Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-17
SETS FORTH NEEDS OF ARMY
Inspector General Breckenridge Makes His
Report to Root,
MORE OFFICERS THE FIRST REQUIREMENT

Not Enough to Equip Companies and
Look After Detached Service
Conditions in the Philip
pine Islands.
| WASHINGTON, Nov. l6.-The annual re-
port of General ]. c. Breckenridge, in
spector general of the army, is volumi-
nous document and covers every phase Of
the military establishment and each de-
| partment bureau and command in the army.
| More than fifty recommendations and sug-
! gestions are made relating tc improvements
/ in the army, most of which pertain to
| technical matters and minor conditions.
| Much OF the report necessarily has been
| covered in the reports of bureau chiefs and
commanding officers. General Breckenridge
finds much to commend in all branches Of
the service and reports progress and i'm
| provements everywhere.
The most serious criticism is in regard
to absenteeism, where officers are on de-
! tached duty, leaving the regiments short
of officers. Thus in the Philippines espe-
cially, 1t is found that many companies
are without captains and the companies
in command OF new and untried officers.
| He attributes this to lack of officers in the
! army to fill the details and detached as
| signments.
General Breckenridge shows that instruc-
tion in the army is progressing satisfac-
| torily. He recommends the fortihcation
of Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands
as a strategic point. He says water trans
portation in the army is rapidly assuming
stable and economical methods.
Progress in the Philippines.
He has the following to say regarding
his inspection in the Philippines:
| During my tour in the Philippines II was
! evident on all sides that the army, as
| whole, was laboring patiently and faith
| fully to solve the many VeXing problems
continually presented to It. The difficulties
! encountered and the hardships endured
never. can be fully appreciated by, any one
| who has not been on the ground and OBJ
served the daily life of officers and men,
miles away from home influences and as
openly or secretly hostile, depending al
| most entirely for their subsistence upon
| the commissary-where one Is always
afraid to take even an ordinary drink of
water without ascertaining first whether
| 1t has been cooked.
Critics at home may search for epithets
| to apply to our general officers, but these
| officers are not less kindhearted than their
critics. and more anxiously mindful Of the
| sJffferings which necessarily fall upon the
| innocent in warfare as well as the guilty
and are devising means by which the poor
! might be cared for and fed. There is
| reason for qualification that our fellow
countrymen have confidence in their army
and many know, what, war is, and the
| reaction has not been sluggish.
That the army performed its duties well
and bore it's hardships uncomplainngly is
! we'll known to all who have kept i'm touch
with it since the opening of the Philippine
! tnsurrection. In fact. II has done only those
| things which we expect of II and which
we will continue to expect OF American
| soldiers.
Soldiers Need Quarters.
| The crying need of the soldiers now in
\ the Philappinesr fs quarters, and nothing
will add more to the discipline and ef-
! division than the construction as rapidly
| as possible of commodious quarters and
barracks for our troops on r sites which Wl
OF large bodies of men in drill and target
| practice.
| Discussing the American troops and the
Filipinos, General Breckenridge says:
There has been good deal of discussion
| in the public press and elsewhere concern
| ing the treatment of the native Filipinos
/ by the American troops, and some rather
serious charges have been brought against
| the army, which charges have not been
substantiated. The conditions of war in
] the Philippine islands have been perhaps
| unusual, and from reasons arising from the
| conduct of the Filpinos themselves who,
as the authorities agree, are sometimes ex-
| conduct of the American army toward them
| the exercise of uneXampled patience Is
claimed, and the humanity Of the troops
|
| dealing with Asiatics.
| Some OmcisI Bouquets.
With what novel duties in both civil and
military administration and in the charac-
] ter and environment of the war the
! opposite side of the globe, have our soldiers
| felt the current of those distant affairs
! and our nation may not be fully conscious
| of the awakening. Who among us on the
| day of the battle of Manila bay were IA
miliaT with the names of men who had
| faithfully devoted long lives to our service,
not without some dangers by land and sea
| and now how the character of the nation
| has been weighed in the balance according
| to their words and deeds Merritt, with
| youthful fame in the Shenandoah valley
| and on the great plains appears in his
| maturity on this last scene Otis of honest
| Judgment. fag reaching insight, and a
| cormOrant for work, bearing his honorable
wounds with all modesty; Bates, the gentle
| chief i'm diplomacy or emergency; Wheaton,
| the thunderbolt and embodiment of mill
| tary ardor; Macarthur, judicious, courage
| out, masterful and broad minded; Hughes,
acute and resolute amidst attempted
| Moscow and In the rugged places of Samar
| and the middle islands; Funston, who won
| his fame amidst the hardships of the
| farthest front; Young, forever I'm the lead
! and seeking the vitals of the enemy; Smith
| tireless and aggressive; Bell, courteous and
| recklessly audacious, the prince of the ad-
vance guard; Lawton, droit ct loyale. who
| wrought famously and kindly on both
| hemispheres. doing easily and without un-
/ que SaCTlnCe Whatever was most needed
| most difficult; Chaffee, whose sterling
/ worth had been displayed in the old and
\ new worlds wherever American arms have
| brought her principles, and won success
either I'm the whirl of repelling deadly
| tyranny from the Antilles or in bringing
| safety to the beleagured regions from the
] bloody Manchur OF the Forbidden City;
| Davis. whose omnivorous industry and
! knowledge have wrought memorable monu-
ments in the form of city government and
| great memorial structure as we'll as in his
| profession; Grant, who carried from Porto
/ Rico 20 the far east a name Americans
| regard as the epitome of unpretentious and
| admirable service, and who has shown
| unwearied work and fairness in every
| scene; and Baldwin the last to win a star
| for worsting the enemy in fierce fight In
| career filled with such bearing as brought
two medals of honor for soldierly courage
| to him alone.
Rewards Well Won.
| When the rewards of service go TO men
| like these the heart Of our army is elate.
These are not half the names, nor are all
of them as well known TO their fellow
countrymen as they deserve. But these
/ are among those whom / met or the results