Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-11
IN LINE WITH ROOT
Gen. SchOfeld Favors General
staff Bill.
CONDITIONS DENOUNCED
PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER
NOT ON SPEAKING TERMS.
A State of Affairs Which He Declares
is Intolerable-Changes
Favored.
CONDITIONS DENOUNCED

Favored.
The report of the testimony given before
the Senate committee on military affairs
by Gen. Schofield formerly the command
ing general of the army, on the bill to Gre
ate a general staff was made public today.
He indorsed the bill, saying that he had
long since come to the conclusion that there
is no room under our Constitution for two
commanders and that the President whom
the Constitution makes the supreme COM
mander must act through the Secretary of
War. He added The very exalted indi-
vdual office. so called, of commanding gen
eral of the army, must disappear. There is
no room for it in this government, no mat
ter who occupies it; it is not question of
personality at all, or the character of the
individual, so far as this great question is
concerned. He must be what other nations
of the earth have, a chief of staff, not a
commanding general
Congress the Fountain of Error.
In reply to a question by Senator Scott,
calling attention to Gen. Miles statemen mt
that the effect of the proposed legislation
would be to Germanize and Russianize the
not afraid of that. 1 think we might Ger
mamie other things little with advantage,
possibly
Remarking upon the provision of the bill
for four years term as chief of staff,
Gen. Schofield opposed it coming from
that fountain of error the Congress of the
United States, which provides for the re-
tirement of the very best men just when
they come to be of the age when Won
Moltke won his greatest triumphs. | am
not Il
still l have been retired for a long time
President and Commanding General.
Recurring to the suggestion of adopting
the German system General Schotield said
I'VE will have to modify their system so
as to make it applicable. IF we had at the
head of the army for years the same dis
tinguished general, other things being sat
isfactory, that would be very WELL but
what is the use of a great general as the
nominal head of the army if the President
will not even talk to him, except to crit
icise him, or if the Secretary of War and
he do not even see each other? What good
is he?"
Senator Burrows-"Why, would not the
same condition of affairs exist between the
chief of staff and the President"
General Schofed-"Because he would re-
lieve him and get another. The personal
relations between the President, The Sec
retary of War, and the commanding Sen-
eral are. after all, more important tnan
any law, and that is one of the reasons
why this bill is absolutely indispensable,
or something like it. You must give to the
President discretion to select that MIN"
Senator BurroWs-"Why cannot the com
mander-in- chief, the lieutenant general of
the army and the President confer as it
s?"
General Schofeld-"They are not on
speaking terms"
Senator Burrows-"Not on speaking
terms?
An Intolerable Condition.
General Schofeld-"No, sir. You will
have to get rid of that intolerable ccndi-
tion by which this man close to the Presi-
dent, the only man who is available to do
these things, is a man whom the President
does not talk to except to criticise him.
The result is bad very bad. The President
feels the need of such a man as did the
Presidents whom l have known. They
would say: i cannot do these things;
must have a military man to help ne
Then, in that situation he, perhaps sends
for Colonel or Major So-and-SO, and he
finds that he is a bright young fellow and
he knows about these things, and IN "a few
days it gets to be known that 'rom So
and-So is commanding the army"
Confederates the Wiser.
Gen. Schofield expressed the opinion tha t
during the war of the rebellion the south
ern system of selecting high officers was
far better than that of the north. Speak
ing of the rank of lieutenant geenral he
said he would give the proposed chief of
staff even higher rank, adding: Il would
make one geenral at the head of the army,
and 1 would have three lieutenant generals
and then the proper number of officers in
the grades under that. The confederates,
during the civil war, were a great deal
wiser than We were in that respect. They
were better soldiers and better educated
and knew more about it. They carried off
the greater proportion of the best blood
that we had, to tell the truth, and they
organized their army scientifically.
He also expressed the opinion that under
the Secretary of War the chief of staff
supply and transportation and the signal
corps, which the commanding general does
not now control. He also urged that under
existing law the commanding general has
no real authority. There is" he said
nothing In the law that makes him any
thing except president Of the board of ord
nance and fortiication, and gives him a
few other positions like that. That is the
trouble, that there has never been law
defining what his position is, and he is Sc
lected solely by the President. The COM
manding general Of the army stands in
every respect upon absolutely the same
footing as the commander Oh the depart
ment of the east, for instance. He is Sc
lected merely by the President
Far Behind the Times.
He outlined the military systems of the
European powers, saying that the United
States and Great Britain are the only i'm
portant countries which have not genera
staff OF the British he said: They have
not any system. What we have is what
they had a hundred years ago, and we bave
not improved on it, and they have not
either. They are as limited as anybody
can be. They have had the same conflict
between the Horse Guards and the war of.
flee in Great Britain as we have had here
and that will continue until by some chance
king happens to be soldier, and then he
will straighten 1t all out quicker thar
lightning"