The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-02-13
WAR COMMISSIONS REPORT.
A Whitewashing statement--The Di-
 vided Authority nt Wnshingtom.

investigate the conduct of the war de-
 made public tonight. The report is a
 unanimous one, all the members of the
 commission having signed it except Col
 onel Sexton, whose death occurred Feb ruary 4. At it's close it says: Tt is ! with regret that the commission reports
 that during it's later sessions Colonel
 James A. Sexton was prevented by
 sickness from being present" The re- port is voluminous document contain
 ing about 65,O0O words, and an official
 abstract prepared by the secretary of
 the commission was furnished to the
 press for it's convenience.
 One part of the report says: Any
 charge of corruption or intimidation of
 letting of any contract, even hint of
 wrong doing, has been carefully inves- 1 tigated. It may be said now at the be- | ginning that there has been no evidence l before us that any one in or connected with the war department has dishonest ly received a dollar. We have made 1 persistent efforts to secure the attend ance of persons to whose names rumor
 had attached an allegation that they
 knew of corruption of officials in the
 war department, but these men have either denied the statements attributed to them or have maintained silence
 when invited to tell what they knew" A recommendation looking to the fu- ture is made as follows: "One of the
 lessons taught by the war is that the
 country should hereafter be in a better
 state of preparation for war. Sugges-
 tions have been made that large sup
 plies of all the material not liable to
 deterioration should be kept on hand to
 be continuously issued and renewed, so
 that in any emergency they might be
 available. Especially should this be
 the case with such supplies as cannot
 be rapidly obtained in open market.
 For many years the divided author
 ity and responsibility in the war de- partment has produced friction, for which In the interest of the service a remedy if possible should be supplied. The constitution makes the president the commander-n-c chief of the army and he cannot transfer that authority to any other persons. The president selects his secretary of war; who has his confidence and who is his confidential adviser. The commanding general is assigned to duty as such by the president. and under the military laws of the United States his duties are defined
 The military establishment is under orders of the commanding general of the army in that which pertains to it's disci- plne and military control. The fiscal affairs of the army are conducted by the secretary of war through the several staff departments (par. 1S7 A. R. 1S95).
 All orders and instructions from the president or secretary of war relating to military operations or affecting the mili- tary control and discipline of the army would be promulgated through the commanding general. (Par 1SS A. R. 1885,
 Lieutenant General Schofield who has probably had as much experience and given the question as much thought and study as any one in our country, says in substance: Recent experience has served to confirm all the results of my lifelong study and large experience that the proper position for the senior officer of the army on duty at Washing ton is not that of commanding general, | a position which is practically impossi- b1p h11t that nf tr, ol, iof ,,,l,; in fact, chief of staff to the president. The title of general in chief | was permanent one during the | entire history of the country up | to the time when General Grant be- l came lieutenant general. When I be- | came the commanding general ad- | dressed to the president letter in | which I pointed out to him what had been the result of my study and exper- fence and saying that the only way was to abandon entirely, which I did during my service, all pretense of being the general and content my self with acting as the chief of staff of the army under the secretary of war md president The result was that per- 'ect harmony prevailed during my time,  ence in command of the army, this be- ,ause did not claim to exercise any, hing which the law did not give me-"
 ''The president must have the same bower of selection of his general-in- thief as he has of his secretary of war; without this there can be no guaranty hat he will give, or that the secretary f war will place in the general-in- hief, that confidence which is neces- ary to perfect harmony. Neither the president nor the secretary of war hould have in the command of the rmy an officer who is not working in i harmony with him."
 The report takes up the war depart { nent and it's various chiefs of sub-di- -isions beginning with the secretary of var. The records of the war depart nent, which have been laid before us how that the secretary of war extend d to all chiefs of bureaus cordial and ull support and promptly responded to { very demand upon him by command s 1g officers. No testimony has been pre- | ented showing intentional neglect of [ uty nor any attempt to serve personal ( interests The charges made that the I ecretary of war was pecuniarily inter- C sted in contracts, purchases and other 8 of the war department V ave been thoroughly examined and l 2