The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1903-08-14
Washington Letter.

army, retired from that position,
having reached the age limit of 81
years. In bidding farewell to the
army General Miles issued an elo,
quent and patriotic valedictory, but
it was noteworthy that no word ofl
congratulation or commenda,ion
came from the President or Secretary
Of War, distinct contrast fc,m the
procedure which attendcl the retire
ment of General Schofeld, eight
years ago, when President Cleveland
addressed to the retiring general "a
letter of congratulation on his long
and successful career. 1t was the
one unfortunate incident f Miles
career that he vas never able to ad-
just himself to the peculiarities of bis
position as general commanding the
army" nor to realize that his position
as such was largely tituIar. Few
men have finer military record
than General Miles and it is prob.
able that no European general has
seen as much actual warfare. It was
not on the field of battle, but in the
bureaus of the War Department., that
General Miles failed to obtain glory.
Nor is this surprising. for, it will be
remembered that his prede cessors
Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, al>
though holding the command of the
army under less trying circumstances
had grave difficulties IN getting elong
with their contemporary secretaries
of war; so much, in fact that Gcner-
al Sherman moved the headquarters
of the army to ST.. Louis with view
to getting as far from the War DC
partment as practicable.
Among well posted persons i. is
not charged to any weakness OF
General Miles that differences be.
tween himself and the Secretary of
War arose. In fact, it is probable
that the historian of the future will
be quick to recognize that such diff !
cultles as occurred, were due to IA
faulty system rather than to the
character of the man in command.
The fault was that the general III
manding had no il iluencc over the
ten heads of staff departments who
had generally long reIgned supreme
and whose self will contributed no
little to the friction which appears to
have been inevitable. 70 Elihu
Root, the present Secretary of War,
attaches the credit of discovering the
serious flaw in the system and devils
ing and securing the adoption by
Congress cf the lemedy. IL IS
therefore matter of congratularion
that on August Is. the position of
general commanding will go cut Of
existence and the command of the ar.
my will fall to a general staff and the
ranking general, as chief of staff,
may find it possible to work in har
mony with the ten staff officers who
perform so important part in the
direction Of military affairs.
General S. B. NJ. Young has been
appointed to the command of the
army, vice Miles, but will become
chief of staff on August Is. lie
will fill that position only six months
as he retircs on January 6, 1904
1t is believed that General Adna r.. |
Chaffec will succeed General Young.
General Chaifee will have two vclrs
to serve when he will probably be
succeeded by General Henry c..
Corbin and it is the expectation that
he will be succeeded by General Ar.
thur Macarthur and he in turn bv
General Leonard Wood who will sue
ceed by right of seniority with a
prospective service of twelve years
before he reaches the age of retire
ment.
The last general order issued by
General Miles aside from his vale
dictory, prohibited the docking or
mutila.ion of any horse in the army,
There has been disposition on the
part of certain officers, mostly Of the
younger set and who buy and pay
tor their own horses to have them
docked but General Miles order will
prevent this practice in the future,
and will doubtless have tendency
to abolish the custom among would
be society swells
Grave apprehension is felt by
President Roosevelt and the officers
of the administration at the news
which comes from Bogota regarding
the Panama canal treaty. The lat
est reports are to the effect that the