The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-12
The Army Bill.

Each days debate in the Senate on the
bill to increase the size of the Regular
Army to a strength sufficient to enable Us
to put down the existing rebellion in our
newly acquired territory in the Philip
pine Archipelago exhibits the fact that
it is the intention of the Administrator ton
forces to insert among the provisions of
the bill several clauses that will enable
the President to reward certain officers
who were prominent in the Spanish war,
either by an increased grade in the rank
now held by them, or to appoint and re-
tire certain prominent officers now holding
volunteer rank with the grade of brigadier
general, and then place them all on the
permanent retired list of the regular
forces SO soon as they shall have reached
the age of sixty-four years-or if they
have already reached the age for retire
.leht appoint and retire them at once
1t Las been developed in debate that the
officers who are to be benefited by said
clauses are Maj. Gen. W. r. Shafter,
United States Volunteers, who is row a
brigadier general (retired) in the regular
service, and Brig. Gems. Fitzhugh Lee and
James H. Wilson, of the United States
Volunteers. The intention being to APP
point and retire Shafter as a major gem
eral, and appoint Generals Lee and Will
son as brigadier generals in the regular
service and place them on the retired
list OF the army, it seems to US that a
special bill, outside of the Army bill. re-
citing the services OF these officers ard
the reasons for their promotion and re-
tirement, would have been a better way
TO have approached and accomplished the
desired end. 1t would not have developed
any more acrimony or any worse criti-
cism in debate than has already been had,
Z nd while considerab Bile can be truly said
against all of these promotions and ap-
pointments, much can just as truthfully
be said In their favor. That General
shafter blundered into success, through
the grim persistence OF his junior officers
in the Santiago campaign, and that he
was not in action on the firing line, and,
furthermore, that he lay sick in his tent
during the assault and most of the short
siege, and that at one time he went so
far as to direct that an order be given
for the withdrawal OF the troops In front
of Santiago, seem to be well established;
and that the oppOrtunc arrival of General
Miles greatly aided in accomplishing the
downfall of Santiago, is true; but GER
that very sick, as he undoubtedly was,
Shafter did not relinquish his command to
the next ranking officer; that weak and
worn by fever, as he must have been, he
refused TO yield and held on to all the
responsibilities of his position in the ap-
parently adverse circumstances then sur
rounding It.; and IL is true that OF his own
volition he countermanded and stopped |
the verbal order he had given or suggested |
as to the withdrawal of the troops in |
front of Santiago, and that at the darkest |
of the campaign all the respon- |
sibilities of winning or losing rested upon |
him. BY the signal ability OF his junior |
the splendid conduct of his |
troops, and a marvellous combination Of |
he won out, and the glory |
Of victory was his, just as the disgrace |
Of defeat would have been had the re-
suit been otherwise. The Times is ret |
an admirer of General shafter-far from
it-but history shows that men have !
been made major generals with far less
claim to the position.
As for the two other aspirants for brig |
on the retired list OF the army,
there is both a military and a political |
side to the question. Both of these Of
fcers are graduates OF the Military
Academy. The elder, Gen. Fitzhugh Lee,
is Southerner who served on the Texan
frontier with our army before the civil |
war, and was supposed to have been NOR
tally wounded In an engagement with
hostile Indians on the Texan border In
1883. Upon his recovery and on the seces-
sion of his State, Virginia, in 1861, he re-
signed and entered the Confederate SER
vice, and made brilliant war record on
the Confederate side-proving himself
bold rider, hard hitter, and a most COM
petent commander of cavalry division.
At the conclusion OF the civil war he ac-
cepted the new condition OF affairs with
out single reservation. and set about
helping the reconstruction Of his State
and his fallen fortunes without murmur,