Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-10-26
GEN. CORDIN ON The
NEEDS OF the ARMY
Adiutant General Points Out Many
Shortcomings in Military
Establishment,
FORCE IN THE PHILIPPINES
Il Will Ne Reduced NJ the Rate of About
1900 q Month From Now On Until
June, 19o2-The Transport
System 10 Criticised.

~prehensively reviews the work, condi-
ton and needs Of the military estab-
lishment. General Corbin submits a
table to show that the army In the
Philippines is to be reduced by expired
enlistments at the rate Of about 200 a
month from now on until June, 1902.
The question whether the regiments
thus depleted In strength are to re-
main so or be recruited to their full
register, he says, is one requiring the
very earliest consideration, for II the
latter is contemplated II Is already
time to begin special recruiting. The
losses from all causes In the regular
army and the volunteers from July ~
1900, TO Tune 80 last totaied 1928 OIL
GERS and men in the former and S,1sl In
the latter. Tho casualties to the troops
in the Philippines since the date of the
first arrival, June 30, 1898, to June 80
last were lis officers and 1878 men
killed and 1872 officers and 2,646 men
wounded.
General Corbin dwells at some length
on the subject Of the volunteer army IN
the Philippines and calls attention to
the proInptness and dispatch with
which those regiments were brought
home and mustered out.
Hazing NJ an End.
General Corbin invites special atten-
ton to the remarks Of Colonel Mills,
superintendent of the West Point mill
tary academy, on the improved disci-
pine condition of the cadet corps. II Is
safe to predict, says General Corbin.
that hazing Of q brutal nature is a
thing of the past. General Corbin rec
ommends that the cadets Of each grad
uating class be sent to Fort Munroe
for practice and instruction In sea
coast Bunnery.
He devotes special attention to the
question Of the instruction OF the
army. He believes hat the system Of
training for the officers should begin
with elementary technical instruction
at each post and terminate in the high
err training which would be provided at
a war college, the speedy organization
of which he considers most desirable.
The general says that 1t has been re-
ported to MIN that retired army officers,
detailed at full pay as military instruc-
tors, In some instances do not even live
at the colleges and only occasionally
visit them. This state of affairs, he
says, should be corrected.
General Corbin recommends that the
old law requiring that each candidate
from the ranks for q commission In he
army be a "non-commissioned officer In
good standing, who has displayed an
aptitude for command and control OF
men, be revived. While a great many
excellent young men havS come Into
Tie SeINlCt dS OlAlIClo llbC lS PAN0
ent law which opens the way for COM
missions to enlisted men who nave had
two years service, General Corbin says
there have been a number of others
who have entered the army as officers
in this way who are not up to the re-
quirements of their ranks.
Criticises Transport system.
General Corbin believes that the army
transport service on the Pacific Is cost
NAnn Nhn 1ToA
of commercial steamship lines, for the
latter would have the advantage, de-
MED to the government, of transporting
passengers freight and mails to the
orient, both on outward and homeward
oyage and would meet the needs for
increasing American trade In the ORR
ent. He therefore suggests that con-
gress with safety could offer induce
ments to United States shippers to in
stall q line Of steamers under charters
that would permit them, in time Of ne
cessity, to serve as reserve army and
navy transports. BY this means, says
General Corbin, the government inter-
ests would be far more economically
and just as effectively administered 1t
would be particularly beneficial to the
mail service which has been very UNI
satisfactory to the military and civil
government In the Philippines ever
since the occupation of the Islands
All equally important need of the
service, General Corbin says, Is a do
nestle cable from the Pacific coast to
the Philippines. The present cable
communication through Europe, Asia,
China and Japan, he avs for obvious
reasons, should be discounted at the
earliest date. The rates charged by
the existing cable service are exorbi-
tant. $12.26 per word being the regular
tariff on messages between Washing
ton and Manila. This excessive rate, he
declares, practically prohibits any real
~ efficient service, and the cipher code
of the war department has necessarily
been adjusted to ope with the nigh
rates.
He urges that more comfortable
quarters for the troops In the Philip
pines be provided as soon as possible
and that an appropriation be made for
the erection of store houses In and
about Manila, where the government
now pays $500, 900 annually for the use
Of rented buildings.
Change In Uniform.
If the suggestions are adopted, ne
says, the cost OF maintaining the army
In the Philippines will be scarcely more
thar IL the troops were on home sta
lions. He suggests the need OF many
changes in the uniforms OF officers n
urges tina the matter have the early
consideration OF n competent board.
During the recent military operations
in China the good name and discipline
of General Chaffee's army was several
times called into question by the row.
dyism Of non-combatants, generally in
the uniform of a soldier. General Cor
bin therefore urges that farriers. team
sters and the like should have uni
forms different from the regularly en-
listed soldier. He also says that Of
hcers in active service should be provid-
ed servants, enlisted as such, and with
uniforms to distinguish them from the
rank and file.
Justice has already been too long de-
layed, General Corbin says, in the mat
ter of medals for exceptional war serv-
ice recommended by the late President
Mckinley in his message to congress
in 1899 for the volunteers, regulars, sail
ors and marines on duty in the Philip
pines after their terms OF enlistment
had expired in order to serve their
country in an extremity, and he urges
that this matter be brought to the at
tention of congress with renewed EN-
phasis. General Corbin approves a
movement TO give service medals to all
officers and men of the regular and vol
unteer troops who h~onorably served in
the wal with Spain.
He strongly recommends that con-
gress shall authorize the retirement OF
not to exceed two major generals on
the active and one on the retired list
with the rank of lieutenant general. He
points out that the distinguished serv-
ice of Major General Merritt, Brooke
and Otis fully entitled them to this
honor.