204 



CONGRESS. (ARMY REORGANIZATION.) 



the part of the Maritime Canal Company, no 

 matter how utterly dead and worthless the car- 

 cass may seem to be, we propose to get rid of it ; 

 and while the Senator from Indiana criticised 

 very severely the Maritime Canal Company, cer- 

 tainly it seems to me he might admit that in the 

 manner of their taking oil they have at least 

 acted in a becoming and proper manner. 



" As I understand, the Maritime Canal Com- 

 pany are willing to submit to anything that we 

 deteVmine with regard to this matter. They are 

 not interposing any objection. They are not in- 

 terposing any plea for special consideration. 

 They have not in any way broached or sug- 

 gested anything to the committee on this subject 

 other than what is contained in their letter to 

 the Secretary of the Interior. The committee have 

 thought that by the appointment of three com- 

 missioners who will determine these amounts on 

 principles of justice and equity, so as to provide 

 a fair compensation for the property, rights, 

 privileges, and franchises now owned by the said 

 company, etc., they could be treated fairly, and 

 finally and permanently disposed of. 



" They disappear from the scene, and the Gov- 

 ernment steps in in its capacity as the great 

 stockholder. It is, of course, to be handled under 

 the forms provided for in the concession. The 

 Government of the United States becomes the 

 great stockholder, Nicaragua and Costa Rica re- 

 taining the stock to which they are entitled under 

 the concession. So far as the manner in which 

 it shall be handled is concerned, I have heard 

 no particular criticism. There shall be directors 

 appointed, and they shall proceed practically, 

 with the assistance of the War Department and 

 the army engineers, with this great work. 



" Under the amendments which have been of- 

 fered by the Senator from Arkansas, which I 

 favor very strongly myself, and which I under- 

 stand are not objected to by the chairman of 

 the committee, the whole bond question is elimi- 

 nated, and it becomes a fair, plain cash transac- 

 tion. There was no particular necessity for bonds 

 in the matter. It makes no particular difference 

 to anybody, except that there is the difficulty of 

 transferring and selling the bonds imposed upon 

 the directors who are to handle the matter. Con- 

 sequently, 1 would much rather see the cash put 

 into the treasury of the company or subject to 

 their order as it may be required in the construc- 

 tion of the work, and the entire amount of stock 

 transferred to the Treasury of the United States, 

 with a lien which will absolutely secure the Gov- 

 ernment in a complete forfeiture in the course 

 of time and reversal to them of all the rights and 

 privileges and property which are nominally in 

 the name of the company." 



Army Reorganization. There were several 

 measures introduced for increasing the efficiency 

 of the army of the United States, and finally one 

 passed by the House of Representatives was set 

 aside in the Senate, and a more moderate bill 

 was introduced, Feb. 25, 1899, amended, and 

 passed by that body, Feb. 27. The House re- 

 luctantly accepted the Senate measure, and 

 passed it March 1, and it was approved March 2. 

 The debate on the subject involved the old issue 

 as to the good policy of standing armies. 



In the Senate Mr. Cockrell, of Missouri, ex- 

 plained the bill as follows: 



" Mr. President, I desire to make a few remarks 

 in regard to this bill, the manner of its prepara- 

 tion, and its effect, and my indorsement of it. 

 As every Senator knows, efforts have been made 

 in Congress for the last twenty years twenty- 

 four years, I will say for a reorganization of 



the army. In almost every Congress some project 

 has been brought up. In the beginning of this 

 Congress multitudinous measures were presented 

 for the increase of the regular standing army to 

 100,000 men, and it was claimed that the propo- 

 sition had the indorsement of the executive 

 branch of the Government. That kind of a meas- 

 ure was. introduced. It passed the House. It 

 authorized the President to organize an army of 

 100,000 men, a regular permanent standing army,, 

 and then gave him permission to reduce the num- 

 ber of the men in the company, leaving the officer 

 organization intact. 



" That matter was considered in the Commit- 

 tee on Military Affairs for a long time. A meas- 

 ure was reported by part of the committee, and 

 certain propositions were made by the remain- 

 ing half of the committee, the committee being 

 equally divided. The matter was discussed here 

 and statements were made upon the floor of the 

 Senate in regard to the measure. 



" Now, this measure which comes here has been 

 examined very carefully, and I want to say I 

 indorse it. I indorse it because I believe it is 

 right and just and proper and necessary; and in 

 addition to that it will settle for years to come 

 the question of the reorganization of the regular 

 standing army. When 1901 comes the army will 

 revert to what it is provided for in the pending 

 bill, without debate or contention, and it will 

 remain at that figure; and I think that is amply 

 sufficient. 



" Now, what does this bill do ? We all know 

 that the organization of the infantry of the 

 United States has been 10 companies to a regi- 

 ment, and the inefficiency of that organization 

 induced Congress to make a provision that two 

 of those companies might be skeletonized and 

 that the officers could be put upon detached duty. 

 So our regiments practically consist of 8 com- 

 panies, 2 battalions. In the beginning of the 

 war with Spain we authorized an increase of our 

 infantry regiments to 12 companies, just as the 

 cavalry has been for years, 3 battalions, with 3 

 majors, 1 colonel, 1 lieutenant colonel, and a 

 complement of officers. Every one recognizes 

 that that is the only efficient infantry organiza- 

 tion known to-day and practiced to-day any- 

 where in the w r orld by intelligent and progres- 

 sive armies. 



" Then this bill simply authorizes the infantry 

 arm of the service to be increased to 12 com- 

 panies and hereafter to remain a 12-company or- 

 ganization, and that carries with it the men and 

 the officers. In the cavalry there has been prac- 

 tically no increase by this bill over what it was 

 prior to April, 1898. 



" Now we come to the artillery. We have 

 made an increase there of 14 batteries, 2 bat- 

 teries to every one of the 7 regiments. You 

 may say there is no necessity for it. Then there 

 is no necessity for your fortifications. There is 

 no necessity for your siege guns. There is no 

 necessity for your disappearing artillery. There 

 is no necessity for the hundred millioft dollars 

 which you have expended in fortifications and in 

 the armament of those fortifications all around 

 our coasts. 



" You have the fortifications, you have the im- 

 proved machinery, you have the guns there. You 

 must have intelligent men there who understand 

 machinery and can use and protect it or it be- 

 comes a total loss. The artillery increase that 

 we have given here, in my judgment, will not 

 last until July 1, 1901. If the additional forti- 

 fications that are proposed all around our coasts, 

 upon the Atlantic and the Pacific, are completed, 



