The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-28
MILES LAST LETTER.
Written by the General on the
Eve of His Retirement.


Washington, Aug 2S.-The last official
utterance of Lieutenant General Nelson
A. Miles has been made public through
unofficial sources in the war department.
1t is in the form of a letter to Secretary
of War Root and contains many import
ant and sensational recommendations
FOR the betterment of the army service.
The communication has been held up
in Secretary Roots Office until now. the
excuse being that General Miles recon-
mendationS should be acted upon before
publicity was given to them
General Miles makes a number of i'm
portant suggestions in the remodeling of
the army organization. He proposes to
minimize the cavalry branch and 10
equip strong corps of war motor eye
les and armed automobiles in its place
He favOrs mounted rihemen, but says
the horse is far less important than for
merly and that the automobile will take
Ats place in the next war.
One Of the most important recommen-
cations is the establishment of road
building corps OF 5000 men as a nu-
cleus to construct military roads in time
of peace and to cooperate with the
state authorities in the movement. He
would have the corps fully equipped
with modern road building. machinery
and begin at once the work of improv-
ing the principal highways that nave
y
General Miles letter. which was writ
ten the day before he left Office, is as
follows:
Headquarters of the Army.
Washington, D. c., Aug. z, 1903.
The Honorable the Secretary of War:
Sir-Within the past year have seen
the principal part OF the army wherever
It has been serving. have carefully in
spected the defenses of the Pacific
coast and within the last few months
have inspected some of the principal
Notifications on the Atlantic and Gulf
coasts.
There are some features concerning
the army that 1 deem it my duty to
lay before the authorities.
My views concerning the organiza-
ton of the army have been presented
in official communications and in testi-
mOny whenever required by the COM
mittees of congress-
My recommendation as to the
strength of the mounted force in pro-
portion to the infantry was, at the
time, the extreme limit that 1 felt JUS
titled in recommending and was a much
larger percentage than l would have
advocated but for certain circumstances
existing at that time; yet even on that
recommendation the infantry regiments
were cut down and the cavalry force
increased until now the latter is en-
tirely out of proportion, useless and
enormously expensive.
At the commencement of the Span
ish war. when we had well trained, |
thoroughly equipped, hardened and ex-
perienced cavalry, portion of it was
Obliged to remain at Tampa and in it's
place newly organized troops were sent
to the front. Now that was either all
wrong or the present organization of
the army, with the great expense Incl /
dent thereto is unwise and injudiciOuS, /
and this subject requires in my judg- /
ment the serious attention of the gov /
eminent.
There is no country, with the possible |
exception of Russia, that has so large u /
humber of men who are accustomed to |
live in the saddle and are experienced /
and expert hOrsemen as the United |
States. 1t is safe to say that there are /
tens Of thousands of men. in our country |
who are in the saddle every day who |
are skilled in landcraft and the use of /
arms and who can be easily converted I
into most formidable corps of mount
ed ri1emen. In fact, there could easily |
be modified in our country at least ten |
times as many mounted men, many of
whom have had military service, as
could be landed on our shores by any |
government or governments within any
reasonable time. We have 100000 men
accustomed to the saddle and rifle that
could be used to quickly overrun either
Canada or Mexico; hence the dispropOr-
ton of our mounted forces to that of |
the main body of the army is unneces- |
sary and tnjudiciOus. In European arm !
les the proportion of mounted troops to /
infantry is from one-fourth to one-fifth, /
In the English army it is one-seventh, !
while in our army there are one-half as |
many cavalry as infantry regiments
The marvellous development in modern
arms-rifies machine guns and quick /
firing field artillery-renders the cavalry,
as formerly used on the battlefield, OBJ
solete, while the wonderful development
in the use of motor power and electrical
appliances has rendered the horse far
less important than formerly. These
facts are doubly significant and should
be recognized by the military authori-
ties and the government.
There is, however. a corps or force re-
quired in our army that could be rem
dered of great utility not only to the
military but to the people of this coun-
try. This government and 1 have sew
eral times recommended its use by ours.
1t will be utilized in the next war, and
preparations for its use by our army
should no longer be neglected. I have
reference to the bicycle, motorcycle, and
the automobile. which have been de-
veloDed to that extent that they have
become a most valuable means of COM
munication and transportation. Five
regiments of cavalry should be discOn-
tinued and a corps of five regiments
should be organized. thoroughly
trained and constantly employed in the
use of these modern appliances. 1t
should be regarded a flying corps or