The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-07-21


mendations in military matters are all
powerful with Secretary of War Taft
and President Roosevelt, is due to arrive
in Salt Lake City on Tuesday or Wednes-
day of this week The commanding Of
ficer at Fort Douglas received word to
this effect from General Bell yesterday
and his mail is waiting for him at Fort
Douglas. General Bell is accustomed to
move about the country on these inspec-
ton trips with the rapidity of a wllirl-
wind. His exact time of arrival is not
known. He has visited Fort d. A. Rus
sell at Cheyenne and Fort Logan near
Denver and is supposed to be due today
in Fort Duchesne. Utah, whence he will
come directly to Salt Lake.
General Bell and the Brigade Post.
The most important work of General
Bell in Utah will concern the future of
the two posts in the state. He is col
lecting the data upon which the Secre-
tary of war will recommend to congress
the apprOpria tons for the enlargement
of such western posts as appear to him
to he the proper ones for retention in the
armys new concentration plan and the
abandonment of the less desirable. He
will make a recommendation concerning
the enlargement Of Fort Douglas and
abandonment or nOn-abandonment of
Fort Duchesne.
Abandonment of Fort Duchesne.
In the matter of Fort Du Chesne Cen
eral Bells recommendation will undoubt-
eddy be final Since the opening of the
Uintah reservation to settlement the
military authorities have repeatedly rec
commended its abandonment. At one time
there was in the commanding officers
office at Fort Douglas an order from the
war department at Washington for the
troops to be withdrawn from Du CheSne,
but before it could be put into effect in
fluences in the eastern part of Utah were
brought to bear on the delegation in con-
gress from this state and the order was
hold md ,rv-f
could be made by the highest authority.
This General Bell Will do
War Department, Congress and Bril-
gade Posts.
General Bell left Washington some time
a go and is going over the entire army
post situation in the United States. He
was the originator of the scheme to
concentrate the army into brigade posts,
which has taken such hold on Secre-
taTy Taft and President Roosevelt. 1t
will be carried out to the end If the
strategic ability Of the war department
can put the plan through congress. The
difficulty is, Of course, that the local
interests in many instances have a great
enough hold on their senators and mem
bers to block the abandonment of the
smaller posts, which is necessary for the
concentration of brigade of troops in
the ones retained
Congress showed that there was a good
deal of feeling in the matter in the slam
it gave the war department in the last
appropriation bill for the maintenance of
the army and the building of additional
posts and barracks for the fiscal year
1918, passed last winter. 1t had been
the custom for the appropriation bill to
hand to the secretary lump sum for
barracks and quarters" which has been
varying annually between 100000 and
81, 100000. and to allow him to apportion
the lump sum among the various posts
in the country as he saw fit. This money.
aside from the sum necessary for current
repairs, and this last year a pretty good
sized hospital appropriation, for some of
the old posts. General Bell and Secretary
Taft have been mostly putting into the
posts which they hope to make brigade
posts. OF course there was a general
agreement between the war department
and the committee on military affairs as
to how this was to be allotted.
Army Appropriation Bill and Fort
Douglas.
The prospect of abandonment of some
of the smaller posts, however, began to
seem too close to certain powerful con-
gressmen in whose districts the posts to
be abandoned lay and they didn't seem
to like the brigade post scheme, as well
in fact, as in they did when they fervidly
endorsed it in theory. Consequently there
is a singing little clause in the appro-
priatiOn bill referred to, which provides
that when any Of this money is to be
used for brigade post, separate bill
Z
a specific appropriation must be present.
ed and separately acted upon by con-
gress-
Fort Douglas in this regard stands
better show not TO create antagOniSm of
/ this kind than any other post in the
I country. as the only post which would be
abandoned would be Fort Du Chesne,
which if the army has its way will be
| abandoned anyway.
WhatHCongress Gives Wyoming.
Fort D. A Russell at Cheyenne had a
/ good crack at the 1867 apportionment.
/ and has already secured the promise of
an allotment from this 1913 act At the
/ last report from the constructing quar-
termaSter in that city $780, coo worth of
buildings were under construction and
while there are now al Cheyenne but the
part of a battalion of the Eleventh in
/ fantry and squadron of cavalry, it has
/ been named as the origination point for
one of the regiments OF field artillery pro-
vided for in the last session of congress,
which will be a good start in the direc-
/ ton of accommodating brigade in that
/ post.
/ The other posts which have been de-
cided upon for the organization of these
! artillery regiments are Forts Riley and
I Sam Houston, already practically decided
San Francisco, Fort Meyer opposite
/ Washington, D. c.. Vancouver Barracks,
at or near Portland, Ore, Fort Sheridan
near Chicago. Fort Sill, Oklahoma and
that in the matter of the assignment of
/ these prospective artillery regiments Fort
/ Russell at Cheyenne was victorious over
/ both Logan at Denver and Fort Douglas.
which is a good pointer on the powerful
influence of Senator Warren of Wyom-
ing and an indication as to which is the
more formidable competitor OF Fort
Douglas
What Congress Gives Utah.
The only mention Fort Douglas received
/ in the appropriation bill after the mag
nificent predictions and promises of last
| year was $4,000 for one of the new hos
pitfalls and that had very strong string
tied to it in the shape of a clause which
left to the discretion of the war depart
ment whether OF not that sum or none
should be spent here. This is another
| of the points upon which General Bells
recommendation on this trip will be prac-
tically absolute. If he approves of the
new hospital the $4,000 will be allotted
at once and bids asked for. The $4,000
| would all be spent in Salt Lake. The
sole descriptive phrase attached in the
act Of congress, is modern, sanitary hos
pitaL"
Army Officers View of Brigade Stu
alton.
One of the most prominent officers at