New-York tribune., 1902-04-12
THE STAFF PLAN URGED.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL SCHOFIELDS
TESTIMONY.
HE HOLDS THAT THE PRESIDENT is THE
SUPREME COMMANDER AND MUST ACI
THROUGH THE SECRETARY OF WAR
rBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIRUNE-l

THROUGH THE SECRETARY OF WAR
rBY TELEGRAPH THE TRIRUNEl
Washington April 11.-General Schoheld
testimony before the Senate Military Conliiiit-
tee in favor of the General Staff bill was made
public to-day. His argument In support OIL 'he
bin was of the most convincing character, espe-
c:ally his insistence, after long experience III
the War Department that there was no room
in the army for two commanders, and that the
President whom the constitution makes the su-
preme commander. must act through his Secre-
tary of War In the course of long SESSION
with the committee. whose members asked hiin
many questions, General Schofeld said:
You want me to speak at first with regard 10
the present and past conditions In the arm ann
which this bill is to remedy; that is. the friclon
and conflict that have so often existed pet"
the general commanding the army ana tne
Secretary Of War There was an ideal plah'
which may have originated with General Scot'
at least. it was advocated by him during ms
long term Of office. by General Grant during ms
term. by General Sherman during his term. ana
by General Sheridan-that the great ana Varieu
duties of the war military administration. IN
cuding the command of the army, might pe
divided into those military on the one hand ana
those administrative on the other the one Delhs
intrusted to a soldier called the commanding
general of the army and the other TO the seer. s3ecIt
tary of War, both acting under the fresldet''
and relatively independent of each other-the
commanding on the one side and the admins
trative on the other-the idea being that on lHe
one hand would be the first soldier in the lana
and on the other of the great statesmen OF
the land. each entertaining toward the o'hei
that respect which ought to belong to thelr ek-
alted places having entire confidence in each
other informing each other of everything they
propose to do. and acting in entire harmony
each respecting the limits Of the authority "e-
longing to himself and to the other.
Unfortunately. If | may use what are pretty
strong terms. this great country does not pro-
duce either that sort Of soldiers that sort
1rJ,y,, mil hp u
serve any possible line Of demarcation as to the
administration The functions so commingled
that it requires a large amount of administra-
tion; and harmony never existed. and the con-
fiict almost constant. not generally known
TO the public. but breaking out occasionally INTO
very disagreeable exposures. such as occurreu
when General Scott removed his headquarters
and went TO York: he would not stay here
any longer. And he had a correspondence with
Jefferson Davis. the Secretary of War at the
time, of such nature as would hardly he
deemed possible at this day. General Grant had
a similar difficulty with Mr.. Stanton before
the general was elected President
The office of the commanding general has
never been established by law. There is no
statute that defines his authority as command
ing general. Certain statutes have given him
some special duty to do like those of president
of the Board of Ordnance and Fertilization,
president of the Board Of Governors of the Sol
dierS Home, and few others. They have IN
that way given Legislative recognition of the
office. which is perhaps unimportant, so far as
the points under consideration are concerned
The duties not conferred by statute, ana
therefore there is restriction upon anybody
in the executive departments of the government
in changing and modifying the duties Of that
officer whenever they please. They may let him
command the army whenever they please, as
has been done.
NO ROOM FOR TWO COMMANDERS
After the failure of the efforts which had
lasted, so long, which assisted in, to establish
by law the time honored theory Of division be-
tween the commanding general on the one hand
and the Secretary of War on the other, then
-sa,t- -fp laia in
TO my own ideas. and tried to devise some other
scheme by which this extremely important end
could be brought about, namely, harmony in the
military administration of the government But
/ came TO the conclusion that there was only one
way to do it. There is no room under our con.
StituIional government for two commanders OF
the army The constitution makes the Presi-
dent the commander in chief There cannot
possibly be under him another commander act
ing independently of his War Minister. He Sc
lects with the consent Of the Senate. from
all the people of the United States a states
man to be Secretary of War and he is man
who has his confidence in the very highest de-
gree. He intrusts to him so much of the con-
stitutional and legal obligations resting upon
him as relate to the military settlement, not
of the War Department here in Washington
alone. but the entire army. He must necessarily
cor fide very large majority OF his duties 70
this subordinate. whom he has thus selected
with the consent OF the Senate. and there is no
room between him and the army for another
commander who shall be independent of that
Secretary Of War You cannot possibly place
him there. If you attempt to draft law which
reference to the Secretary of War. the command
of the army. even under the direction of the
President you viii find that you are running
contrary to the power Of the President under the
constitution of the United States all the time.
| That has been attempted during the last TWEEN
| ty-five or thirty years.
Now, Illustration cannot do better
than to study what Is done by the great mill
tary nations Of the world. They have had more
| experience and given more study to IL than we
can possibly have done. The Germans are prob
| ably the best type, and Won Moltke is probably
| the best illustration in modern times of what
! the military chief of staff may be and should
| be. He the chief of staff of the German
| Emperor. He was not the commander. and yet
| all the world gives him the credit of having
commanded the German army in all its trium-
phant operations in Austria and France, and
1 he deserves il. IT his brain, II was ms
| fifty years OF devotion to the military profess
sion. his fifty years OF study. his mastery of the
entire art OF and the absolute confidence
that his chief, the Emperor, reposed in him that
ma de him in effect the commander. The En-
peror went with him. for various obvious rea-
| sons with him. the field of battle
| TAKES ISSUE WITH GENERAL MILES.
| General Miles says: THE proposed plan is
! but an effort TO adopt and foster in a republican
| form of governmo mt such as ours system pc
| culiarly adapted to monarches having immense
! standing armies. II would seem to GermaniZe
| and Russianize the small army Of the United
| States
/ military empire. having at its head com
mander in chief. the German Emperor. who had
| been educated as a soldier from cnldnOod, dnu
/ he did not trust himself. He wanted chief of
! staff who should be and better soldier
/ than he-a man chosen from all the military
| men of the empire, because he had shown in all
! his career Of forty years that he was the best
/ military scholar among them. He made him
! what he called the chief of staff-a man who
should prepare all the plans and military opera
tions for him. formulate all his orders. keep him
| instructed all the time in regard to what the
! situation was, and what he, the Emperor and
| commander in chief, ought to do, and when the
emergency arose, practically dictate the orders
| which the Emperor ought TO issue. That was
! under the empire, with a man seventy years
! old who had been educated as soldier