The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-13


At the afternoon meeting, General
Schofield, who preceded General Miles
in command of the army, devoted his
chief attention to the friction newt
ably arising between the secretary of
war and the commanding general un-
der the political system. This had oe-
CURED during the command of General
Scott, who removed his headquarters
to New York to avoid differences arts
ing with the war department. 1t oc-
Cured also during the command of
| General Sherman, who went to st.
Louis to avoid friction.
The trouble, said General Schofield,
arose out of the system which gave the
head of the army the name of COM
handing general, when in fact he had
little or no authority, or even influence,
as commanding general. Whether he did
anything depended largely ON his per
sonal relations with secretary of war. If
these relations were not close, then the
secretary 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
| General Schofield urged that one of
| the most essential features of any army
reorganization was to give the presi
dent absolute power to select his own
commanding general officer Instead
of creating the permanent grade of
lieutenant general, he favored giving
the president authority to select at any
time a lieutenant general the officer
occupying the position retiring to his
former grade.
The title also should be that Of gen
eral in chief, instead of commanding
general as that would better express
the idea that the head of the army was
! the executive officer for the president
and secretary OF war.
! General Schofield urged also that the
! heads of ali staff bureaus should be
/ subordinated to the general-in-chief
! General Schofeld thought the army
should consist of about 10000 for the
Philippines, $4,000 to 20 600 for Cuba,
] 5000 to 5000 for Porto Rico, $4,000 for
manning and caring for fortihcations,
/ 10000 for the Indian country, and 1900
as reserve. He did not believe in
Understanding the seriousness Of
/ our task in the Philippines. and the
only thing to do was TO meet the con-
ditions in the best manner possible.
After Gen. Schofeld had concluded
Gen. Miles spoke briefly on what had
! been said as to the commanding gen
eral He said the laws now clearly rec
| ognized this position as commanding
| general. and one Of these laws made
| the general commanding the army
! member ex-officio Of the Notifications
board He did not approve the sug-
gestion that the head of the army be
| executive officer to the president.
! During most of the time for the last 100
years the army had been under the
| command of a general or a lieutenant
| general, and that was the practice the
world over. Gen. Miles said he did not
speak from a personal standpoint, as
he was ready to be retired at any time,
| but he believed in the principle of a
rank and of authority commensurate
with the responsibility.
Gen Miles said, in reply to a qUes-
| ton, that he thought 1T would be better
| for the president to have the war min
lister practically direct the vast ad-
| ministratiVe work of the war depart
ment, as it was manifestly impossible
| for any man to come from civil life and
at once become familiar with all the
latest appliances Of Mar. If the one oc-
! cupying the chief military position was
not liked, then let some one else be
4 placed in military authority But the
selection should not be from so far
down in the list as to amount to favor
itism, for that would not be approved
by the people.
Gen. Miles pointed out that three ma
/ jor- generals, Merritt, Brooke and him
! sef, had come through the recent war
/ without hope of recognition. He cared
nothing for himself, but he urged that
! the services of Gen. Merritt and Gen.
I Brooke had been such that the rank of
/ lieutenant general for them as would
! be given under his bill, would be en-
inently fitting, In this connection, he
referred to the cruel working of the
system, by which Meade, Hancock and
/ Thomas had never received the rank
and recognition due them for eminent