Arizona silver belt., 1902-03-27
GENERAL MILES AND THE AD-
 MINISTRATION.

by partisan republican press is of
 value to the public in revealing the an-
 mostly of the administration and the
 coterie of arrogant West Pointers in
 favor at Washington, toward the com.
 manding general of the army. General
 Miles has been non persona grata in
 the war department and to the McKin-
 ley and Roosevelt administrations since
 hs succeeded to the command in Sep.
 tember, 1895, by right of seniority and
 his distinguished service to bis coun-
 try, and he has been subjected to re.
 peated rebuffs and disparagements.
 During the Spanish. American war and the Philippine conflict General
 Miles has seen his authority usurped and his recommendation ignored, and
 since the unfortunate Sampson-Schley
 controversy, in which he sided with
 Admiral Dewey and the American peo-
 pie in giving credit to Amiral Schley
 for the victory of Santiago bay, the
 hostility of the administration toward
 Miles has been open and pronounced.
 General Miles testimony before the
 senate committee on military affairs
 last Thursday, iu which he strongly
 opposed the bill for the reorganization
 of the army, furnished the climax of
 the assault upon the lieutenant general.
 It so angered President Roosevelt and
 Secretary Root that they forgot the
 dignity and self control required of
 men in their high positions, and taking
 the cue from the White House, admin
 istratiou organs have indulged in great deal of foolish and vituperative talk, and confidently declared that
 Miles was to be unceremoniously re. tired. The language used by General
 Miles before the committee has been twisted and garbled in an effort to ma. lign him. Even had General Miles been guilty of making the statements wit which he is charged, the language was privileged and offers no grounds for reprimand or his dismlssal from ac- tive service, and after his burst of i'll. temper, by the wise counsel of the cab. met, President Roosevelt has been brought to realize this, but we presume his vision has not sufficiently cleared as to enable the rongh.riding president to see the ridiculous position the ad- | has placed itself in.
 As to General Miles state m rents be. fore the committee. probably the | Star, republican paper in close touch with administration cir cles, IS competent authority. In giving the views held at the capitol the Star says:
 General Miles, when he went be- lore the committee, had typewrittep statement concerning the bill, which he read and which those who heard him declared would prove an historical doe lment of unusual value A, he read hi, manuscript he was occasionally questioned by members of the commit. 'ee. He undertook to show, quoting ,he law frequently, that bureaus of the var department had without legal authority gradually usurped powers Y Shich had been vested in the com. handing general of the army. He quoted the language of great military eaders, such as Napolaon, Wellington. and Grant, to the effect 'hat there should be a responsible head 'f the army who could at all times act promptly and without being hampered according to the exigencies that might lrlse. His paper was very fully rein 'orced with quotations from these au- 'horities. It is declared by those who heard the testimony of General Miles yesterday that he cannot be reprimand- sd or in any way caused trouble be- cause of his language. They say his statement was dignihed and ,ouched in such language that would relieve him from any criticism. The statements which have caused criticism, hey gay, so far as they have been &C., published, were made in way to relieve General Miles from any responsibility for them. They say had ,e refused to reply freely to the com nittee's questions he would have rem iered himself liable to some kind of