The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-13

| removal of troops from the state camps
has the advantage of avoiding the dis
tubring influence of home locality.
During the organization and equip
ment Of the army, a daily telegraph re-
| port was received from each camp
| Where important deficiencies were
reported, the secretary of war called at
| tention to the fact and in most cases IL
| was found that such deficiencies We're
| due to the non-existence of the. ar
| ticles.
There We're about $50 regiments bat
| talions and separate organizations in
| the army. from only 20 of which came
| complaints. aside from those affecting
the medical department Investigation
| has shown that most of these COM
| plants We're because OF lack of sup
| plies not obtainable at first, or were
| due to the inexperence of officers in
| command, not, so far as We can discov-
er, from any intentional neglect.
1t was found necessary to go out
SIDE ana appoint officers from civil life,
| the selections being frequently made
| from officers who had had experience
| IN the national guard, graduates from
military colleges and schools and citi-
zens whose business or professions fit
ted them for the positions for which
they were selected. The testimony
| shows that they were honest and man
- ASSlLS " bCApiiiN VAASASht. 4NO
| one has been court martialled and but
few dropped as incompetent.
Inc adjutant general testified that
there had not been a deficiency of one
dollar reported on the part of volun-
teer staff officer and that he wished to
make 1t matter of record that in the
distribution of many millions of dol
lars during this war there was yet to
be made the first charge of defalcation
against an army officer, regular or vol
unteer.
There have been very few COM
plants against this department. The
records and testimony show that it has
been prompt in its work and has added
greatly to the efficiency of the army
The Inspector General.
Inspector generals department.:
Brlgadier General ]. C. Breckenridge,
inspector general T. S. A., in CHARGE
The commission finds that the inspector
generals department was not as eff
cient as it ought to have been. There
seems to have been question as to au-
thority by which inspections were to
pc ordered. On at least one occasion,
May II, the secretary of war instructed
the major general commanding the
army to inspect certain camps viz,
those at Chickamauga. Atlanta, New
Orleans, Mobile, Tampa, Miami and
Key West. The major general did not
act upon such instructions, stating it
to be his place to order inspection.
Further, the commission finds that
although several officers of this de-
partment were assigned to duty in
command of troops in the field still
competent officers were held in charge
of the department in Washington to
perform such duties as were assigned
to them. The organization in the field
was ample, and the inspectors made re-
ports to the commanding officers to
whom they had been assigned. These
reports were often not acted on, and
We're not forwarded to the war depart
ment."
ouartermaster's Department
"Quartermaster's department. U. S. A.:
Brigadier General M. l. Ludington, u.
S. A., in charge.-On March 1, 1898, with
the possibility of war with Spain, the
quartermaster's department found it.
self charged with varied, numerous and
important duties, its appropriations
small, and facing the probability of a
large army being soon organized for
field service.
THE department up to March /, 1898,
found itself confronted with sections
1878. 1872 and 3,779 of the revised stat
utes, which prohibit any government
department from expanding money in
excess of appropriations, that purchases
shall not exceed the necessities of the
current year, and that all proposals
shall be advertised.
1T will thus be observed that the
declaration of war threw upon the
quartermaster's department an amount
OF labor and responsibility for which
it was neither physically nor financial
ly prepared.
Clothing, Camp and Garrison Equipaee.
THE department has reported that on
April l, 1893, it was amply provided with
all necessary clothing and equipage
supplies for three months for the army
as then organized. 1t appears that
within few weeks it became necessary
to provide for clothing and equipping
an army of more than quarter of a
million of men.
SO soon as funds We're available, so
soon as war was inevitable, so soon as
law permitted the quartermaster's de-
partment undertook this enormous
work. That the quartermaster general
threw the energy of his department into
this work, when funds were available,
was evident and that his officers labor
ed faithfully in their efforts to aid him,
is plain to those who have carefully
studied their work.
I'm spite of every effort there were
occasions where troops suffered from
poor tentage or lack of tentage and alb
| sence Of straw for bedding, where cloth
ing was scarce and troops suffered dis
| comfort for lack Of shoes. shirts and
other articles of apparel. This was no.
| ticed even as late as October in the
camps at Admission, Huntsville and Lex
ington, while at Huntsville, Ala, and
Fort Monroe, Va, in spite of cool
nights, there was a lack of stoves in
the hospital, and at Huntsville the sup
| ply of wood was short. On some of the
transports sent to Manila the deficiency
in shoes of proper size continued even
up to August 81.
''At Santiago the deficiency at the
| front appears to have been caused
rather from lack of transportation from
the coast, rather than from lack OF
clothing and tentage, supply of which
| was on the transports.
Great complaint was made of lack
| Of transportation facilities at Camp
Montauk Point N. Y. Many complaints
were received in reference to unneces-
sary delays and lack of promptness or
the part of the quartermaster's depart
ment in moving regiments and in the
care of sick and convalescents.