Show LIEN GEN BELL HEADS FOR SALT LAKE Visit of Army Head Gives Re Renewed Renewed Impetus to Bri Brigade Brigade gade Project SIZING UP THE SITUATION HIS RECOMMENDATION LIKELY I I TO BE FINAL FINALI I The e head ot of the United States army will I soon oon be tile tho guest of Salt Lake City for the first time since General Miles visited Salt SaIt Lake In 1900 Major General S T Franklin Bell BeU chief ot of staff of the army and whose recommendations In military matters are an all powerful with Itil Secret Secretary ry or of War Var Taft and President Roosevelt is due to arrive lii In Salt Lake Cit City on Tuesday or edn day of this week The commanding of officer fleer at Fort Douglas received word to this effect t from General Bell yesterday and his man mall Is waiting for him at Fort Douglas General Bell is accustomed to move about the country on these c trips with the rapidity of a whirl whirlwind wind ind Ills His exact tIme of arrival Is not known He lies has visited Fort D A flue Rus Russell sell at Cheyenne and Fort Logan ne ner Denver mid is supposed to be due du tod today i In Fort Duchesne Utah whence ho he will come directly to Salt Lake General Bell and the Brigade Post The most important work of General Bell in Utah will concerti the future ot of the two posts in the state He is eel col collecting the data upon which the secre secretary secretary tary of war will recommend to congress th the approprIations for the tho enlargement of such western posts as appe appear r to him to be the proper ones for retention in the arms new concentration plan and the abandonment of the less desirable lie He will make a recommendation concerning the enlargement of Fort Douglas and abandonment or of Fort Abandonment of Fort Duc esne In the matter of Fort Du Chesne Gen Genral General ral eral Bells recommendation will undoubtedly undoubtedly edly be bc final Since the opening of the I rel reservation to settlement the military authorities have repeatedly rec 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in the commanding officers office at Fort Douglas an order from the war department at Washington for the troops to be withdrawn from rota Du Chesne but before It could be put into effect in Influences In the eastern part of Utah were brought to b bear ar on the in con congress cress gress from this state and the order was wash h held ld up until an Inspection and report be made by the highest authority This General Ben Bell will do doWar doWar War Department Congress and Sri Bri Brigade gade Posts General Bell left Washington on some time ago 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 a hold on Secre Secretary tar tary Taft and President Roosevelt It will be carried out to the end it If the strategic ability of the war department can put the plan through congress The difficulty Is of course that the local Interests in man many instances have a great enough hold on their senators and mem members bers to block the abandonment ot of the smaller posts which is necessary for the concentration of a brigade ot of troops In Inthe Inthe 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 i appropriation bill for the maintenance of I Ithe the army and the building of additional I posts and barracks for the fiscal year ear 1008 passed last winter It had been the custom for the appropriation bill bIU to hand to the secretary a lump sum for barracks and quarters which has been varying annually between and and to allow him to apportion the lump sum among the various posts in the country as he saw fit This mone money aside from the sum necessary for current repairs and this last year ear a pretty good sized hospital appropriation for some of the old posts General Bell BeIl and Secretary Taft have hae been mostly putting into the posts which they hope to make brigade brOade posts Of course there was a general agreement between the war department and the committee on military affairs as asto asto 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 congressmen gressmen in whose districts the posts to tobe tobe be abandoned lay and they seem to like the brigade post scheme as well weIl wellin In fact as In they did when they fervidly endorsed it In theory Consequently there is a stinging little clause In the appropriation appropriation bill referred to which provides that when any of this moneys money s to be used for a brigade post a separate bill stating the name of the post and making a specific appropriation must be present presented ed and amI separately acted upon by con congress congress gress Fort Douglas In this regard stands a better show not to create antagonism of this kind than an any other post in the country as the thc only post which would be abandoned would be Fort Du Chesne Chesna which If the army has Its way will wUl be abandoned anyway Gives Wyoming Fort D A Russell Russen at Che Cheyenne enne had bad a good crack at the apportionment and has already secured the promise ot of otan an allotment from this act At the thelast thelast last report from the quartermaster quartermaster In that city worth of buildings were under construction and while there are no now at Che Cheyenne enne but the part ot of a battalion of the In infantry fantry and a squadron of cavalry It has been named as the origination point for forone forone one of the regiments of at field artillery pro provided provided vided for in the last session of congress which will be a good start in the direction direction tion of accumulating a brigade In that post The other posts which have been do de decIded upon for the organization of these artillery regiments are Forts Riley and Sam Houston already practically decided upon fox for brigade posts the Presidio at San Francisco Fort Meyer opposite Washington D C Vancouver at or near Portland Ore Fort Sheridan near noor Chicago Fort Silt Sill Oklahoma and Leavenworth Kansas It will be noted that In the matter of the assignment of these prospective artillery regiments Fort Russell at Che Cheyenne enne was victorious over over both Logan at Denver and Fort Douglas which Is a good pointer on the powerful Influence of Senator Warren of Wyom WyomIng Ing and an Indication as to which Is the themore themore more formidable of Fort Douglas What Congress Gives Utah The only mention Fort Douglas received In thu appropriation bill after atter the mag magnificent predictions and promises of at last year vas for one of the new her hos hospitals and that bad a very strong string tied to it In the shape ot of a clause which left to the discretion of the war ar depart department department ment whether or not that sum or none should be spent here bere This Is another of the points upon which General Genera B Belles recommendation on this trip will be practically absolute It If he approves of the new hospItal the will be allotted at once and bids asked for The would all ail be spent In Salt T Lake e The sole descriptive phrase atta attached hed In the act of congress is modern modem sanitary her hos pita Army Officers View of Brigade Situ Situation Situation II One of the most prominent at att atS atI S t I a Fort Douglas wh whose se name cannot be used said to the Herald Gener General t Bell has the Interests of U the e United St States tes and not any particular section or eif city at heart I do not see how he tart art fall fail to realize the wonderful climatic and strate of Salt Lake and all ail the theother theother other reasons which have hae been set forth In The Herald as to why Salt Lake in instead instead stead of Denver or Cheyenne should be chosen for a brigade post In addition you may say that from the personal point of vIew of army officers Salt Lake Is regarded as being Immeasurably superior to the other two cities This Is not re regarded regarded by General Bell BeU as a minor mat matter matter ter as he has repeatedly recognized the necessity of up LIP a spirit of con content content tent among and soldiers a as one of the gre greatest test aids to discipline and the making of an effective fighting force Bad Location of Fort Logan Fort Logan Is twelve miles from Den Dener DenVer Ver er on a narrow gauge spur of the Den Denver Denver ver Rio Grande railway which has no ne oth other excuse for being and which takes from forty minutes to an hour for 01 the four daily trains each wa way If the officers officers cers or men attend the theatre or other amusement they must walk valk back get an autOmobIle or take the trolley to within a few mIles of the post and then hike There are no school facilities nearer than Denver This Is a great thing with us usa a as the average army officer ha not enough money tl to send his chIldren away to It a private school and as a rule depends upon the pUblic school system ot of the cit city near which he Is stationed I Army Opinion of Cheyenne This also to Fort DA Russell as the amusements and of self improvement along gen general eral lines hines for tor an officer or a soldier at cannot of course be compared with those thoe of Salt Lake City so easily available from Fort Douglas It cannot be stated what form the piove ment for the eMt nt of a post will have hae taken b by the time of Gen Gener er l BelLs Bels arrival but the sentiment on the part of local business men Interested seemS seem to bf be de decidedly In favor or of Its be lag taken up and a committee appointed with the Commercial club duh Fisher lIar ris the secretary ot of that body Is ill III and Mr Ir Halloran Its president who was as to have bae returned to this city from froni th the cast yesterday will not It Is stated at his res residence resIdence be back until late Monday even evenin in |