The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-25

On the death OF this solitary major gen.
eral Jacob BROWN, in February, 1928. Con-
sress actually considered the expedlency
OF aDohshing the grade of major genera7
entirely, but the Senate committee decided
that 1t would be unwise as the Secretary
OF War might be man without any mill
tary knowledge whatever. The then Sec
rotary of War, Hon. b. F. Porter opposed
the change, giving it as his opinion that
there should be at the head of the army
OF the United States, whether its numbers
continue as at present or whether they
may be enlarged, or diminished, an ind-
Vidual higher in rank than any other Of
hcer, and who should have the immediate
command of the whole; that he should be
stationed in times of peace at least, at the
seat of government, where he can most
readily receive the advice and orders of
the President, etc.
Ii was not, however, until May "a, 1928,
mat new commanding general Mai.
Gen. Alexander Macomb) was appointed.
he was succeeded on June %, 1871, by Maj.
Cen Winfield Scott who was made a
preVet lieutenant general In March, 1S47,
ana held the Office until November 1861,
when Maj. Gen. George b. Mcclellan came
in, Who in turn, was succeeded by Maj.
Gen. Henry W. Halleck in July, 1862, who
held on until Lieut.. Gen. u. S. Grant came
in on March, u, 1864.
Up TO this date all the appointments
were of major generals Scott's promotion
by breVet coming after his appointment.
Grant was succeeded by Sherman and
Sheridan, all three being lieutenant gem
erals and full generals. Then came Mai.
Gen. John NJ Schofield, who was later
on made lieutenant general, and on
whose retirement Mai Gen. Nelson A.
Miles came In. Thus it will be seen thar
Secretary of War Porter's idea of a COM
handing general of superior grade was
not always carried out although it was a
very timely and wise one, and, in my
humble judgment, should have been close
ly followed in every change made in the
commanding general of the army.
Just at the present time there seems to
be quite muddle at Washington. Brig
Gen. Corbin, the adjutant general, wants
to be made major general, and a Wash
lngton correspondent says of him: His
work has been that of the lieutenant gen.
eral He has been in command of nearly
100000 men, and has had the ordering OF
all movement" Now this puts the Presi-
dent and the Secretary of War and the
commanding general in the background,
and Acting Lieutenant General" Corbin
comes to the front. And yet the adjutant
general is simply a clerical officer the
mouthpece, so to speak, of his superiors.
The duties of the adjutant general are to
promulgate to the army all orders, in
structions, etc, relating to military opera
tons issued by his superiors, and to con-
Duct the usual correspondence of his Of
nee. He, himself, does not have the "or-
dering" of thirty soldiers, let alone 100000
And just here is where traces of the
niger in the wood pile can be seen.
Then Secretary Alger, having been
volunteer officer, takes it upon himself to
join Adjt. Gen. Corbin in usurping the
prerogatives of Commanding General
Miles. When Grant and Sherman were in
his position all orders from the President
or Secretary of War, to any part of the
army, had to be transmitted through the
general of the army" Also, the depart
ment of the adjutant general and inspec-
tor general were to report to the COM
handing general and 'be under his con-
troll in matters relating thereto The
Secretary of War is not, in fact, a mill
tary officer This was clearly set forth
by Secretary OF War Porter himself, in
1925 who said 1.-The functions of a Sec
rotary of War are of a civil, and not of a
military character and are administrative
rather than executive. His business Is
more to superintend the general ar
engagements of the service, regulate it's
expenditures, and inforce responsibility
than to exercise command. 1t can rarely
happen that he possesses an acquaintance
with the details of service, or experience
in the art of war. By associating with
him at the seat of government, an officer
of rank having these qualifications, the
system is rendered complete, and the va
rious talent requisite to the faithful and
successful administration of the concerns
of the army may be brought into opera
ton"
Nor was Secretary Porter willing to stop
here. He desired to keep the adjutant
general in his proper place as a clerical
officer, and not allow him to usurp any
of the prerOgatives of a commanding Of
ficer And so he adds ITO devolve the
peculiar duties of a commanding general
upon an adjutant general would be max
ing him, in fact the commanding gem
eral. All that would be gained would be
a change of title, and instead of a major
general commanding the army an adju-
tant general would do So The nature of
the duties of thu office of adjutant gen.
eral is wholly different from that of a
commander. He is, in fact, the adjutant
of the commander; and we might well
abolish the Office of colonel of a regiment
and place its adjutant in command of the
lieutenant colonel and major" And yet
'to a man up a tree" (perhaps Gen.
Wheeler at Santiago it looks very much
as though Brigadier General Corbin, as
adjutant general, has been Commanding, !"
in one sense, the President, the Secre-
tary of War the commanding general of
the army, and lots of major generals. No
doubt in his zeal, he has done it for
what he considered the good of the cause
and yet the fact stands out uncontradict-
ed that he had no authority to do these
things. And the Secretary of War has
alike been guilty, and the President at
least careless in the matter.
Frankly stated, am not an admirer of
Gen. Miles, but with all his weaknesses
he is entitled to better treatment than has
been accorded him. BY virtue of his po-
sition at the head of the army, and in
view of the practice in vogue with his
predecessors, all orders and instructions.
etc, for the movement and government Of
the forces in the field should have gone
through his official hands. Not only has this
not been the case, but in many instances
the adjutant general-simply clerical Of
ficial-has usurped the prerogatiVes of the
commanding general. 1t is not strange,
therefore, that Gen. Miles is mad and de-
mands an investigation. And when that
investigation record is made public-if it
ever sees the light-there will be the big
gest military sensation ever seen in this
country. Sidney Herbert.
GRAVEL USED ON COUNTY ROADS.