Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-02-13
remain one of the marvels Of history
Speaking of the lessons
TAUGHT BY EXPERIENCE.

TAUGHT BY EAPEHtlENCE,
the report says:
THE rapidity with which command
ing officers of corps, divisions, brigades
regiments and officers of the staff de
/ partments have profited by the first sil
months service is shown in their i'm
| provements in the new camps, Their
locations, water supply and sanitary ar
rangements. The weak spots in The
1 first arrangements for camping troops
were soon discovered, and but was
learned that with proper system anG
little expense they could be camped
under favorable sanitary conditions
/ The present camps are models, the
/ hospitals adapted to the comfort and
| care of the sick, the grounSS clean and
the sanitary conditions greatly i'm
| proved. The troops are now moved
| with promptness, without friction and
with more rapidity than in the begin
ming of the war. These improvements
have come from experience and the
new army now is far advanced in ia
cilities for feeding, equipping, camping
and transportation"
"A recommendation looking to the future
then follows:
''One of the lessons
TAUGHT BY THE WAR
is that the country should hereafter be in
peter state of preparation for war. .Sug-
geStlons have been made that the large
supplies 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 svch supplies which cannot be
rapidly obtained in open market
Perhaps the most significant utterance
in the whole document so far as concerns
the discipline and efficiency of the army
comes next:
For many years the divided authority
and responsibility in the War Department
has produced friction for which, in the
eible, should be applied The constitution
makes the President the commander in
chief of the army and he cannot trans
The Presidei.. selects his Secretary of
War, who has his confidence, and VINO is
his confidential adviser. The command
ing general is assigned to duty as such by
the President and under the military laws
or the United States his duties are de-
fined as follows:
The command exercised by the COM
mandig general of the army not having
been made, the subject of statutory regu-
lation, is determined by the order of as
signment; 1t has been .habtually com
ritorial commands that have been or may
be created by the President.
The military establishment is under
orders of the commanding general of the
cipline and military control. The fiscal
affairs of tbs army are conducted by the
Secretary of War through the several
All orders and instructions from the
President or Secretary of War relating
to military operations or affecting the
military control and discipline of the ar
my will be promulgated through the
com commanding n general. Par. 1885, A. R.
Lieut. General schofield who has prob
ably had ais much experience and given
the question as much thought and study
as any one In the country, says in sub
stance:
Recent experience has served to con-
firm all the results of my lifelong study
and large experience that the proper po-
Sltlon for the senior officer of the army on
handing general, a position which is prac-
tically impossible, but that of general in
chief, which means 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 Gen. Grant became lieutenant
general.
when I became the commanding gem
eral l addressed to the President a let
ter in which I pointed out to him what
mad been the result of my study and eX-
was to abandon entirely, which 1 did dur
ing my seven years of service, all pre-
tense of being the commanding general
and to content myself with acting as
THE CHIEF OF STAFF
of the army under the Secretary of War
feet harmony prevailed during my time,
in command of the army, this because |
the law did not give me.
THE President must have the same
power of selection of his general in chief
a a fhElc of fhl NV If u
out this there can be no guaranty that
he will give or that the Secretary of War
win place, in the. general in chief that
confidence which is necessary to perfect
harmony. Neither the President nor the
Secretary of War should have in the com
nland of the army an officer who is not
working in harmony with him.
The report now takes up the. War De-
partment and its various chiefs of sub
divisions, beginning with the Secretary of
War:
which have been laid before us, show
that the Secretary of War extended to all
chiefs of bureaus cordial and full sup
port, and promptly responded to every
proper demand made upon him by COM
mandng officers.
No testimony has been presented show
ing intentional neglect of duty nor any
attempt to serve personal interests The
charges made that the Secretary of Was
pas pecuniariy interested in contracts,
purchases and other transactions of the
War DePartmgeft have been cen thoroughly
In the Judgment of the commission
there was lacking in the general admin
iStration of the War Department during
the continuance of the war with Spain
that complete grasp of the situation
which was essential to the highest eff
cheney and discipline of the army.
The commission has
RETAINED FROM CRITICIZING
certain of the heads of bureaus for not
having acted with foresight in preparing
before the war was actually declared be-
cause it has appeared that the national
defense fund provided by the act of March
g. 1898, was not made available for use,
except for the navy and for coast de-
lenses and the expenditures incident
thereto, until after the declaration of
war"
ADJUTANT GENERALS DEPART
MENT.
Brig. Gen. H. c. Corbin in charge:
This department, which was organized
and trained to take care of a small reg
ular army, was required to rapidly pro-
vide for organizing and mastering in 2j0,
coo soldiers and within six months to
muster out 10000. The adjutant generals
knowledge of the condition of the army
until the declaration of war was made, it
could not be surprised by the inability
of the departments TO Immediately re-
spond to the demands. The economy of
previous years, by which nearly every
needed by the army was disposed of and
no provision made for emergencies rem
dered immediate effective expansion of
the army impossible. In the organization
of the army for active duty provision was
made for eight corps, seven OF which