The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-05-07

M11ce C1que-H'un1Sne0 Tor
Advocating Strict Discipline.
WASHINGTON, d. c., May s.
A movement has been started,
with the approval of President
Taft, looking to congressional ac-
ton for the restoration of Col.
VIM. F. Stewart to the retired list
with the rank of brigadier general.
Col. Stewart will be remember
ed as "the exile of Ft. Grant" He
was deprived of his command, al
though no charges had been filed
against him, and after all manner
of indirect efforts had been made
to force him to retire, he was sent
to desolate, abandoned army
post In Arizona, with a consump-
tive and a mule as his only COM
panions and one body servant as
his command, and was left there
to ponder on the unwisdom of op-
posing a clique in the war depart
ment which happens to be in
power.
Col. Stewart was finally relieved
of his exile only to be ordered to
Washington, where an examining
board went through the forms of
an examination and then ordered
him placed upon the retired list
for disability. The cOlonePs dis
ability was of the sort which had
never been visible to the naked
eye, and which did not interfere
with long career of hard cam
paigning on the frontier. But two
army doctors were found who
could discover something wrong
with the palpitations of his heart,
and their testimony, Joined to that
of three officers carefully selected
by superiors in the war depart
-plB IIeql uMoqs peQ oqM 'lu9m
tude by sending him into exile,
resulted in the retiring order.
Col. Stewart has been living
quietly in Washington ever since.
He has carefully refrained from all
activities which would tend to
keep up interest in his case. He
has kept away from officers of the
war department and from men,
bers of congress who might favor
Legislation in his interest. He is
himself believer In the school of
strict military discipline and he
has obeyed in spirit of the law
which forbids officers, even on the
retired list, indulging in any criti-
cism or reflections on superiors in
command. The movement which
has started is purely spontaneous
one inaugurated by his friends and
those who have taken general
interest in his case, moved by their
belief that he was greatly wronged.
Senators and congressman from
the Pacific coast have been most
active in the present steps, and it
is anticipated that Senators Per-
kins and Flint will do what they
can to push the bill on the senate
side. Representatives Mckinley
and Kahn of the same state are
also interested, and one or the
other of them will probably father
Col. Stewards bill in the house.
The great weight of influence,
however, which bears promise of
"a vindication for the colonel, lies
in the fact that the real leaders
of the senate are in favor of some
action of this sort. Men like Sena-
tors Hale and Aldrich, Gallinger,
Cullom and Warren have become
convinced that the Stewart case
was a notable example of injus-
ltice and should be undone. In
these opinions they are understood
to be in harmony with the views
of President Taft.
The orders sending Col. Stew
art into exile, 1t is now claimed,
never were approved by Mr.. Taft.
The influence which sent the col
onel into exile emanated from
Maj. Gen. w. p. Duvall, now in
the Philippines. This influence
acted at the time directly on the
white house. The advice of the
then secretary of war was not
sought.
An unusual factor in the case of
Col. Stewart at the present time
is said to be the. active favor of
Mrs. VIM. Howard Taft. While
the presidents wife does not be-
lieve in meddling with affairs out
side her proper sphere, she does
believe that a woman's influence
may be exercised at times in politi-
cal, as in other fields, with results
which justify such interference.
Friends of Mrs. Taft say she did
not approve the action taken by
President Roosevelt in the Stewart
case. She feels that every effort
should be made at the present
time to secure vindication and
to undo the wrong, SO far as 1t
may be undone, suffered by a de-
serving veteran In the military SER
vice.
| Col. Stewart would like to be
restored to the active list. He is
not worried by the verdict of the
doctors retiring him for disability.
Thirty years ago Col. Stewart was
lexamined by o doctor who told him
there was trouble with his heart.
For several years he worried.
Then, finding that there seemed
to be nothing to worry about, and
that the supposed irregularity in
1.-THE valvular action of his heart did
mot interfere with HIS military du-
| ties, he went on eating, sleeping.
drilling and fighting Indians re-
tgardless of the doctors. Up to the
day he was retired he walked and
rode and took all the forms of ex-
|ercise INDUCED in by the youngest
|or the hardest members of the
army.
The time has come to do JUS
tice to a man who has been griev-
|ously and outrageously wronged,"
said a member Of the senate to
your correspondent. Nothing
that has ever come to light has
justified the action taken in the
Stewart case. II all the charges
n ada Z <xaina& The cnlonaI xuoHo