Show GOES OUT KICKING I Alger Still Has Complaints of Newspaper News-paper Criticisms 4 I MAKES HIS LAST PROTEST J J APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS IN VOLUNTEER ARM I Makes a Long Explanation Showing That the Blame That Has Been Placed Upon Him Was Undeser edHe Invites A Investigation of His Official Acts I Washington July 31One of the lat official acts of Secretary Jlger who I tomorrow will relinquish his portfolio was to prepare a statement covering several mater regarding the conduct of the war which have been the subject I sub-Ject of criticism In the public press particularly with reference to the appointment ap-pointment of staff officers in the volunteer volun-teer army The statement follows r a led to make the following statements on account of the many critIcisms crit-Icisms which have been made by the public press especially ou account of a recent article which appeared in the London Times containing assertions which have no foundation In truth At the commencement ot the war I with Spain and for several ear prior to that time the regular army consisted con-sisted of only 25000 men with the minimum min-imum number of olcer prescribed bylaw by-law The situation may be partially ap predated when it Is remembered that within sixty das from the declaration of war the strength of the army was increased to 275000 and everything for the equipment of this great force including in-cluding clothing tent transportation medical supplies camps and camp equlppage and alt that pertains to equipping an army for servIce had to be manufactured transported and distributed diS-tributed for use From the statement referred to the public might be led to believe that the volunteer army was otcered by men selected through political iniiuence wih the secretary of war by special favor and without any regard to ftness for I the duties they were to perform As is I well known the volunteer force with I the exception of three regiments of engineers I en-gineers three rglmentsof cavalry and ten regiments of immunenfantr was made tip of regiments from the var bus states the officers of which were all appointed exclusively by the govern era of th respective states from which the regiments came and any officer found unfitted for service and discharged dis-charged was replaced by another In the same manner The president had ad voice nor control In the mater Force of the Volunteers The returns of the volunteer army show that In August ISIS there were 20124 enlisted men and 0705 officers In those regiments This with the regular reg ular army recruited up to the war strength made an aggregate force of about 275000 olcers and men The volunteer vol-unteer officers appointed by the president presi-dent number all told 103 Of this number 41 were taken from the reg bar army and 591 from civil life The scarcity of regimental otcer In the reglar servIce owing to appointment I In the volunteers special recruiting and mustering details had so reduced their number that to have taken a larger number for service with the volunteer would have seriously impaired the ef clency of the regular regiments For a little over 100 appointments made by the president the number of applications was over 5000 and each application was accompanied by a certificate cer-tificate of his ability and in most instances in-stances the mitary service either In the regular army or state organization and not Infrequent In both These certificates showed that each one was as well qualified for the position he sought and to which he wa appointed as could be possible for men in civil life In this country Of the number appointed there were for Instance twentysix major generals I of whom nineteen were taken from the regular army and but seven from civil life Of these seven all but one were graduates of West Point military academy and all had distInguished war themselves In command during the civil warOf Of the brigadier generals there were 5eVent two appointed slxtsix from the regular army and thlrtslx from civil life Those from civil life hal all seen service during the civil war or on our western frontier and all had proven I themselves competent to command Alger Made Few Appointments I ha been stated and repeated many tmes that the secretary of war made these appointments when the truth is that very few were made upon his rec mmendaton although he cauet the entire list with the recom mendatons to be compiled and placed before the president for his selection I would be only too glar to have had the honor to have made these appointments I appoint-ments No better no more loyal or more patriotic set of men as a whole ever served their country and their ap pOintment were a credit not only to the appointing power but to the coon try they served There were exceptions but that could not have been foreseen In every walk of life men are found who cannot can-not carry out satisfactorily the work they have undertaken There were three I regiment of cavalry the officers of which were appointed by the secrtar of war Colonel Leonard Wood now a brig ler general and commanding the departments of Santiago and Puerto PrIncipe was one of these Colonel Grlggsb and Colonel Torey both good otcels were the other two There were three regiments of engineers tli cob nels of which uore all graduates of the mitarY academy and not only the otcer but the enlisted men were se lected with a view to their special lit ness and In most Instances upon the recommendations of the colonels themselves them-selves and all proved themselves most efficient Says Charges Are False There were also ten regiment of Immune Infantry of whose colonels eIght were graduate of the military academy who were selected for specal fitness to command and in the short time these regiments were In senlo developed remarkable proficiency criticisms as to the amounts and methods of expenditures which could imply the wrong or careless use of money were also made by the London Times This charge Is false So far as the conduct of the service was concerned con-cerned no person with any knowledge of the facts can ever charge truthfully and no one can ever show that a dollar I wa misappropriated stolen or embezzled embez-zled out of the hundreds of millions of dolar that were expended The records rec-ords are an open book and I wi be glad to have them rigidly examined and ask my successor to open those account to thc country whenever prop rly called for In order that the entire truth may be known n A ALGER ALGER Secretary of War Washington D C July 31 1899 |