. A quiet maa ho is, neither fussy nor a blusterer, genial, a man to make friends and to keep them. That is one's first impression. But let the moment nrise and the face soon takes a- stern mould. For tho ultimate impression of the man is one of strongth. Arthur Curric is an Ontario roan. Hβ Bottled in Victoria first as a schoolmaster, made a record in life insurance, evon. for the "West, and developed into the real estate business. \ In the days before tho war tho average Canadian did .not take soldiering seriously—Currie did. He gave the best pf hiraeolf to the. effibiency of his Militia, and that at a time •when, moat men gave the possibility of serious war scarcely a thought. Then came the great days of August, 1911. Canada sprang to arms. In the second .battle of Tpres, whore Canada saved the entire British line, Currie proved himBolf a practical soldier. When General Aldersori was promoted from the First Canadian Division to the command of the Canadian Corps,- Currie succeeded him as major-general. That was' in September, 1915. Here the Western man had ihis opportunity and made full use of it. What is General Clime's secret us a SoldierP First comes the quality of the man himself. lie is a big magnetic personality. His mon serve him to the e.nd because they love and admire him. Hie Methods centre around four, points—the elaborate organisation of intelligence; tho complete co-ordinntion of all arms; the development to its utmost point of the platoon system; and the cultivation of responsibility in the individual eolidier. Every part of his unit moves on a great occnsion like a section of a big Machine. Guns, infantry, aircraft work together to tho second. He has brought the platoon system to perfection. Bach platoon is a complete unit in itself, taught to act by itself and with all weapons at ifa command to do everything necessary. And he frusta the man | Jn the ranks. The privato'soldier is told fully and frankly what he i 3 to do when a great move ia ou, and why he is to do St. ■ He is shown mape and plans and photographs, and feels that he is taken anto the confidence of his general.