Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-10-24
THE LOSSES FOR A YEAR
From All Causes They Amount
to $4,000 Men.
THE TRANSPORT SERVICE.
II Is Costing FOO Much Money and Il
Cable Line Is Badly Needed, as the
Price for Messages from Washington
TO Manila Is S2.3S Per Word.

washington, Oct. l9.-lhe annual
report of Maj Gen. Corbin, adiutant
general of the army, reviews the
work, condition and needs of the mill
itary establishment.
Gen. Corbin submits "A table to show
that the army in the Philippines is to
be reduced by expired enlistments at
the rate of about 1000 a month from
now on until June, 1902. The Dues
tion whether the regiments thus de-
pleted in strength are to remain so,
or to be recruited to their full roster,
he says, is one requiring the very
earliest consideration, for if the lat
ter is contemplated it is already time
to begin special recruiting.
The losses from all causes in the
regular army and the volunteers from
July l, 1900, to June 30 last totalcd
1924 officers and men in the former,
and S,191 in the latter. The casual
ties to the troops in the Philippines
since the date of the first arrival,
June 30, 1898, to June so last, we're
rs officers and 3.37S men killed, and
1s2 officers and 2,646 men wounded.
Gen. Corbin dwells at some length
on the subject of the volunteer army
i'll the Philippines, and calls attention
to the promptness with which these
regiments were brought home and
mustered out.
Gen. Corbn invites special attention
to the remarks of Col. Mills, suRerin-
tendent of the West Point military
academy, upon the improved disci-
pline and generally excellent condi-
ton of the cadet corps. 1t is safe
to predict, says Gen. Corbin, that
hazing of brutal nature is a thing
of the past at the academy.
He devotes special attention to the
question of the instruction of the
army. He believes that the system
of training for the officers should be-
gin with elementary technical in
struction at each post and terminate
in the higher training which would be
provided at war college, the speedy
organization of which he considers
most desirable.
Gen Corbin recommends that the
old law requiring that each candidate
from the ranks of a commission
in the army be a ''non-commissioned
officer in good standing who has dis
played an aptitude for command of
men," be revided. While a great
many excellent young men have come
into the service as officers under the
present law, which opens the way for
commissions to enlisted men who
have had two years service, Gen. Cor
bin says there have been a number
of others who have entered the
army as officers in this way who are
not up to the requirements of their
rank.
Gen. Corbin's recent tour of the
Philippines and his visit to Japan and
eastern China bears fruit in some in
teresting suggestions. Gen. Corbin
believes that the army transport serv-
ice on the Pacific is costing the gov
ernment considerable more than the
use of commercial steamship lines
would. He suggests that congress
could offer inducements to United
States shippers to install a line of
steamers under charters that would
permit them, in time of necessity, to
serve as reserve army and navy trans
ports.
An equally important need of the
service, Corbin says, is domestic
cable from the Pacific coast to the
Philippines. The present cable COM
munication through Europe, Asia.
China and Japan, he says, should be
discontinued at the earliest possible
date. The rates charged by the ex-
isting cable service are eXorbitant,
$2.3S per word being the regular
tariff on messages between Washing
ton and Manila.
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 storehouses in
and about Manila. where the govern
ment now pays 100000 annually for
the use of rented buildings. If these
suggestions are adopted, Gen. Corbn
says, the cost o. maintaining the
army in the Philippines will be
scarcely more than if the troops were
on home stations.