The Cordova daily times., 1921-02-28
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2S, 1921
sHAkE-uP EXPECTED IN WAR
 DEPARTMENT

bETHfh m FIN
 A new chief of staff will succeed General March soon after MT. Hard ing enteres the White House March 4. The term of General March as chief of staff automatically expires by law March 8, and it is entirely unlikely MT Harding will reappoint him.
 General March, in some way, has earned the undying hostility of large number of senators and repre- sentatives, and there is much bitter feeling against the chief of staff in congress. This was plainly shown by the refusal of the senate military committee to report out bill pro- noting March to the grade of lieu tenant general, though the commit tee favored giving General Hunter Liggett that grade, and also pro- noting to higher grades other gal lant generals who led American troops on the battle lines in France. Just why General March is so un- popular with congressman is not explained, but many of the Washing ton observers believe it is simply because the general was unable to do anything that congressman wanted him to do during the World war. There is a suspicion among many of the observers of events here that if General March had become very popular with the congressman his job as chief of staff would have re- suited in failure, instead of the suc- cess it undoubtedly was.
 Just who will succeed General March as chief of staff? It is cer- tain that Maj. Gen Wood will not be appointed. Everybody is agreed on that Wood has too many ene- mics in the War department and in congress, to say nothing of the preju dice against him in the army in cer tain quarters. His effort to beat Senator Harding for the nomination at Chicago, If nothing else, say many senators and representatives, 3orbids the senator appointing Wood. Wood is much talked of as the next chief of staff, but he has small chanca of getting the appointment, according to the best informed opin- ion in Washington.
 Is ho1iaund WNnI a1i1 in ated. that one of the fighting generals of the A. E. F., will be appointed chief of staff. Many names are sug- gested, the most prominently men toned being General Harbord, for a time Pershings chief of staff in France, and later quartermaster gen. erai of the A. E. F.
 An appointment of fighting gen. erat as chief of staff would go long way toward stopping the pickering aStd the hatreds now existing in the army Such general would have been far removed from the intrigues and schemes carried on in the war department during the war by some of the officers who ran the war from Washington, but who never heard the whistle of shot or shell on the fields of France.
 1t is expected here that soon after a new chief of staff is selected and nominated by Harding there will be thorough house cleaning in the war department. Congressmen say that a coterie of generals, of the general staff, the successors of the "Leavenworth clique" for long time have had control of all affairs of the army It is these men, con- -gressmen say, who have conducted everything pertaining to the army and showed Secretary Baker into the fgnominous position of a mere cipher in the department-just a rubber stamp" to sign whatever the firing" decided upon. The same clique are charged with discriminat- ing against some of the best fight ing officers in making up the recent eligible list for the general staff, and other charges are made that of ficers who have occurred the hostili- ty of the clique have been discharged