The Portland daily press., 1898-12-13
GENERAL IN NAME ONLY.
Commander Of Army Has No Real
An h)fity
so GEN. MILES TELLS HOUSE
MILITARY COMMITTEE.

Thinks He should Be Given Power
Commensurate with His RESPONSE
bi1ity--Pointed Out That Leading
Generals of Army Went Through
| War without Hope of Recognitton--
Gen. schofieId Also Finds Fault
| with System.
\ Washing ton, December IL. Major Gen
eral Miles appeared today before the
House committee on military affairs for
a hearing relative to the proposed reor-
ganization and increase Of the army.
! Two bills for this purpose are pending,
one drawn by General Miles and intro
duced in the Senate as the Hawley bill
and another introduced in the House by
Chairman Hull of the military committee.
At the outset General Miles addressed
himself to the general need OF increasing
the army without reference to either bill
eff we are to be q first GLASS power In
the world proceeded General Miles, I'VE
must have military system adequate to
meet our responsibilities the world over.
believe in making that system so small
that it will not be menace to the
American people and at the same time
large enough to make it adequate Tor any
emergency.
The new standard would give an army
Iof 81, 600 according to the last census and
about IS 900 on the estimated population
of today In addition to this forcs the use
tof native troops would make an effective
body in the several colonies.
General Miles said we now have
greater number Of our men abroad tnan
any other country, except perhaps Great
Britain. On the basis OF two native
soldiers for every 1000 population the
cruited up 10 about 20U0 and in Cuba up
! 60 about 300u.
"And If we are to keep the Philippines
and have no more idea that we Will
give up Manila than we will give up
| Bunker Hill or any other place lmmor-
talized in our history-then this native
| force will largely augment our troops
there, and understand the natives are
| ready to enter upon this service
General Miles then turned his attention
| to thu bill drawn by him. he had pre-
pared this, ne said. simply in order to ex-
press his views in detinlte form. he ex-
| planned in detail this provisions as to
cavalry, artillery, infantry and stntf.
The hearing toua quite spirited turn
when several Of the Democratic member 8
| Of the COMMITTEES began q cross question
| ing Gen. Miles. When Representative
1 Cox of Tennessee asked that the minority
have an opportunity to ask some qnes-
tons, Chairman Hull expressed tho hope
4 that the committee would not divine on
political lines. as 1T had never pefore
| separated into majority and minority. In
| response to questions. General Miles said
| at least 1000 native troops and 1000 OF our
troops were required to maintain order IN
| Porto Rico. At least Is, 900 wre required
for western posts exposed to lndian up
risings. When asked how many troops
were required in Cuba, General Miles
| said that as troops were moving there
now, he would not go into details on that
point as it might be enormously construed
as comment on his supariors in Office he
| OK pected that most of the troops would be
| off for Cuba within thirty days.
At the afternoon meeting General
Schofield who preceded General Miles in
| command of the army, devoted his chief
attention to the friction inc vitably arising
between the Secretary of War and the
commanding general under the present
system.
This had occurred during the command
of Gen. Scott who had removed his head
lquArters to New York to avold difficult
1 tl6S dIIStuR Will but WAL u0EdittlOuu. ~
occurred also during the com maud OF
Gen. Sherman who went to ST. Louis to
avoid friction. The trouble, said Gen.
Scolteid, arouse out Of the system which
gave the head of the army the name OF
Commanding general wnen in fact he had
little or no authority or even influence,
as commanding general. Whether he did
anything depended largely on his person.
al relations with the secretary of war. II
these relations were not close then the
seci etHry of war got to ignoring the So
called commanding general. In that
event the adjutant general became a
more important official than the COM
manding general. Gen. Schofeld urged
that one of the most essential features of
army reorganization was to give the
| President absolute power to select his
own commanding officer. Instead of Gre
ating the permanent grade of lieutenant
general, he favored giving the President
authority to select at any time lien :
| tenant general, the officer occupying that
grade retiring to his former position. The
| title also should be general in chief in
stead of commanding general as that
would better express the head of the army
as an executive officers for the President
and secretary of war. Gen. Schoheld
urged that the heads of staff bureaus
should be subordinated to the general in
chief. Gen. Schoheid thought the army
should consist Of about 30, 600 for the
philippines, 1900 for manning and car
- 80 mn n