officers both of the volunteer forces of the Civil War and of the regular army, and its clear and emphatic conclusion that in both respects mentioned the organization of our army requires improvement, is entitled to the highest consideration. Very respectfully,

ELIHU ROOT,

THE CHAIRMAN Committee ON MILITARY AFFAIRS,

Secretary of War.

UNITED STATES SENATE.

THE EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATION OF

THE ARMY

STATEMENT BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS, WASHINGTON, MARCH 12, 1902

Mr. Root's statement regarding the plan and purpose of the reorganization of the army, made in a letter to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, March 3, 1902, followed several previous hearings before the House and Senate Committees on Military Affairs, which are omitted, the substance of his remarks appearing more fully in later hearings. On March 12, the Secretary of War appeared before the Senate Committee to describe more fully the need for and the working of his plan. On December 13, 1902, he appeared before the House Committee on Military Affairs; and on December 17, he appeared again before the Senate Committee. His several statements at these hearings are presented. Frequent interruptions and questions by members of the committees are omitted, except as they throw light on the development of his argument. These omissions are indicated by

R. CHAIRMAN, this bill contains two series of provisions of primary importance, together with a number of minor provisions on separate subjects. The provisions of primary importance are, first, a series of provisions for the consolidation of the supply departments. The second series of provisions is for the creation of a general staff. Both of these provisions seem to be of very great importance to be necessary to an effective organization of the army. Neither of them will require any appreciable increase in the number of officers. They are simply a rearrangement of the present official force in such a way as to make that force more effective; and they are merely putting on paper the lessons which I believe have been generally deduced from observation of the working of the present system in the war with Spain.

As to the consolidation of the supply department, we have now a quartermaster, commissary, and pay department, each one running by itself.

The CHAIRMAN. You provided for a transportation division ?

Secretary ROOT. Yes, General; there is a Quartermaster's Department, and the Quartermaster-General has charge of transportation. He also has charge of the purchase and manufacture of clothing. The work of his division is in two classes of duty, and no more. He transports his own clothing and the feed for the horses and a considerable variety of stores which he provides, and he also transports the subsistence which the Commissary-General provides, and the material which the Surgeon-General provides, and the ammunition and material from the Ordnance Department. The Paymaster-General pays the troops.

The Commissary-General pays for the food and the supplies which he has. Each one has his own machinery, and each one has his own business; and when it comes down to the accomplishment of any single purpose there is no one to bring them together and see that they move step by step, and that each one is doing his share in the accomplishment of that purpose, except a civilian Secretary of War, who knows nothing about it, and does not learn anything about it until it is time for him to go out of office, if he does then.

In the successful business world work is not done in that way. What would happen if a railroad company, or a steel corporation, or any great business concern, should divide its business up in that way? What would become of that business ?

The Paymaster-General several years ago had a paper carefully prepared in which he proposed that he should take the payment of the bills of the quartermaster and commissary. There is no reason why he should not. That means just one step toward the consolidation. Every few weeks when operations are active, there comes in complaint that something has not yet arrived. Whose fault is it? The

Quartermaster-General blames the Commissary-General and the Commissary-General blames the Quartermaster-General. The Commissary-General wants leave to make his own shipments and take his own bills of lading and have the responsibility and authority to see that the supplies he is furnishing go to their destination, without putting them through the hands of the Quartermaster-General. Each department is trying to get from the other details which it thinks necessary to complete its own work; and when we consider each one's view of the situation and the changes that ought to be made, it is impossible not to think that they ought all to be under one head, and that head a military man.

Some time ago, I asked the different departments if they could not agree on this subject, and they all have agreed upon the general proposition. They differ as to details.

In drafting this bill I have necessarily put the details down - have arranged the method of accomplishing this result to which they all agree as it seemed to me was best; but I suppose the committee will settle the details, if it considers favorably any method. The principle of having these great supply departments under one head is that there will be some officer whose business it is to coördinate their action, instead of leaving it all for the Secretary of War to do; and the question of method which is determined in the draft of the bill may or may not be satisfactory. The method that was adopted in the draft of the bill was to have one supply department called the Department of Supply..

The Commissary-General thinks that there ought to be an absolutely hard and fast line between the members of the different divisions of the new department, just as there is now between the different departments. The Quartermaster's Department does not think that. They differ on that point. I agree with the view of the Quartermaster's Department that it should be possible to impose upon one man the duties

of all three, although I think it is quite right that they should be assigned to the separate divisions; that is, that one man should be assigned to the subsistence division, another to the finance division, and so on. But I think that the War Department should be at liberty to impose upon one man the various duties of all three; that is, to require the man, even though he is assigned to the subsistence division, to do quartermaster's duty, or finance duty, wherever it is possible for one man to do all the work; that is, there ought to be some elasticity.

Before leaving the subject of the consolidation of the supply departments, let me say that in my judgment it will greatly reduce the paper work necessary; it will reduce what is sometimes spoken of as red tape. It will put it within the power of the man at the head to accomplish results without carrying on a diplomatic correspondence between two departments that ought to be attending to business instead of standing off and referring matters to each other.

Now, the proposition of the bill is to make a department called the Department of Supplies, with a major-general at the head, and under it four divisions, the subsistence division, the supply and construction division, which takes one-half of the present quartermaster's duties, the transportation division, which takes the other half of the quartermaster's duties, and the finance division, which serves as a cashier for the whole business. I am confident that that would prove to be a much more practical and efficient business system than that which we have today.

I started last year an improvement of Governor's Island with the idea that that should be made a great depot for the receipt and distribution of supplies, and a base for the government's use in fitting out any expedition which might be necessary along our Atlantic coast or for the West Indies. I got from the state of New York a grant of about seventy or