The times., 1899-06-14

English system and has been adopted by
other countries having tropical posses
sions. The United States will inaugurate
the system with the Twenty-fourth and
Twenty fifth infantry regiments, two
thirds of which were yesterday ordered to
the Philippines, and the remaining third
assigned to duty in this country and
Alaska In explanation OF its purpose in
this regard the War Department, through
Adjutant General Corbin, issued the fol-
lowing statement:
By retaining in this country a battalion of the
Twenty fourth and Twenty-ffth Infantry the de
partment is inausurating system which it hopes
at an carly cate TO apply to all regiments for
eign service. That is, TO have two battalions
abroad. fully manned and Differed, with home
battalion to which all those disabled by foreign
service may be sent TO recuperate after active
service in the tropics. The invalided and con-
vdlescent will thus have definite home station
to which they may at once be sent
Adjutant General Corbin said this after
neon that the Administration had intended
to inaugurate this system for some time
but owing to the necessity of sending so
many troops to the Philippines the cppor-
tunity had not been Afforded until Gov.
1t is the intention to apply the system TO
the entire Army as quickly as possible. but
K cannot, of course, be carried into effect
until after the Philippines insurrection has
ended. Through its operation one battal-
ion of every regiment on foreign service
infantry. cavalry, and artillery, will be sta
toned in the United States, and the head
quarters of each battalion will serve as a
recruiting station for the rest of the regi-
ment. Officers and men, inyalided home
Will on recovery from their wounds or i'll
ness proceed to join the home battalion
their places in that portion of the regiment
abroad being taken by those who have
been serving with the companies, troops,
and batteries in the United States.
] An order was issued by the War De-
! partment yesterday assigning eight com
! panies of the Twenty-fourth Infantry and
| the same number of companies of the
! Twenty-ffth Infantry, both colOred regi-
ments, to duty in the Philippines. This
marks the beginning of the increase of
General Otis command from q, 900 to 30
! coo regulars. and also the Inauguration of
| the English system of retaining a bat
TALON CT each regiment on home service.
1 Two weeks ago General Otis was informed
/ by telegraph that with the troops then on
/ their way to the Philippines, or under
! orders to proceed there, he would have,
after the volunteers had been withdrawn, a
| fighting force of $4,000 regulars. The Ad-
ministration was at first inclined to be-
! lieve that in order to furnish the 5000
additional men IL would be necessary to or
ganize some Of the volunteers authorized
| by the Army Reorganization bill of the
| Congress which ended in March. Since
| then the President and his advisers have
| given great deal Of consideration to the
| subject, and finally reached the conclusion
that General Otis command could be aug
mented from the Regular Army without
seriously curtailing the force necessary
| for home service. They were Influenced
considerably in this decision by a ruling
of the Comptroller of the Treasury, which
provided an increase in the regular estab-
lishment of 3,100 men, making a total
number of regulars s.1OO instead OF 65 900
as seemingly provided by Congress- The
Comptroller held that the $500 men of the
hospital corps and the surplus of 500 re-
cruits always kept on hand were not in