The sun., 1898-02-20
THE ARMY REGISTER FOR 1928.
The Great star Deal, which FILLED Ono Vacancy
and Promoted Ton Omcera.

The Great star Deal, which FILLED Ono Vacancy
and Promoted Ton Onoers.
The Army Register for 1898 10 out about the
usual time Of year, and with about all that It
ought to contain. Unlike the Navy Register.
| the army book is not distributed freely: it is
sold for the sum Of 35 cents. This is because 1t
has been made public document" public
document, for some unexplained reason. not be-
ing so public one that isn't public. An abbrc-
Walton Of the laws under which the Register is
published enrches the first page Of the book,
but even 1t omits to explain this seeming incon
Rruity Of terms. At all events the Superinten-
dent of Public Documents has charge of the
Army Register and won't give IL up for less
than money.
The book does not differ in appearance much
from its predecessors. except in having its name
and date on the back; but this is great inn
proyement, as any one will know who has q
collection of the Registers. Within. the changes
are in the details, but there are many OF them
in fact, they are everywhere, even in the artil-
lery. Still. they must be looked for-they are
not self.evident facts.
Really, though the biggest change Is in the
artillery. for one of the Coonels OF that arm has
been promoted Brigadier. G General! That sort of
event hadn't happened to the artillery for no
one knows how many years before. This
Colonel who has conferred so much unexpected
lustre on the artillery was Col. Graham Of the
Fifth Artillery: His promotion was one item in
President Mckinley,s great .' star deal" which
to four Brigadiers, the single star OF Brigadier
to six Colonels. and in the end filed the solitary
As every one of the officers had distinguished
himself during the war. the progress OF the deal
e Th by
had done very nice thing in managing to pro-
mote So many men with SO small capital to
This is the way the deal was worked: Gen.
Buyer retired on April 2. 1897. The senior
expected to see promoted at once; but the Pres.
ident disappointed expectations and picked out
mission as Major. General bore date April 2. the
same as that Of Gen. Rugers retirement The
BROOKE liked being ignored when It heard w Of 9n tbe
retiIement OF the new Major. General on May g.
On May 1 Brig. g.;Gen. FORSYTH was promoted,
request l was granted. and Brig: Gen. Bliss. the
nth Of the Brigadiers in seniority got the
few days. and on May % made way for the de.
iayed promotion Of tho senior Brigadier. Gen.
when Gen. Ruger retired only two are there
now, Gems Otis and Coppinger.
ten the BriGadiers. Like a good player.ihe let
his points sink gradually into the minds 0t the
and appreciate them: then he " went on with with his his
part, So on May he promoted Col. Shafter of
the First Infantry; then. after Gems. Wheaton.
May 90. three Colonels were promoted at once
Miner OF the Tenth Cavalry, Graham OF the
Fifth Artillery and Wade of the Fifth Cavalry.
Gen. Miner retired on June T. and on June %
Col. Carlton OF the Eighth Cavalry was pro-
NOTED Brgader. He hardly had time to get
measured for his uniform before he, too retired,
on June 80. Then the last act of tho deal was
completed by the promotion of Col Merriam Of
the seventh Infantry. He is now the junior
Brigadicr, and. because he is in command of the
district OF the Columbia. is in technical com
mand OF Alaska.
No Generals on the active list died last year:
but two active Colonels died, an unusually large
number. The Register is noteworthy for its
record of the death Of Second Lieut.. Michael
Moore. the oldest soldier in tho army, who had
served as officer and man nearly eighty-three
years, thirty of them on the Retired list.
Most OF the other changes are OF interest
chiefly to those whose altered military condition
caused them and so need not be dwelt on here
II may be Of "contemporaneous human inter
est, however. TO give the official army rank OF
the new District Attorney of this county. Some
folks have called him "Colonel;" in fact in a
large volume on the army and navy OF the
United States which claims to be published
with the approval of the War and Navy De-
partments. he called himself Colonel" But
he isn't Colonel, really it is his joke to pretend
20 be, that's all. Tho Register has him down in
black and white: Maj. Judge Adv. ls Aug.
'73, and on the second line below are these
words; Retired 3 Dec. So" So it 10 evil
dent that District Attorney Gardiner is only
Major, after ALL