WAR DEPARTMENT

a branch of the executive division of the United States government, created by Congre in 1789. As its title implies, it has charge of the nation’s military affairs, under the direction of a secretary who is subject to the President. The secretary is a member of the President’s cabinet, receives a salary of $12,000 a year, and ranks third in the line of succe ion to the presidency. The department is divided into a number of bureaus, each controlled by a chief, and include the army headquarters, offices of the adjutant-gen general, and commi ary department, etc. Since the World War the scope of the department’s functions became so reduced, like those of the Navy Department, that the Harding administration planned to consolidate the two into a single Department of National Defense operating under a Cabinet member with a istants in charge of the army and navy respectively.