the United States as compared with their comrades in the naval service. These officers in the Navy upon reaching the point of retirement are permitted to retire at a grade next higher than that which they have reached upon the active list. I ask that a similar provision be made for the veteran officers of the Army whose service has extended through the civil war, the Indian wars, and the war with Spain. There are not very many of them. None of them can enjoy the privilege, very many years. A considerable proportion of them have rendered conspicuous service to the country in higher grades as volunteer officers than they would receive on the retired list under such a provision. A considerable number of them have been much broken by their recent service in the Tropics and must soon retire. It would be very gratifying if their long and faithful services might receive this recognition. Three officers of high rank, who have rendered distinguished service in independent commands of great responsibility during recent military operations, have remained practically without reward. Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt, who commanded the first military expedition to the Philippines, and captured Manila, retired as a major-general on the 16th of June of the last year. Maj. Gen. John R. Brooke, who commanded the army and conducted the military government, of Cuba from the time of our occupation until December, 1899, will retire as a major-general on the 21st of July next year. Maj. Gen. Elwell S. Otis, who bore with great honor to his country the enormous burden of military command and civil administration in the Phillippines, will retire as a major-general on the 25th of March next. None of the three can receive any recognition for his service under the existing law, except that General Otis from the ranking brigadier-general became the junior major-general on General Merritt's retirement. I recommend, as a slight recognition of the obligations of the country to these officers, that Congress authorize the President to place them upon the retired list as lieutenant-generals.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS.

The many duties of the War Department in relation to the public buildings and grounds of Washington, and to the statues and memorials authorized or proposed by Congress, have brought the Department into frequent conference with the commission selected by the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia to prepare plans for the development of the park system of the District, consisting of

Messrs. Daniel H. Burnham, Charles F. McKim, and Frederick Law Olmsted, jr., who have now associated with them Mr. Augustus St. Gaudens. In admirable spirit that commission seeks to restore and develop the original designs of President Washington and L'Enfant; and the plans which they are about to present for the work to be done hereafter in making the capital city more beautiful, have the hearty approval and sympathy of the War Department, and will, if they shall happily be adopted, have that Department's cordial cooperation.

NEED OF A BUILDING FOR RECORDS.

Attention is again asked to the insufficient space in the War Department building for the preservation of records and the transaction of business and to the constantly increasing necessity for the construction of a fireproof building to preserve the great mass of invaluable records which, if destroyed, could never be supplied. The annual increase of these records is steadily crowding the officers and clerks of the Department out of the room which is necessary for the transaction of their business.

ALASKA.

With the creation of orderly social conditions at Cape Nome, and the establishment of civil control under the operation of the courts, the exigency which led us to make Alaska a separate department, and to send a general officer there with a considerable body of troops, has passed, and the department has been discontinued and the number of troops has been greatly reduced. The principal duty left for them to perform has been the construction of the military telegraph system, which is to extend from a connection with the Canadian telegraph lines at the international boundary on the Yukon River on the east to Fort St. Michaels on the west, there connecting with Cape Nome by cable, and includes a line from Fort Egbert to Valdez; and the construction of the trans-Alaskan military road from Valdez to the Yukon River. Both of these works have been pushed forward as rapidly as practicable. The total length of telegraph lines constructed to date aggregates approximately 400 miles. The character of the country and the rigor. of the Arctic climate make the work of construction necessarily slow, and it will be impracticable to complete it during the present fiscal year. A continuance of the appropriation is recommended.

THE ARMY IN THE PHILIPPINES.

At the date of my last report (November 30, 1900), formal and open resistance to American authority in the Philippines had practically terminated, and the Filipino insurgent forces had adopted a system of guerrilla warfare, closely approaching brigandage. To successfully contend against this condition and to suppress it, to afford protection to the peaceful and unarmed inhabitants, and to reestablish local civil governments had necessitated the distribution of our forces to more than 400 stations. This process continued until

a maximum of 502 stations were occupied, holding every important town and strategic point in the archipelago. The scattered guerrilla insurgent bands obtained funds and supplies from the towns and the country in the vicinity of their operations. The people thus contributing to the support of these guerrillas had been rarely interfered with. Prisoners taken in battle had been disarmed and immediately released.

This policy had been adhered to in the hope that it might make friendly neighbors of the natives, but, on the contrary, they seemed suspicious of this beneficence, and looked upon it as an evidence of weakness. It was therefore decided to apply more rigidly to the residents of the archipelago the laws of war touching the government of occupied places. Notice of this intention was given by a proclamation issued by the military governor, December 20, 1900, fully explaining the law, supplemented by letters of instruction, and followed by more vigorous field operations. It was followed immediately by the deportation to the island of Guam of about fifty prominent Filipino insurgent army officers, civil officials, insurgent agents, sympathizers, and agitators. The details of the proclamation, letters of instruction, and orders governing the deportation are embodied in the report of Major-General MacArthur submitted herewith.

The field work of the army was continued with renewed vigor from each of the 500 stations and was conducted simultaneously throughout the entire archipelago with such telling results that, with the exception of Lukban in Samar and Malvar in southern Luzon, all prominent insurgent leaders with their commands were captured or surrendered. These field operations were prosecuted notwithstanding the withdrawal from the Philippines and return to the United States of the volunteer army, comprising 1 regiment of cavalry and 25 regiments of

infantry, a total of nearly 1,400 officers and 29,000 enlisted men, whose transfer across 8,000 miles of sea to San Francisco, where they were mustered out of service as required by law, was accomplished without loss.

The most important single military event of the year in the Philippines was the capture of Aguinaldo, successfully accomplished by Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston, U. S. A., under the supervision and guidance of his department and division commanders, Major-Generals Wheaton and MacArthur. Soon after his capture Aguinaldo voluntarily subscribed to the oath of allegiance and issued a proclamation to the Filipino people, urging the termination of hostilities, that "lasting peace might come to them under the glorious banner of the United States." His capture was soon followed by the surrender of such prominent Filipino leaders as Tinio, Aglipay, Trías, and Cailles, with their entire following.

The operations of the field forces were so vigorous and unrelenting that more than 1,000 contacts occurred between our troops and the insurgents from May, 1900, to June 30, 1901, in which the insurgent casualties were: Killed, 3,854; wounded, 1,193; captured, 6,572; surrendered, 23,095; with a total of 15,693 rifles and nearly 300,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition captured and surrendered. Our casualties during the same period were: Killed, 245; wounded, 490; captured, 118; missing, 20.

I can not speak too highly of the work of the army in the Philippines. The officers and men have been equal to the best requirements, not only of military service, but of the civil administration with which they were charged in all its details from the date of our occupancy in August, 1898, until the inauguration of a civil governor on the 4th of July, 1901.

The recent disturbances in Samar and soucaern Luzon are of minor consequence, and are being stamped out by the vigorous operations of the troops. Small disturbances of this character are, unfortunately, to be expected, but will be controlled and guarded against by every means possible. The difficulties of this description are not more but less than were anticipated when the following paragraphs of my report of last year were written:

In the Philippine Islands the restoration of order will necessarily be a work of time. The mountains of those islands have always been infested by bandits, who nave committed depredations and levied blackmail upon the peaceful inhabitants.

and for the repression of whom the Spaniards do not appear to have ever taken any very active measures.

The practical inclusion of these bands among the insurgent forces, enabling them to rob and murder under color of patriotism, has greatly increased their numbers, as the disturbed conditions of the past two years and a half have increased their opportunities. However completely the leaders and the rank and file of the real insurgents may come in and acknowledge the sovereignty of the United States, it is certain that great numbers of men who prefer to live by robbery rather than by labor will continue to call themselves guerrillas, and will require a considerable army for their suppression, and for the protection of the peaceful inhabitants in the meantime.

The army in the Philippines has been reduced since my last report from 2,367 officers and 71,727 enlisted men to 1,111 officers and 42,128 enlisted men. When the organizations now remaining in the Philippines shall by the force of ordinary casualties and expiration of enlistments be reduced to the numbers established by the order of May 8, 1901, mentioned on page 4 of this report, the total enlisted strength of those organizations, exclusive of hospital corps, will be 32,079 men. The reduction already made was effected partly by bringing home the volunteers and partly by bringing home the regular organizations which had been longest in the Philippines. So far as the regular troops are concerned, the movement is still in progress, four regiments of the present Philippine force which have been longest in the islands being now under orders to return to the United States. They will be replaced in part by two regiments and part of a third now under orders to sail from the United States. It is the design of the Department not to subject any of our forces to the effect of a tropical climate for a longer period than three years without an intervening tour of service in a colder climate. With the reorganized army we are getting into a position where this can be accomplished systematically as a matter of routine.

The policy indicated in my report of last year, of creating a native Philippine force which shall in time release a large part of the American army from the necessity of remaining in the Philippines, has not been neglected. The authority then asked was granted by section 36 of the act of February 2, 1901, Congress in that provision wisely empowering the President to proceed in his discretion by successive steps, beginning with a simple organization of scouts, and following, when the proper time should arrive, by the more complicated and fully officered organization of the Regular Army. Pursuing this policy, the small bodies of scouts mentioned in my last report have

WAR 1901-VOL 1, PT I- 3