Washington sentinel., 1899-08-05
New Functions Of the $, ,SretarY Of
War.

In his cropping alter duty ano
Destiny" Mr.. Mckinley has sue
ceeded in infiicting some severe
wounds upon the Constitution and
hitherto cherished and established
institutions of the United States.
There is no department OF the Gov
ernment, however, into which he
has brought more confusion and
Generalization than into that
which is popularlY supposed to be
presided over and administered by
the Secretary OF War. We do not
refer simply to the scandals and
abuses which were associated IN
the popular mind with the admin
istration Of the late Secretary, Gen.
Alger, and Tor which Mr.. McKin-
ley was quite as much responsible
as his subordinate. What are to-
day the duties and the functions of
the Secretary What are the linn
its OF his jurisdiction and his power
Can anybody tell1 Or does any
body know We have Mr.. Nc
Kinley himself in his constitu-
tional capacity Of Commander in
chief, but who, in law, is no more
supposed personally to administer
the War Department than the Post
Office DEPARTMENT. or the Treasury.
We have General Miles nominally
commanding the army, but in re-
ality commanding nobody. We
have Adj. Gen. Corbin, without
whose advice the President is sup
posed to do nothing, who does not
consult, however, the commanding
general, or, apparently, any one
else. Finally, we have a new Sec
retarY, an eminent New York
lawyer and we'll known politician,
Mr.. Elihu Root. who has yet to
discover, possibly, himself what
his own precise functions and
duties are.
Politics and the Presidents de.
sire to be renominated and re-
elected led to the selection oil
New Yorker when Gen. Alger,
under pressure, retired. New York,
a great State with SO electoral
votes, has had no representative
in the Cabinet since Mr.. Cornelius
Bliss resigned the portfolio OF the
Interior Department. For the
purpose ofsupplylng this omission,
Senator Platt and Governor RoOse
Velt gave the President, it is un-
derstood, the choice between two
names, that Of General Francis V.
Greene, a prominent civilian, with
a military education and record,
and Mr.. Elihu Root, the eminent
lawyer aforesaid. with a leaning,
il anything, it is said, on their part,
in favor OF Gen. Greene. whose
military experience, it was thought,
might make him especially useful
at this present time. But, with
Corbin at his elbow, the President
was not looking for a soldier to
place at the head Of the War De
partment. He wanted, he said, a
first rate lawyer, and if he had been
looking for an Attorney General
90 replace Griggs he probably
could not have made a better
choice than that Of Mr.. Root.
And now that he has got the latter,
the interesting question is, what
is he going to do with him2 And,
indeed, what is Mr.. Root going to
do with HIMSELF
In ordinary peaceful times the
duties OF the Secretary OF War
were probably as well understood
and easily defined as those OF any
other Cabinet officer. President
Cleveland's two Secretaries, Judge
Endicott, OF Massachusetts,, during
bis first Administration. and the
Hon. Daniel Lamont, during has
second, probably had no difficulty
in ascertaining their duties and in
performing them to the satisfaction
OF the public. The same may be
said OF Gen. Harrison's Secretary
OF War, Judge (now Senator) Proc.
tor, Of Vermont; and the Hon.
Robert Lincoln and others, who
have held the same office. But
in thu anomalous conditions which
President Mckinley has created,
who can say what the principal
functions Of the Secretary OF War
will be2 It seems to be assumed
that, apart from the very obvious
duty OF assisting to make the Pres
ident's calling and reelection in
1900 sure, Mr.. Root as an eminent
lawyer has been selected for the
purpose of showing the President
how lawfully to govern the vast
empire which he now rules as Com
caander-in- Chief without law. Over
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