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

The New York Tribune" prints the
following
AT first the War Department brig
adiers vociferousiy denied that the
troops in the field endured unnecessary
hardships Eventually, however, the
fact established by two official inyesti-
cations was admitted, and now line
Of defence was taken up What Of it,
exclaimed the Secretary of War If
some Of the troops did suffer little
unnecessarily, wasn't IT glorious
victory:
Then the volunteer stan officers
were charged with stupidity and *
norance, and even insubordination
Finally, the mismanagemeLt WAS
mainly attributed to insuilicIency of
executive and clerical force Only
within few weeks has Surgeon Gen.
eral Sternberg repeated this assertion.
and also the original charge that volun-
teer surgeons were the chief cause Of
the Medical Bureaus ineiliciency
Both the War Department and
Army Register are conclusive that there
was ample force. both commissioned
and clerical, to carry forward the ad-
ministrative functions Of the bureaus
effectively, if properly directed, ON any
scale required The department was
in fact choked with both, and over
flowed into rented quarters Fifteen Of
the stall officers were promoted 10 the
rank Of general and sent to command
troops in the field in other words.
deliberately permitted to abandon the
duties to which they were trained.
81 But the department constantly work
ed at cross purposes Even before the
volunteers were modified perhaps
stampeded, it proceeded under the dan
gerous emergency pretext to add great
numbers to its already unwieldy cleri-
cal force This exaggerated conception
Of the War Departments requirements
on "war footing" excited the amaze.
ment, not to say derislon, Of old at
taches Of the Civil War days
There is apparent an accelerated ten
dency recently to multiply Cniees, ro'
only civilian. but military life-tenuro
places like those Of General Ainsworth
and Major Tweedale, already discussed.
Since the Civil War several new bureaus
have been added 10 the department.
Under the tutelage OF the staff chiefs.
who control il despOtically. the War
Department has spread out ts-o great
mushroom It Is overloaded with dead
timber, " and has become an eyesore Of
extravaganza. 1t requires two men 20
do the work Of one American thirty five
years ago The quasimilitary directors Of
the involved and feeble staff system, as
editorially charged by the Philadelphia
Press. " lie entrenched behind the Unit
ed States Senate They make II care
full practice TO take care Of the proteges
Of the politicians Thus. Senator Cock
rells son. in law. at first quietly slipped
into the department as mere clerk,
soon developed into g full fledged, life
tenure major and judge advocate under
the fostering care of the Missouri Sena-
tor, who wields a strong influence over
its operations.
"The staff chiefs fully understand
the art of placating the lawmakers and
have no hesitation in resorting to log
rolling " methods to do so. An expen-
sive result of this 'give-and-take
practice is the quarteriDg OF a large
number Of needy but mainly useless
male and female army relatives upon
the department rolls.
"In 1868, under the Administration
Of Edwin M Stanton, the year in
which the OWL War developed its
greatest proportions. when, with a mil
lion men i'll arms, the business Of the
National Government was far more ex-
tensiye and complicated than ever be-
fore or since, the annual register of the
War Department gave the following
figures Of its civilian clerical force:
No. of