LEONARD WOOD 567 »» officers, the chaps who were soldiering when he was a **kid. They all feel that, while they know their business, he knows it a lot better than they do, and that he knows it by instinct, backed up by learning/ '* When in 1905 General Wood had to return to the States for a surgical operation the Moros were working together in peace and unison for the first time in their history. Upon his return to the Islands Pail in 1906 he was made Commander of the Philippine Division, and set about bringing all the Philippinos into harmony with the same vigor and dispatch that marked his Mindanao labors. General Wood was called from the Philippines in 1908 to head the Department of the East, with headquarters at Gov- ernor's Island, near New York City. The same spirit of democracy and fairness which opened his office door to all classes of men during the other incumbencies followed him here, and the humblest peanut merchant gained as careful an audience as would any civil or military official. Betuming from a si>ecial embassadorial mission to the Ar- gentine Republic in July, 1910, General Wood found waiting for him the highest office in the army it is possible for a man to fill — that of Chief of Staff. He is now military adviser to the President and representative of the Secretary of War in formulating and carrying on the military policy of the gov- ernment. This year, by natural rotation, this office will pass on to some one else, and General Wood will probably resume duties in the Department of the East. Now at the age of fifty-four, with years of usefulness ahead, Leonard Wood can look back placidly on his quarter of a cen- tury of action and pride himself on a career of the most re- markable development — a doctor's scalpel grown to a Gen- eral 's sword ; leaving the paths of peace he has mounted over trained soldiers and over monstrous obstacles to the loftiest pinnacle of military attainment. Some narrow-minded men squeak : * * White House favoritism, * * * * Pull. * * But in every instance of advance, merit has shown itself unquestionably, and General Wood earned every honor before it came to his door. Those who look into his indomitable grey eyes say
