The times., 1899-04-24
EXPOSURE OF THE
ARMY'S IAPENORN
The Evil Effects of Bureau.
cratic Promotions.
A Dangerous Disease That Thriyes
Unseen and Unnoted.
rell's Work In Congress-Whcre
the Danger Lies.
lFrom the New York Tribnne.>

Tue general pubic, is nevertheless alarm
ing. The closer The subject is examined
the more serious becomes its aspect
The Cockrells and the Germans. stand
ing in the way of the necessities of the
Administration, have held forth in the
Senate about the danger to American lib
erty from a large standing military estab-
1ishment, but the real menace lies not in
the Army in itself. but its bureaucratic
attachment concentrated at the Capital
1t is like some huge, grewsome but unsus-
pected tapeworm in the human body
Fastened in the midst of the body polite
it grows and thriyes unseen and unnoted
There is this singular antithesis however:
The tapeworm with its everything head
ciinging in the yitals of its victim, mys-
teriously sapping his life forces, cannot in
the nature of things expand beyond a cer-
tain limit. Here it stops; it dies by sec
tions at the tail, but is as constantly re-
newed from the head. Not so with the
staff bureaus; there appears to be no limit
to their expansion. True, in some degree
they decay and wither away at the head,
but are constantly invigorated by new
blood in increased volume at the tail, and
between the head and tail they ramify
in branches, which in turn begin new
perennial growth all their own.
The incongruous promotion of General
Ainsworth by the last Congress in its last
hours has already been alluded to. This
officer and the origin of the bureau of
which he is the head are useful to illus
trate the seemingly irresistible growth of
this staff monstrosity. Newspaper para
graphs ascribing these criticisms of War
Department methods to personal motives
doenot alter facts nor correct any abuses.
How the Deal Was Made.
General Ainsworth was an army surgeon.
a virile and efficient administrative man.
About ten years ago at his instigation an
order was issued by the Secretary of War
consolidating several divisions of the diff
one, and Captain lAinsworth was assigned
to its charge. These piecemeal divisions
mainly included the archives and clerical
force having to do with soldiers records
and the pension business of the Govern
ment. At first nobody had any idea that
this order practically meant the formation
of an entirely new bureau. No new officer
was. created for IT, nor were any new clerks
required to conduct its business. In fact
it resulted in temporary reduction of the
clerical force. Ainsworth, with great en-
ergy and well-directed executive capacity,
soon brought order out of chaos, and
greatly expedited the Government business
and promoted the general efficiency of that
service. Meanwhile the Adjutant General
of the Army, from whom Ainsworth had
derived the greater part of his machinery,
complained that his official domain had
been forcibly invaded and his duties and
prerogatives infringed upon.
The new system introduced by Aims
worth and the energy he infused into the
work, soon attracted the attention not
only of his immediate superior, the Sec
retary, but of Congress itself. Ainsworth
- l.; do IT..
By precedent, and subsequently by law.
this new creation began to rear its head
as an independent bureau, although at first
the willy chief was careful to keep that
idea in the background as much as pos
sible to avoid the antagonism of the other
bureau chiefs, who soon eyinced great
personal dislike of Ainsworth and his
methods. But at the proper moment
bill appeared in Congress creating a per-
manent head OF the Record and Pension
Bureau of the War Department, with the
rank of colonel in the Army, with all that
officers pay and meoluments. 1t was bit
terly opposed by such men as Senators
Sherman. Plumb and Spooner, but in spite
OF every obstacle was passed. mainly
through the tireless solicitations of Senator
whose appeals were powerfully
aided, of course, by the excellent record
Ainsworth had made as an administrator,
together with his unexcelled methods as
a lobbyist On the representation of a
prominent Senator the bill was vetoed by
President Harrison on constitutional
grounds. Then again, in spite of the op-
position. il was forced through the sue
ceeding Congress, modified to meet the
objections interposed by the President to
its first form. 1t was signed, and DIR.
by process Of law became a
colonel in the staff department and by
long odds the biggest man in it,
Securing the Records.
1t was long step upward, and a great
reward for having done his duty only as
the administrator of this new bureau. 1t
low emerged into full view as an independ-
ent concern Further large drafts were
made from time to time upon the archives
Of the Adjutant Generals and other staff
bureaus. until they had little left, while
Ainsworth secured possession of nearly all
The military records of the War Depart
ment. 1t was startling innovation,
which took the breath away from the
other chiefs.
There had been bitter and well grounded
opposition to this new life tenure office at
Si,5O0 a year with allowances which was
held to be more than commensurate with
his officers deserts. But, apparently.
ainsworth had done good work, and there
we're many who held that the reward was |
none too great. Then matters slept. But
rot for long. Was this new offshoot con-
ent TO stop here? BY no means. Not
having quite captured the EARTH Surgeon |
Ainsworth, actively backed by his good |
Democratic friend. Senator Cockrell OF |
Missouri and Chairman Hull of the House |
Military Committee. appealed to Congress |
o be rewarded again for his good work, |
his time in modest little paragraph in |
he Army bill promoting him to be brig
tdier general. He had not only firmly es-
abished the Legitimacy of his new hybrid |
bureau, but everything being propitious, he |
low proposed to take equal rank with the
'ther great bureau chiefs.
Nor was this all. To be a brigadier
general without military staff-a gem
without any setting-would not satisfy
he craving of this sleepless bureaucrat.
ihere also appeared in the same bill a
provision creating military assistant to
he chief of the Record and Pension Office
With the rank of major. By the way, one
VI the marked developments of the time
s that Congress seldom creates a rev
military office under the rank of major
With hardly an objection from any quar- |.
er. perhaps without notice in the hurly-
,uriy of the wind-up of Congress, this
PROVISION also passed. MIR. Cockrel, who
orced the Army compromise upon the Ad-
in the Senate, and was so
strenuous against the much-needed in
'rease of the generals of the line. took
aretul heed that his measure should in
iude this staff general and his assistant
major. II was not thought that they in
my wise endangered the liberties OF the
ountry. John Tweedale, who has for some
ears held the place OF chief clerk Of the
Var Department, was, in pursuance of pre-
'ious arrangements. named to this newly
,reated Office of assistant as a reward