Bisbee daily review., 1909-05-04
MANY CHANGES IN ARMY ARE EXPECTED

WASHINGTON. D. C., May 3.-The memorable for the many important changes in the army. Many of these changes are still somewhat unsettled and consequently open to speculation. Prominent among the things that are Wood, now in command of the mill tary department of the east, with headquarters at Governors Island. N Y.. will be the next chief of staff of the army. General Wood will sue. ceed Major General J. Franklin Bell
 whose reappointment to his present office was announced fmmed ,ately aft CT the inauguration of the new ad ministration. General Bell. however. has decided to remain here but a few months. and before next spring he will be transferred to Manila. where he will have command of the troops stationed in the Philippines.
 Until General Bell was appointed the office of chief of stan, which is regarded as the most important office in the army. was invariably filled by the officer of highest rank. Iieuten- ant Generals Young. Chaffee and Bates held that office in succession, and the appointment of General Bell followed the request of Lieutenant General Henry c. Corbin to be as. signed to the command of the south western division at St. Louis, instead Of to the office of chief of staff. to which his rank naturally entitled him. General MacArthur succeeded Gener- al Corbin as lieutenant general, but as he was not on the best of terms with Secretary of War Taft, with whom it seems he had disagreed when they were together in the Phil | ippInes, it was deemed best to make DO change in the office of chief of staff for his benefit.
 No such reasons apply, however, to the case of General Wood. who Is a
 warm personal friend of President Taft. General Wood likewise en joyed high favor with President . Roosevelt. Thus, two years ago, il was decided that Lieutenant General
 Macarthur, the senior officer of the army, should go into practical retire ment and fill out the remaining years of his career on the active list at his | old home in Milwaukee writing hi! observations of military affairs in the
 orient, principally in India. This ar
 rangement left the way open for Gen eral Wood, upon his return from the Philippines a year ago, to be assigned to the choice billet of commander o the department of the east, which ir the natural course of events wou., have fallen to General Macarthur And now the latter is to be retired
 for age early next month and Genera
 Wood will then be the senior office ? of the army in point of rank and ser
 vice. Thus General Wood will hav'
 accomplished in twenty-three year
 what Gen. Macarthur accomplishe
 in forty, and other officers in quit
 as long a time.
 . General Woods career has bee , one of the most remarkable the arm has ever seen. He was born in Ne,
 Hampshire. studiej medicine. and i , 1886 was appointed an assistant SUI
 geon in the army. He participate . in the Indian wars, and saw consiC 7 erable service. It was not until h became. the family physician of th
 late President Mckinley. howeve |, that he was really started on th
 road to success. He was a captai i, and assistant surgeon when, with th v outbreak of the war with Spain, company with Theodore Roosevelt, h organized what was known as tn "a Rough Rider regiment. He later r
 ceived a commission as major generi , of volunteers. and in 1901 was a Ia pointed brigad'er general in the re e' ular establishment.