The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1899-08-02
ALGERR'S DEFENSE.
Retiring Secretary Of War
Answers Accusations n
the Press.
A CLEAN FINANCIAL RECORD

Washington. July 81 One Of the
last official acts OF Secretary Alger,
who. tomorrow will rellnqulsh HE
portfolio, was to prepare statement
covering several matters regarding
the conduct Of the war which have
been the subject Of criticism in the
public press, particularly With refer
ence to the appointment Of staff
officers in the volunteer army. The
statement follows:
am led to make the following
statements on account of many criti.
cisms which have been made by the
public press, and especially on &C
count of recent article which ap
peared in the London Times contain
ing assertions which have no founda
tom in truth.
At the commencement Of the war
with Spain, aud for several years
prior to that time, the regular army
consisted of only $4,000 men, with
the minimum number Of officers
prescribed by law The situation
can be partially appreciated when it
is remembered that within 90 days
from the declaration OF war the
strength of the army was increased
to 275, 900 men. and everything for
the equipment of this great force,
including clothing, tents, transporta-
tiops, medical supplies. camps aud
camp equippage, and all that pertains
to equip an army for service had to
be manufactured, transported and dis
tributed for use
From the statement referred to the
public might be led to believe that
the volunteer army was ohicered by
men selected through political infa
ence by the secretary of war by
special favor and without any regard
to fitness for the duties they were to
perform As is wei; known, the
volunteer force, with the exception
of three regiments Of engineers,
three regiments of cavalry and ten
regiments of immune infantry, was
made up of regiments from the
various states, the officers Of which
were ali appointed exclusively by the
governors of the respective states
from which the regiments came, and
any officer found upftted for service
and discharged was replaced by
another in the same manner. The
president had no voice or control in
the matter. -
The returns of the volunteer army
show that in August, 1898, there
were 207, ,244 enlisted men and 8,7S5
officers in those regiments This,
with the regular army recruited up
to the war strength, made an aggre
gate force of about 275,000 officers
and men The volunteer officers ap.
pointed by the president numbered,
eli told, 1882 Of THE number Al
acre taken from the regular army
and sol from civil life The scarcity
cf regimeu:al officers in the regular
service, owing to appointments in
the volunteers, special recruiting and
mastering details, had SO reduced
treir number that TO have taken q
larger number for service With the
vo':nteers would have seriously
impaired the efficiency oi the regular
regiments For little over thou
sand appointments made by the presi
dent, The number cf appicaiions was
over %, Geo, aad each application was
accompanied by certificate of abiii.
ty and in most instances in the military
service, either in the regular amy or
a state Organization CT the applicant
and not infrequentiy both. These
certificates showed that each one was
IS we'll qualified for the position be
sought and to which he was appoint
ed as could be possible for men IN
civil life ia this country. Of the
number appointed there were fcr IN
stance 26 major generals, Of whom
10 were taken from the regular army
aud seven from civil life Of these
seyea all but one were graduates Of
West Point military academy, and all
had distinguished themselves IN com
mand during the civil wsr Oh briga
der generals there were 102 appoint
ed, sc from the regular army and 36
from civil life Those from civil life
had all seen service during the civil
war or on our western frontier, and
all had proved themselves competent
to command
1t has been stated, and repeated
maly times, that the secretary Of
war made these appointments. when
the truth is that very few were made
upon mis- recommendation, although
lie caused the entire list with the
recommendations to be complied and
placed before ;he president for hls
selection. would be only TOO glad
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