The evening times., 1900-02-14
MORE OFFICERS NEEDED
Recommendations to Be Sent TO
Congress by Secretary Root.
hmm ediate Legislation Required To
Place the Different Depn rtments of
Surgeons in Deman and-Causes of the
Unusual Depletion of the Force.

The Secretary OF War will send to Con-
gress within short time special recon-
mendations for an increase in the number
of officers Of the different staff depart
ments of the Army. The subject OF such
an increase has been under consideration
for some time and at first il was thought
that the recommendations might Just as
well be embodied in the general bill being
prepared for the reorganization OF the
Army.
The recent campaign in the Philippines
has developed such a condition among the
officers of the staff however, that it Will
require immediate legislation TO place the
different departments in proper working
condition. Within the past few months
reports have come TO the War Department
Of the breaking down physically of many
OF the officers who were stationed in the
Philippines This has been particularly
true in the Medical and Commissary de-
partments. The latter department is now
working with a much less force of regular
..-. asr rgey had for an army
. ..lr uua a.r before the war with
sg,iG.
before ... ral he Commissary De-
...Husr. P . TWEEN two officers for duty,
..H ft now been reduced
g.. reduction has been
caused as follows: Commissary General
Eagan, suspended; Major Bliss, detailed at
Havana as collector OF customs; Major
Brainard, invalided home from Manila;
At. Ct,,i. iraA
Acting Commissary General Weston has
represented TO Secretary Root the neces-
sity of having at least eight or ten addi-
tioual commissaFy officers, and has eX-
plained that il will be absolutely neces-
sary 10 have such an increase for the
proper working of the department.
Surgeon General Sternberg. of the Medi-
cal Department, has explained TO Secre-
tary Root that he has been compelled TO
deplete many of the garrisons in the Uni
ted States of its regular officers in order
to provide regular Army surgeons for duty
in the Philippines. Colonel woodruff. who
was at Manila, has been compelled to Sc
cure an indefinite leave, owing TO his phys
ical condition, ana mas been succeeded Dy
Colonel Greenleaf.
To provide a sufficient force of surgeons
for the Philippines Surgeon General Stern
berg has been compelled to resort to the
employment of contract doctors. or these
thirty have left for the Philippines within
the past six weeks and forty more will be
sent within the next thirty days. To Sc
cure the best class Of surgeons for this
work General Sternberg has issued the
following statement:
The Medical Department OF the Army
is now in need of some additional assist
ance in the Philippines, and 1t is desired
that candidates for appointment as acting
assistant surgeons make application TO the
Surgeon General of9the Army. Applicants
must be graduates. of reputable medical
colleges and have had practical experience
since graduation in hospital or in private
practice"
Secretary Root has not yet determined
upon the number of officers which he will
recommend for each Of the staff depart
| ments. He explained today that each OF
the staff organizations was greatly in
need of increased force and that the same
condition, as shown in the Commissary
and Medical Departments. prevailed in the
Adjutant Generals. Ordnance, Quarter
! masters, and Signal Corps.