The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-11-10

general of the army, as expressed
n in his annual report, that what
ever minor faults may adhere to
our present army staff system. the sys-
tenn itself merits continued confidence.
He says: Much has been written Of
late concerning a better staff system
Ours may be, and doubtless is, open
to improvements, but it should be
borne in mind that the present or
ganization is the result of years of
legislation, born of the best thought
and labors of our best military men,
and has stood successfully the test of
all our wars"
Here is statement quite important
II true. But is it true? On a subject
Of this character the opinions of mere
civilians must naturally give way to
the opinions Of trained soldiers. One
OF these, an army officer, in a letter to
the Sun in refutation of the adjutant
generals contention, from which we
shall make extracts, says: "The ex-
periences of the army in the camps es-
tablished at the opening of the war; at
Port Tampa and at Santiago, in the
muster out of the volunteers, and even
at the present time at the various sea-
coast posts are too vivid in the minds
of those concerned to be forgotten or
passed by. without a protest against
such general praise as is involved in
the adjutant generals assertion. The
adjutant-generals department showed
the weakness Of it's organization, first,
in the lack of intercommunicatior be-
tween the bureaus and offices Of the
war department itself, so that, for ex-
ample, one of the Acknowledgement
would be writing or telegraphing to
some far-distant point for information
which had long before been furnished
to another acknowledgement in the
same building. but in a different office.
This, am told, was not accidental but
of constant occurrence, and is certain
ly due to imperfect organization. Sec
ondly. in issuing inadequate or con-
Trajectory orders or in falling to issue
orders that were necessary; examples
of this point will be found in the
official reports, in reliable newspaper
reports and in personal "reminiscences
or reputable persons. such as those of
Captain Bigelow, and many cases will
be fresh in the minds of those who par
ticipated in the Santiago campaign or
were in the camps where the troops
were assembled, as we'll as those on
muster-out duty. The complaints in
regard to this subject were constant"
As to the quartermaster's depart-
ment, quotations are presented from
the reports of General Merritt and
Major Story Of Merritts staff showing
how, In time af peace, with no extra
ordinary labors on hand this depart-
ment, in its treatment of certain parts
or the little regular army, has been
grossly negligent or inefficient or both.
and the writer adds that it is mot
necessary to recall the confusion in the
transportation of the troops to the
points of assembly in our late war"
notably at Tampa, Guantanamo and
Daiquiri for with respect TO this, while
there were special excuses, the break
down of service was in no way call
culated to bear out the adiutant gem
erals assertion that the present staff
system has stood successfully the test
OF all our wars" One great trouble in
the quartermaster's department. this
army officer believes, is the excessive
Capitalization. Tor every little action
or a quartermaster he must first obtain
authority from some distant chief
quartermaster or the quartermaster-
general. Indeed, the quartermasters
who succeeded best We're those who
took responsibilities on a large scale.
gave orders and made purchases and
contracts without the proper authority.
trusting to having their action approved
afterward. But their success was not
due to the system in vogue in the quar-
termaster department, but to a viola
tion of it,"
In relation to the subsistence depart-
ment, the adjutant generals attention
is called TO the storm such as has
seldom gathered over the head of a
special department OF supplies or
administration" which broke in forces
shortly after the Cuban campaign
under the charges preferred and
sustained by the major general
commanding. No doubt this is some
thing which the adjutant general