The San Francisco call., 1899-08-01
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WASHINGTON, July 31-One of the
last official acts of Secretary Alger, who
tomorrow will relinquish his portfollo,
was to prepare a statement covering sew
eral matters regarding the conduct OF the
war which have been the subject or crit
cism in the public press. particularly with
reference to the appointment OF STAFF OF
fiCers in the volunteer army. Inc state
ment is as follows:
on account of the many criticisms which have
been made by the public press, especially On On
account of a recent article which appeared IN
the London Times. containing assertions whlcn
have no foundation in truth. ~ e..,
At the commencement OF the war VITO SFdI,Il,
and for several years prior TO that time the
regular army consisted of only $4,000 men WIN I'm
law The situation may be partially appre-
ciated when it Is remembered that WITHIN M,
sixty days from the declaration OF war tle
strength of the army was increased 10 -I2,Uuo, .e
and everything for the equipment OF ms great
force, including clothing, tents. Transportation
medical supplies, camps ana camp equIppdSST, S
and ali that pertains TO equppng an army toI
and distributed for use.
From the statement referred to. the public
might be led to believe that the volunteer
army was officered by men selected thrQush
political influence with the Secretary OF war
fitness for the duties they tc perform
As is well known, the volunteer force, WIN
three regiments of cavalry and ten regiments
immune infantry. was made up OF regl-
mentS from the various states, the pIlceGS ul
which were all appointed exclusively by me
Governors of the respective States from WhlcA
the regiments came, and any oIncer IounI di utiI
fitted for service and discharged was rePiacsd
by another in the same manner The PresI-
usnI Hdi no NolCe oI Coitloi ~ - orr 49,
The returns of the volunteer army snow thAL
in August, 1898. there were 207.2H enlisted men
and S7S5 officers in those regiments. This, with
the regular army recruited up 10 the wal
strength, made an aggregate force OIL aoout
275,o0o men and officers. The volunteer officers
appointed by the President nuInper' al toIo
1882 OF this number AL were taken from the
regular army and 591 from civil life The
scarcity of regtmental officers IN the regular
service. owing to appointments in the vClun-
teers. special recruiting and mastering details,
had so reduced their number that to nave tax
en- a large number for service with the volun-
teers would have seriously impaired the eff
iciency Of the regular regiments For httle
| over a thousand appointments made by the
| President, the number OF appliCa tions was over
by a certificate OF his ability and in most
instances the military service. either in the
regular army or state organiza tons, ana NOT
! infrequently in both. The certificates showed
| that each as well qualified for the
| position he sought and to which he was ar,
! pointed as could be possible for men in civil
| life in this country OF the number appointed
! there Were for instance, twenty-six maJcr
| generals of which nineteen were taken from
! the regular army and seven from civil life. OF
| West Point Military Academy and all had dis
tinguished themselves in command during The
OF the brigadier generals there were one hun
dred and two appointed-sixty-six from the
regular army and thirty-six from civil life.
Those from civil life had all seen service dur
ing the Civil War on our Western frontier.
and all had proved themselves competent to
It has been stated and repeated many times
| that the Secretary of War made these appoint
ments when the truth is that very few
made upon his recommendation, although he
caused the entire list, with the recommends
tions. to be compiled and placed before the
| President for his selection L would be only
! too glad to have had the honor to have made
| or more patriotic set of men. whole. ever
served their country. and their appointments
] r,Of n01V 10 he init no.
| power but to the country they served. There
! were exceptions. but that could not have been
| foreseen. In every walk in life men found
| who cannot carry out satisfactorily the work
| they have undertaken. There were three regi
| appointed by the Secretary of War. Colonel
| Leonard Wood. a brigadier general and
commanding the departments of Santiago and
| Puerto Principe. was one OF these. Colonei
Ciriggsby and Colonel TorreX. both good Off
! GERS. were the other two. There were three
| regiments of engineers, the colonels OF which
| were ali graduates of the Military Academy,
! and not only the officers, but the enlisted men,
were selected with view to their special fit
| ness and in most instances upon the recon-
mendations of the colonels themselves. and all
! proved themselves most efficient.
! There also ten regiments of immune
| infantry, of whose colonels eight were grad
uates Of the Military Academy who were Sc
! Iected for special fitness to command and in
| the short time these regiments were in service
developed remarkable proficiency.
! Criticisms as to the amounts and methods of
| expenditures which could imply the wrong or
careless use of money were also made by the
! London Times. This charge is false SO far
| as the conduct of the service concerned,
no person with any knowledge of the facts can
ever charge truthfully. and no one can ever
! show that dollar was misappropriated. stolen
or embezzled out of the hundreds of millions
| of dollars that expended The records are
! an open book and l will be glad to have them
! rigidly examined and ask my successor to open
| those accounts to the country whenever prop
| erly called for in order that the entire truth
| may be known. r. a. ALGER,
Secretary of War.
Washington. y. c.. July 81 1899.
OF INTEREST TO THE COAST.