The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-06-17

Hospital stewards ....... .......... lut
Acting hospital stewards ....... 10,
Hospital corps, priyates ........ 62'
Department clerical force. ..... II;
Total ......... ......... ....l. or
This shows an excess Of lll officer.
and men over the number Surgeon Gen
eral Hammond was employing at the
high. water mark of the great civil war.
If we deduct the MS chaplains from
Genc-al fIlmmond's force not likely T.
have been employed in administrative
or executive work, the discrepancy
against General SternberP is still more
marked
"The influence II environment ire
-istibly sweeps an incoming secretary,
if he bee ever so slightly inflicted with
moral astigmatism. into the lax otlicia
habits Of this self-compacent bureau
machine.
even before the impulse Of war was
felt Secretary Alger had already giver
increased momentum 10 personal ap
pointnents for " hich there was no au
thority Of law and no need When in
stalled there was no law and no appr0
priation for private secretary. Never
theess he promptly appointed one, and
had the salary Of 3 600 charged against
the War Records appropriation. In this
he merely followed precedent.
Then he proceeded to infringe
further upon the law He established q
new precedent by creating the hitherto
unheard of office of confidential clerk al
g. 900 q year This was more than q
year before the war broke out. There
was no emergency, no press Of addi'
tional work. Secretaries Proctor, Elk.
ins and Lamont had all got along com
fortably with private secretary
only. A place was wanted, that was
all. This confidential clerks's salary
like that Of the private secretary, wa:
paid out of the War Records appropri'
alton. II was done through the easy
complaisance of Major (now general,
George w. Davis, then bureau chief,
on whose roll the new official in the
Secretary's Office was carried. Be-
fore Private Secretary Squires and con-
fdential Clerk Mason could draw theil
pay Major Davis had to certify that the
rolls were correct and the payment
legal and proper one Major Davis
consequently certified to what was not
true at least twelve times year. This
sort Of bureau laxity terminates into
full blown Carterism it is simply
another form OF Lydeckerism. The
Secretary wasn't to blame; he was
told this was the regular thing in the
War Department And so it was.
Perhaps Major Davis readiness
thus to serve the Secretary explains the
mystery of this subsequent unexpected
elevation to the rank of brigadior gen
eral. He was not in action once dur
ing the entire war did not get dowr
to Cuba until after the enemy had al
been transported back to Spain YeI
after the muster-out of the volunteer
he was at once reappointed brigadiei
general under the reorganization. Il
the exclusion Of some Of the officer
who. sword in hand, had charged a
the head of their troops Then fight
ing Guy Henry, the hero Of two wars
was relieved and General Davis put il
command of Porto Rico As Davi
does not hail from Michigan. this sin
gular piece Of good luck is by sOm'
people explained upon the same rule.
"A year afterward, under emergenc.
pressure. a provision was slipped int
the proper bill creating the two new
offices of private secretary and conf
Dental clerk. They then emerged int
daylight. They now secure ihei
monthly pay without illegal certifica
tion. This illustrates one Of the method
of War Department expansion.
1.-THE war emergency opened thu
door to all sorts Of thimble.rigginl
with appointments and the appropria
tions. and with Congress itself for tha
matter. The emergency aid-to-the
Klonkike episode Of 1897, when tn,
Secretary had military agents and ex
perts hunting the world over for dol
teams and reindeer, was entirely out
done. One Of the Secretary's Detroi
friends, George H. Hopkins, was i'm
mediately commissioned major an,
assistant adjutant general of volunteers
and detailed as the Secretary's per
sonal aide, which office he still re
tains, although the war emergency /
past and other volunteers are mustere'
out. This was new precedent, AM