New-York tribune., 1900-06-15
1ULTTARY ADMINISTRATION.
parEBoNE NOT ALONE IN EXTRAV-
At4ANT EXPENDITURES.

One res son given for the necessity Of thor
,-vb exposure Of everything that is wrong and
.ts ventilation Of all complaints is the course
= Psthbone's friends some Of whom are infu-
,.,sI personages. Rathbone's public career is
s,sed and as a discredited official he is not IN
, position 70 DO harm unless the scrutiny which
has been made into Postofffce methods is refused
cor the other departments. II is perfectly well
Known. both in Havana and in Washington, that
.,e examination Of the book accounts OF all the
departrnents does not meet the case Rathbone's
partisans are becoming aggressive in their de-
rngnd that the personal allowances OF Army Of
actals who. Ike him, had houses and carriages
and Government paid servants have the same
publicity that has been given 10 mis- extravagant
sxpendirures. They say that he will be vindi-'
,sred By such a comparative exhibit This claim
of vtndcaion is. OF course idle talk but there is
no question that Rathbone was not alone in his
extravagance- To refuse 10 make public the de-
tailed expenses OF Army officers while exhibiting
those OF the late Director Of Posts. unquestiona-
big would help 10 make him q martyr.
Some Of the Army officers are urgent on this
point but others are not quite confident over
the idea II has been disclosed that in Havana,
IS in Washington there are Army clioues and
that the military administration has not been
without friction within itself Army officers
who were occupying Government buildings as
private residences, and at the same time draw
ing Communication and quarters have been an
noyed az hints that they may be compelled to
refund the amounts drawn
ABUSES OF BUREAUCRACY.
Some OF the abuses which are certain to be
disclosed are the result OF the bureaucracy which
was rampant during the early days Of the mill
tary administration, when one Army board was
chiefly concerned with undoing what some other
Army board had recommended and one com
nanding officer would signaIize his assumption
Of command BY repudiating the policy Of his
predecessor General Frtzhugh Lee recently told
friend that. having long ago fcreseen a Con-
gressional investigation he had fortified himself
for IL The celebrated sewer at Camp Columbia
was n his mind The Engineering Corps had
condemned The sewer TOO large and the
Medical Board had condemned 81 as too small.
Lee kept both reports. Much Of the extrava-
gance and wastefulness which is charged against
the military administration with some degree OF
truth is due 10 the conflicts and jsaIousies OF
The various bureaus and boards
While not much is said publicly II is known
privately that Governor General Wood feels that
his administration in Cuba is enlbe errassed by
Regular Army antagonisuas in Washington 1t
Is the old story Of the jealousies between the
different cliques. On the other side Is the
grievance or the Regular Army officers Their
statement is that General Wood has been most
Loyalty supported, but has not appreciated II.
The controversy is not likely TO be q long one,
for General Wood is gradually surrounding him
self with officers Of his own choice II is not
expected that General Chaffee. who was his
chief % stef VIII return 70 Cuba, nor will Colo
mel Richards, the Ad1utant- General. Some OF
General LudlOw's aids who were retained bv
General Wood may remain g while but their
tenure IL not likely 10 be a long one Colonel
Black, who was General Ludlow's chief engineer
officer, has indicated that he is wearying Of con-
Tinuing in Havana. but IL is understood that
he is strenuous IN his desire for some other
post
This Army friction is not IN itself regarded as
important. The real hin6rance which General
Wood finds in his work is the assumption that
whatever he does IN the way Of reducing pav
and cutting down eXrravagant expenditures is a
ref1ecti3p on the previous military admtnistra-
1ion Of Havana