Evening star., 1899-03-04
Governors Deprived Of Appointing
Power by New Law.
UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS ONLY
What the Adopted Army Law
Means to the Service.
SERVICE CRIPPLED
III 81

Inc HfSt impression Hldue bS tLc liz"
army reorganization bill upon some OF the
officials of the War Department is that,
without perhaps so intending, the governors
of the states are to be deprived of all power
of appointing volunteer officers. 1t is said
that there will not even be volunteer stats
regiments in the usual sense of the term,
for the volunteers provided for by the reor-
ganization bill are United States volunteers
and not state volunteers. III that is SO,
then, of course, the President will nave the
appointment Of all of the volunteers not
only general, but company officers as we'll
This is realized to be an important point
and the officials have not yet adopted the
final construction of the law concerning 1t.
A good many defects have already been
revealed by a study Of the bill, ana their
effect is being calculated 1t is said to be
questionable whether the bill does not pro-
vide for an entire new deal; the complete
discharge of present volunteer troops ana
their replacement by fresh levies This, OF
course, would not prevent the re-enllStinent
of any of the volunteers now in service, nor
would it stop the President from reappoinr-
ing volunteer officers now in service.
Only Five Major Generals.
1t was said at the War Department that
up to this moment no final decision has
been arrived at concerning the officers to
be retained, even in the higher grades of
the volunteer service. There must be some
severe cutting, for the present nineteen
major generals only five are to be retained
General Brooke, being in command in Cuba,
and major general in the regular army
will not be affected. and beyond doubt OTIS
at Manila will retain his present rank 1t
is also to be supposed that the remaining
major generals will go, in large part, to
men now on the fighting lines, which would,
of course, favor the general officers at Ma
Mia, but, as already stated these details
have not yet been arranged.
The new law is being very carefully
scrutnized by the higher officials There
is general disappointment at some of the
features of the measure though the condi-
tons will be met in the best way possible.
Some of the provisions require considerable
study on the point to the exact scope of
the authority of the department in the mat
ters involved. So far the law has brought
forth no definite fruit in the way of prepa-
rations for the execution of its terms.
Time Required for Changes.
1t will take considerable work, as well
as time, in making the preliminary arrange
ments for the fulhllment of the radical
changes carried in the law. Before any ac-
tual and final steps are taken in the way
of mastering cut the volunteers and adopt
ing a general plan for meeting the def
cienceS and great gaps their dropping out
of the services will entail there will have
to be numerous conferences and consulta-
tions among officials and vast deal of
figuring and calcula ton as to how best TO
meet the needs of the army under the cir
cumstanceS. No orders have yet been is
sued for the mastering out of the voliin-
teers nor has any scheme for general ap-'
plication of re-enlistng volunteers among
the regular forces been agreed upon. The
War Department has hope of securing
many of the discharged volunteers re
enlisted men for service in the regular
army. What proportion of these there will
be when the actual emergency arises can
mo hlrf
was roughly stated at the department tc-
day that there was likely to be an average
of about 200 men from each of the volun
teer regiments who would Immediately
enter the regular military service. Indeed,
in several instances, advices from regi-
ments indicate an intention on the part of
many of the volunteers to re-enlist in q
proportion considerably greater than that
but as against this there are a number of
regiments which undoubtedly when the
time comes will fail to recruit anywhere
near 300 regulars. Stations for the rcCruiL-
ing of men for the regular army have been
established at every point at which the
volunteers are to be mustered out All
these are in addition to the regular re-
cruiting stations that are maintained at
multitude of places throughout tEa coun-
try.
Will Cripple Signal Service.
One effect of the new army law will be
severe crippling of the signal service and
the disorganization of it's forces in the
neld. lnere are tpo volunteer men in the
signal service and all these will have to
be discharged. Their places could be filled
by the men re-enisting as regulars but that
that could not be rapidly effected is evil
dent from the fact, that about seven
eights Of them already have applied for
discharge with the intention of leaving the
service altogether. In the past week there
have been ten of the regulars in the signal
corps discharged and only two enlistments.
Not only is the volunteer force thus sud
denly to be dropped out of the service but
out of the total force of 800 men in the SER
vice about $50 of them will be entitled to
discharge with any other soldiers on the
ratification of the treaty of peace the reg
ulars having enlisted, under the terms of
general order number forty, Offering spe-
cial encouragement to the enlistments in
the regular forces, under circumstances
very similar to the volunteers. In the Phil
ippine Islands practically all of the 10 sig
nal men there are volunteers and there are
about $40 men who operate the signal work
in Cuba and Porto Rico. This sudden
mastering out of most of the entire force,
when accomplished, naturally will be q
severe embarra ssment TO the service but
Chief Signal Officer Greedy said today that
the department would have to make the
best of the situation and that every effort
l,o do fn tba