Manual of Military Training / Second, Revised Edition

by James A. Moss

CHAPTER I

THE GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF A COMPANY

[867]. The proper performance of the duty of COMPANY COMMANDER, like the proper performance of any other duty, requires work and attention to business.

The command of a company divides itself into two kinds of duty: government and administration.

The government includes the instruction, discipline, contentment, and harmony of the organization, involving, as it does, esprit de corps, rewards, privileges, and punishments.

The administration includes the providing of clothing, arms, ammunition, equipage, and subsistence; the keeping of records, including the rendition of reports and returns; and the care and accountability of Government and company property, and the disbursement of the company fund.

System and care are prerequisites of good administration.

The efficient administration of a company greatly facilitates its government.

THE CAPTAIN

[868]. With regard to his company the captain stands in the same light as a father to a large family of children. It is his duty to provide for their comfort, sustenance, and pleasure; enforce strict rules of obedience, punish the refractory and reward the deserving.