In spite of this, the report of this department, dated December, 1901, shows difficult, conscientious, magnificent work performed by the War Department since the close of the war with Spain. Possibly the quiet prejudice which existed throughout the country against Mr. Root was largely the result of his treatment of General Miles. He did not like the old General, but the country did. Mr. Root could do many splendid things before the farmer, who only reads his weekly paper and to whose brain new things come slowly, forgave him for rudeness to a man of the people, whose merit had placed him at the head of the army. Any one who thinks he wins favor by calling General Miles "old fuss and feathers," as some newspapers do, quite forgets that the American people like fuss and feathers. In spite of the above, Mr. Root is a great patriotic man, who, with mental ability enough to earn $100,000 per year, gives his country the benefit of his talents for what must seem to him the modest sum of $12,000. As an organizer and great executive officer he had no superior in the government employ. His last report shows the army located as follows: DISTRIBUTION OF THE ARMY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1901 ──────────────────┬──────────┬─────────┬─────── COUNTRY │_Officers_│_Enlisted│_Total_ │ │ men_ │ ──────────────────┼──────────┼─────────┼─────── United States │ 1,922│ 31,952│ 33,874 Philippine Islands│ 1,111│ 42,128│ 43,239 Cuba │ 166│ 4,748│ 4,914 Porto Rico │ 51│ 1,490│ 1,541 Hawaiian Islands │ 6│ 250│ 256 China │ 5│ 157│ 162 Alaska │ 17│ 510│ 527 ──────────────────┼──────────┼─────────┼─────── Total │ 3,278│ 81,235│ 84,513 ──────────────────┴──────────┴─────────┴─────── [In this table are included the 4,336 men of the Hospital Corps and the 25 officers and 815 men of the Porto Rico Provisional Regiment, leaving the strength of the Regular Army 3,253 officers and 76,084 enlisted men. In addition there are also in the Philippines 172 volunteer surgeons, appointed under section 18 of the act of February 2, 1901, and 98 officers and 4,973 native scouts.] Of course, now that the war in the Philippines is practically over, many more men have returned to the United States.