The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-20
THE RECORD OF WOOD
SENATE COMMITTEE MAKING
 INVESTIGATION.
Messrs. Hanna and Teller Are cp- posed to the Confirmation of , 'a the Pet of the z. President.

Washington, Nov. 19.--The inquiry of the Senate Committee on Military affairs
 Into the opposition of the confirmation of | the nomination of General Leonard Wood | to be Major General of the army was be- gun today behind closed doors. Before closing the doors there were exchanges of opinion concerning the propriety of making the proceedings public. The point was raised by Senator Quarles and several other members of the committee sustain- ed by all of them. taking the position that as all of the business was execu- tive in character the committee had no right to make it public without first se- curing an order from the Senate.
 Senator Scott made a plea for open ses- sions during the hearing. basing his con- tention on the ground of general public interest.
 "It will all be in the evening papers, any way" he said, and think it better to have an authorized report than try to hide the proceedings."
 When the doors were closed the com
 mittee decided to proceed today in execu-
 tive session and that the proceedings will
 not be made public. In addition to the members of the com mittee and the newspaper men, Senators Teller and Hanna and Major Estes G. Rathbone were present, the three last | named being prepared to present objec. tons to General Woods confirmation. It
 was stated no charges had yet been dIed against the general, but Senator Proctor
 who presided. said he understood Major
 Rathbone would present such charges. At today's session Senator Teller said | he objected to General Wood because of | the injustice that was being done to the army by his promotion.
 l Senator Hanna said that the action of | General Wood in the Ratbbone case was of a character to show his unhtness for high command.
 Both, statements were very general in | terms.
 l Senator Hanna's statement dealt espe-
 cialIy with his active interest in behalf of MT. Rathbone. when he was under
 prosecution for malfeasance in office as
 director of posts for Cuba in 1900 and in
 subsequent years. He said that General
 Woods requirement that Rathbone should ! give a cash bond of $25. 600 in American | gold. when he was first arrested, was be- | yond all reason in view of tho fact that | the amount he was charged with misap- propriating was only about $4.000. and he | contended that a man who would be so
 unjust and so unfair under the circum- stances should not be entrusted with high i command He also spoke of long &C., | | iterated his confidence In his int gritty.
 Senator Teller said that he had known
 Major Rathbone for many years. and | from his knowledge of him, both in pub lie and private life, he felt the Major had been unjustly treated under the di- recttons of General Wood. He then took up the question of the promotion of Gen eral Wood and went into details to show that be had been pressed forward in Ian unprecedented manner" He said that
 from the time of the beginning of the ICnban war. when General Wood was a surgeon with the rank of captain. he had been lifted over the heads of almost 500 other officers. of whom half had seen service in the Civil War.
 1 senator Proctor. acting chairman of the Military committee, has requested the Secretary of War to send to the Commit
 tee the military record of ,a, General .s Woo, Wood
 ation The committee will meet tomor-
 row to continue its inquiry as to General Wood