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be Conservative. 6
COFFEE COOLING VS. FIGHTING.
General Oorbin. who all know is
adjutant general of the army , repudi
ates , or , at least denies with great
earnestness and considerable force ,
according to Washington dispatches ,
that President McKinley ever prom
ised to give or contemplated giving
him the brevet rank of lieutenant
general , and rather intimates that he
scorns the idea of the possibility of
such a thing , and that ho would in
dignantly decline the honor if prof
fered as unworthy of him , from the
lofty standpoint that he considers
that brevet rank should be bestowed
only for exceptionally conspicuous gal
lantry on the field of battle. Of
course this is to tell the public that as
he has not been within the range of the
enemy's fire , he could not outrage his
conscience by accepting an honor he
has not won , and does not merit or
deserve. This is a conviction worthy
of an honorable , high-toned officer of
our noble army. He is undoubtedly
sincere and beyond question right , and
it is just the stand the public press
credited him with taking some two
years ago when rumor said that
General Corbin was to have conferred
upon him the rank of major general
by brevet , he being at the time a
brigadier general. General Oorbin's
friends will admit that he has been
the most conspicuous military figure
in the newspapers since the declara
tion of war with Spain , and some ,
less friendly , allege that some one
puts up these straw-men in the news
papers just to be knocked down again
by the 'newspapers a few days later ,
that , in this way General Oorbin's
noble traits of character may get be
fore the people.
The Old Army.
As a matter of fact , or history we
may say , when our army was one and
one-half millions strong , and partici
pating in many active campaigns at
the same time , the rank and pay of
brigadier general was supposed to be
and was considered ample for the ad
jutant general of the army , and was
so fixed by law. It was an open secret
at the commencement of the war
with Spain , and until the fact was
consummated , that General Oorbin
was trying to be made a full major
general. Maybe it was all prophecy ,
but it is a fact he was made a full
major general , and he accepted the
same after he publicly announcedac
cording to the press , that ho would
not , and from his lofty conviction
could not , accept the same grade by
brevet. A similar open secret lias
been rife for a year or more , and it is
generally believed , that General
Oorbin has been and is trimming his
sails to be made a lieutenant general ,
and that so sure as the late president
and General Oorbin should both live
until a vacany occurred , General Cor-
jin would be appointed a lieutenant
general ; and it was still farther bo-
ieved that if a vacancy did not occur
timely , the present lieutenant general
would be squeezed out to make a
vacancy.
Different Generals.
This might not have proved to be so
prophetic as the major generalcy pro
phecy , but it is a self-evident fact to
all reading people that the present
Lieutenant general has been ignored
and treated in such a manner that
most any other man of pride would
have demanded abatement or caused a
vacancy byretiring or resignation.
At all events it is a matter of interest ,
we may say a matter of amusement , to
speculate over whether General Oor
bin , after rejecting with such virtuous
scorn , before the fact , an unoffered
proffer of a brevet lieutenant genor-
alcy , would accept a full lieutenant
generalcy if it was ruthlessly thrust
upon him. The Conservative believes
he would accept , as he did accept the
major generalcy , and thinks he would
be little short of a fool if he declined.
Indeed it does not see why there is
not as good cause to make him a
lieutenant general as there was to
make him a major general or for
that matter , to make him Pope of
Rome as to make him either.
Corbin's Theory.
The point The Conservative is mak
ing is that General Corbin sincerely
believes that brevet rank should be
conferred only for conspicuous gal
lantry upon the field of battle , but that
full rank should be conferred for
any old thing. In other words , that
1' Coffee Coolers' ' of the army should
receive the substance in military pre
ferment and the brave fighting officers
should get only the shadow , and The
Conservativejbelieves it no hard prop
osition to prove that this has been
the practice of the war department
since the commencement of the war
with Spain , and The Conservative
wishes to call the attention of its
readers to this fact to the gross injus
tice towards the brave and noble
officers who have done the fighting.
Some Instances.
Citation of a few cases will suffice
for the limits here. The regiment
commander who in person led the
troops of the cavalry division against
the enemy's trenches at San Juan and
fell upon the trenches after they were
taken , with what csvas then thought
to be a mortal wound in the head , by
far the most conspicuous officer on that
sanguinary field , has so far received ab
solutely no acknowledgement ; yet the
officer acting as chief commissary , at
the landing , and the quartermaster ,
who was on the ships , at the same
; imo , were both promptly made full
) rigadier generals of volunteers. Of
the five other officers of the same
regiment who were wounded in the
same assault , most if not all of them
as competent officers as can bo found
in our army not one has received as
yet any recognition whatever. It is
possible they may all bo insulted by
the proffer of a brevet , but officers no
more competent , of the same regi
ment , and not in the battle ; or any
other battle , were given advance grades
in the United States volunteers subse
quently.
The Rewarded
Thirteenor over half , of the twenty-
five colonels appointed to conmncl the
regiments of volunteers , had never
been in action , some never on a cam
paign or scout , others had never seen
field service , and , it is said , at least one
had never seen a soldier's tent since
he left the camp at West Point.
While the army was full of healthy ,
vigorous , active , capable officers that
had from twenty-five to forty years in
active service to their credit , and as
large a number of engagements , and
recommended for appointments have so
far got nothing , but may be also insult
ed with a brevet. Yet General Cor
bin volunteers to tell the public in
his annual report that the colonels of
the volunteer regiments were selected
on account of their established ex
ecutive ability and bravery in action--
at best , less than half the truth.
The Fighters.
The regimental commander who led
the cavalry on General Lawton's
northern campaign during the autumn
of 1899 , and General Schwau's south
ern campaign daring the winter and
spring of 1900 , whose commands did
most of the fighting and cleared the
way for the infantry to follow , an
officer of over forty engagements to his
credit , twenty-five of them in Luzon ,
has received nothing. Yet scores
of adjutant generals , inspectors gener
al , judge advocates , engineer officers ,
ordinance officers , quartermasters and
signal officers , hardly one of whom
has smelt gunpowder since the Civil
War and many never outside of a shoot
ing gallery have been made general
officers , while the number from the
fighters can be counted on the fingers
of one man.
Santiago.
These illustrations could be contin
ued indefinitely , and particularized by
dates and names. It is a well known
fact that many of our generals got
stampeded at Santiago and wanted to
retreat , but were promptly promoted.
It isa sad fact , not so generally
known but equally true , that the fight
ing was done almost exclusively by the
junior officers and men , and they pro
tested against retreat. Most of the
latter have received no promotion ,
[ but a portion of them are now to be
recommended for brevets.
Verily the Coffee Coolers get the
Substance and the heroes the Shadow.