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Show Rank of Genera! of Army Is Held in High Honor ENATOIt CHAMBERLAIN of Oregon recently introduced by request a bill U in the senate which confers upon the president blanket authority to appoint to the regular army certain generals and lieutenant generals, not named, who nave neiu sucn ranit uunng xne great war. Senator Frclinghuysen of New Jersey, of the military affairs committee, commit-tee, speaking against the bill, said some interesting things about the office of general'. He said, among other things : "First, Mr. President, I wish to point out to the senate the fact that in the entire history of our country the high rank of general has been only four times conferred, and in each Instance In-stance for distinguished services and conspicuous gallantry in actual warfare. To Washington, to Grant, to Sherman, Sher-man, and finally to Sheridan, and to no others, was this supreme distinction conferred. In the case of Washington, the rank was fixed by direct vote of the Continental congress, in 1775, at the beginning, of the Revolution. After his retirement from the presidency, when war with France threatened, in 179S and 1799, he was placed at the head of the army, but was given the rank of lieutenant general. "By special act of congress in 1S06 the grades of general and lieutenant general were recreated for the sole benefit of Grant and Sherman. By reason of Grant's elevation to the presidency, the office of general was vacated, and he nominated Sherman as his successor in 1SG9. "Congress in 1SS8 created the dormant rank anew in order that Sheridan, then lieutenant general, might be given the higher honor while he still lived, . for he was then upon his deathbed. Congress has never held the honor cheaply, and has always preserved the right to confer it by special act. It will be observed that, except in the case of Washington, this high honor was not conferred during hostilities nor immediately following the close thereof. As a rule, congress has acted only after a sufficient lapse of time' to permit the exercise of a calm and deliberate judgment, preceded by adequate inquiry and uninfluenced by public clamor." |