The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-08
HOW THE ARMY WILL BE RUN.
SECRETARY ALGER TELLS HIS
VIEWS ron FUTURE PRACTICE.

Regiments Ordered Out Shall Go out
and Those to BE Retained VIII BE
Retained Regardless of Outside In
Guencc-After 100000 Men Are Mus
tered Out the Army Is TO he Rcor-
gnnized-SoIdiers Must he Content
with Army Rations-FicId Officers
to De Held Responsible for the
Welfare and Condition OF Their
Men.
Washington, Sept. T.-Secretary Alger is
putting his affairs in shape to admit of
his absence from Washington on a tour
of inspection of the army camps through
out the country. He win leave tomorrow,
gong first to Camp Meade Pa, and
thence to Detroit.
Now that the active war operations have
closed the secretary feels free to express
certain views entertained by the President
and himself respecting the plans for the
treatment OF the soldiers and touching the
persons upon whom responsibilities should
be placed for some of the matters of COM
plant.
In this connection he says: The regi-
ments that. have been ordered mustered
out will be mustered out. The regiments
that have been designated by the Presi-
dent to remain in the service will have TO
remain. AS soon as we have mustered
out 100000. more or less, we shall reor-
ganize the army-every brigade division
and corps, and put them into comfortable
camps until such of them as are needed
are Withdrawn for service in Cuba, Porto
Rico and the Philippines. In these camps
with experience of the past to guide u.s.
sanitary conditions will be strictly enforc-
ed. The men composing the army Will
be treated as soldiers. They will be shown
every possible consideration and their
health will be preserved. The officers
commanding regiments and companies will
be held strictly accountable for the sani-
tary conditions of the camps They are
the ones who should be held responsible.
During the war many of these officers
disregarded the specific instructions that
had been given looking to the proper care
of their men. Now it IS
time for them to take this
work up with motives and with the knowl-
edge that they are to remain in the serv-
ice they viii be expected to devote their
best energies to the work Where men
are incompetent to discharge these duties
they must give way to competent men,
for again l wish to make it clear that these
company and regimental officers are TO be
held to account for the welfare Of their
men.
Now word as to the feeding of these
troops. The army rations is all that is
necessary for a soldier. hope that there
will be less food given to the men from
outside sources. The dainties gratifed the
taste of the men, but they are of no real
help, and only tend TO breed dissatisfac-
ton where they do not actually destroy
the health of the men The army ration
to-day, as II has been, and as it will be
in the future, is sound. healthy diet.
The principal difficulty We have to con-
tend with is the reclSlessness of youth In
the Vigor of sound health the young men
who went to make up our army could
not be induced TO take proper care of
themselves.
when the regiment is designated to be
mustered out, no further appeals will be
allowed to influence the department to
change its programme. That order is 20
iil6 ~ ne SlIlCliy observed until the BreSl-
Gent decides that he can make a further
reduction in the army. When such reduc-
ton is made there viii be no discrimina-
ton in releasing the troops 1t is not pos
sble to MAINTAIN the exact ratio, because
to do so would be to divide regiments, but
the purpose will be to treat all states fair
ly and as near alike as possible
1.-THE great complaint of the soldiers Is
inconsistencies and a great deal of this has
been caused by the inconsideate publica-
tons in the sensational newspapers Some
of it Is also chargeable to the fact that
the men entered the army with the expect
alton that their services would be very
short. Every experienced officer knows
that great many men died of homesick-
ness. Following the depression that
ensues upon homesickness come
other maladies TO which the
homesick soldier falls an easy victim and
il is impossible to check its course. To
my mind the American people should try
to brace up these men, to encourage them,
and to cause them to remember that they
are soldiers and expected to meet a SOL
dier's duty. The people of this country
should not be giving the impression that
they have sent into the army a lot of boys
unfit to withstand the unavoidable vicissi-
tudes of camp life. Some of the com
plants that have been published are cal
culated TO make the American army ap-
pear in poor light TO the eyes Of the
American people and also to those Of the
nations of the world"
The secretary gave earnest assurance of
his purpose to carry out strictly the de-
cision he had announced to hold field Off
GERS responsible for the condition of their
men.
STORM WROUGHT GREAT RUIN.