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Newspaper Archive of
The Mount Vernon Hawkeye-Record
Mount Vernon, Iowa
October 21, 1898     The Mount Vernon Hawkeye-Record
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October 21, 1898
 
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Supplement to MOUNT VERNON HAWK-EYE. New York Mail and Expreu of October 11, XeJOL In the ratio of about two of the former to one of the latter, and there were 425 deaths among the volunteers and only one among the regulars, The chapter in regard to how and why the camps were chosen is exceedingly in- teresting, and gives the reasons ox the Department for selecting Chickamauga, Alger and Tampa for places of mobilization. That part referring to Camp Wikoff, at Men- tank, is also full of importance just now. Work of Qnartermaster's Department. ory 0f Preparation for t!e. Conflict, of Dif- ~eworkof the Ordnanee, Quartermaster, Subsistence and Medical departments is treated under separate heads. The unreadiness of the country for war is espe- Overcome, and of ?agmhcent Results, cially shown Ordnan Depsrtmeut's being sud+ienly called upon to eqntp a quarter of a mflliqn men with a class of articles not produced by private manu- -',uma'n'+ andl p IL ill'm-a-ha"-|uluT~|*Je facturers. It is shown why the Springfield rifles had to be used and why smokeless powder could not be furnished. Every means was used to provide the latter in time, but it could not be obtained until the war was practically over and too late to use. The difficulties in providing artillery with eqmpment are explained by the lack of appro- States In One Hundred Days Orranized, Armed and Equipped priations provided before the war began. Transportation for an Army of Over a Quarter of a The heroic work done by the Quartermaater's Department is fully shown, to- Men, Conducted Campaigns Separated by 10,000 gerber with exactly what that work consisted of. Considering the too few officers pro- vided by law and the action of Congress for years back in insisting Upon economical Land and Water. Humiliated and Destroyed the appropr|ations for this Department. the way the Quartermaster's Bureau equipped Without One Single Reverse. an army of a quarter of a million ought to come in for praise instead of abuse. The troopship question as wetl as that of supplying the army with everything that goes to make up an army, except men and food, fell to the Quartermaster's The Mail andExpress Bureau, Department. and in a clear and stTaightforward manner the great work of this Washington, Oct. 11. bureau is laid before the public for the first time. American people have committed these boys into my hands, and gad them, I want to find it out. Similar Dl~eultles. that any army has ever been watched over more anxiously and con- The difficulties under which the Commissary or Subsistence Department la- bored for lack of legal power and ability to buy supplies in open market were similar watched over this army. for I spent seventeen hours a day in to those of the Quartermaster'q Bureau. The law provides that the Subsistence De- er it." WOrds President McKinley used when he asked several members partment shall purchase the food, but it does not allow it to cook it. A great deal now investigating the war, to undertake that work. of trouble and disease resulted from this and this Bureau has been blamed It is An Authoritative Statement. shown that the Commissary Department f urnished sufficient and good food to the PowerSame tdeabeforeto shOWaad duringthe countrYthe warthatto theguardWarand Departmentcare for the armyUSed erly.S ldiers but it is also shown that they soul d not compel them to cook or use it prop- ~Kinley granted me permission to prepare for The Mail and Ex- C~mparison in Death Rote. One of the most interesting portions of the article ts the comparisons made of the t.t has been prepared with his knowledge and consent, and all state- death rate of this war with those of former wars in the West Indies, +as well as ,beenI verified by official records. ~ents words quoted above express his feelings and hts desires abroad. Th6 first expedition sent to the Wes~ Indian Islands WSs that by Y, the statement which follows frlves authoritatively the true peal- the English. The land forces numbered 14,000. In this expedition ir the losses of the War Department during the last six months. + were 1,790 officers and men killed, wounded and missing, while the )cues from disease were about 50 per cent. of the total forces. In 1802, during ~he French presldent*s Wisdom Shown. expedition to the West Indies, 58,545 men were sent to the Islands, In:~our months ,m of the President in ordering an investigation of the charges the loss from disease reached the astounding figure of 50,207, or a mot'tMity of 585 ~r Department has been shown. The Investigating Committee per thousand. Of the 8,275 survivors 3,00~ were reported unfit f0r du~ ~ Compare ,at a short time and but a few witnesses have been examined, these terrific losses with the almost insignificant loss of our own a~ in Cuba. officers of high rank has shown how utterly unjust and unfounded During the same period as the French expedition our aggregate 10S## from all s and criticisms of the majority of the critics. The testimony causes was but 2,910, out of a total force of 274,717 officers and m~ 6r a per- e abuses or neglect were pointed out or discovered, every effort centage of 1.059. ~" them. These figures become more significant when it ts stated that during the(pt~eeent war The Other Side or the ~uestion. Spain has carried to the island 135,000 men, of whom but 85,000 remaiL ] publle has had a glimpse of the other side of the question. Disease caused this great havoc, for her losses in battle have been+~lgulflcant. m of the Administratio~ and the War Department have been ~'; The Medical Deportment. ' kud complsints, and the country has been stirred up and in- The statement tn regard to the medical department shows exaci ~tl Wh, ~t for, reports. There lea been no denial of sickness, death or discern- and lack of preparation on account of legal obstacles that depa~ ,'~entmed the This could not have been prevented. There have been mis- war; how it was built up, and at the same time clearly explains r~ ~f the horrors records of the Department show that everything possible was and discomforts which our soldiers were obliged to suffer. This is ibrIef outline a summer o ti,and iookl.g ov+r the .ul a.d of what is set o.h i,y iow Untry cannot but he eo~D~ttulated on the remarkably low death " The Results o the Wur. 'ement in raising an a~of over 275,000 officers and men tn The reeuits of the war are too well known to require ~n. and brining to a'suc~elsf~ conclusion a war with a forei$11 us. To sum them up in a few words th~ United States, in the short or- a half months, ganised, armed and equipped and provided transportation for an and believed that peace could be main- tained, most of them having learned on the battlefield what war meant, what distress and suffering it entailed, and sought to save the nation from its dreadful consequences. Therefore but little was done, and but little could be done in preparation for w~r, with- out increasing its chances. The publication of the De Lome letter, speaking disparag- ingly of the President on February 8, added Cue! to a fire which burst into a blaze of wrath and indignation on February 15, when the world was horrified by the de- struction of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor. Ccm~eess G~ves n Little Aid. One week following that disqster Con- grass increased the army of the United States by the addition of two regiments of artillery. This was hardly a war measure. however, but merely an additional force required to care for the extra guns of costly pattern which had been mounted along the sea coast, and the need for which had been shown for a long period previous, though, through political fear, the legisla- tion had not been enacted into law. The Defense Bill. By March ~ the situation had grown so grave that Congress, upon the request of the Prestdent~ appropriated, by unanimous vote, the sum df $50,000,000 for the Na- tional defense, This act however, was viewed as more of a peace than a war meas- ure, and three days later the new Spanish Minister, Saner Polo y Bernabe, was re- eeived by the President of theUnited States. War Resolutions. It was not until April 11 that the Presi- dent asked,authority of Congress to inter- vane in Cuba by force to re-establish peace and order in the'island. After nearly a week of debate the resolutions were passed. The President si~ned them "on April 20 and sent the ultimatum to Spain. On the following day, April 21, the war broke out. a~d two days later came the call for 125.000 vdiunteers, followed by a second call for 75,000. In the meantime Congx~s8 had passed a law increasing the regular army to 61 000 and also providing for sly teen regiments of United States volunteer engineers, cavalry and infantry. How a Vast Army SpronE Up. Mustering was carried forward vlKor- ously in 'every State of the Union, and in the short space of one month this vast army of nearly two hundred and twenty: five thousand men were suddenly gather~l together, and the staff departments had to be organized and were called upon to equip and supply them. Work 02 the A~Ju~n~r~J, In the short period of five weeks the Ad- Jutant-General of the Army with his four Friday, October 898. 1898, when war seemed Imminent and ap- parently near at hand. Mr. Hull. chairman of the House Military Committee. drafted a bill embodying the ideas of the most ex- perienced offieers of the army, which pro- vided for an increase of the regular estab- lishment to about 100.000 men. This. it was confidently expected at the War Depart- meat, would, as a war measure, be enacted into law; and ~he thought given to prelim- inary preparation proceeded with that end in view. What CouJ~'ese Granted. The organized militia opposed the passag~ of such a measure+ fearing that if it became a law It would destroy their organization by replacing it, +and Congress failed to pass the measure, Had this bill become a law, the splendid recruiting organization of the regular army, with the multitude of applications for enlistments, could have been quickly recruited to the full strength from men chosen with peculiar fitness for "military service, without the strong ties binding them to home, school and business, which, when excitement wanes, breed alia- content and nostalgia. All of the men so enlisted would have been quickly gathered in companies and regiments of the regatlar army, where+ with their veteran comrades, side by side in the same tents and the same messes, they would have quickly adapted themselves to the splendid discipline and thorough instruction under the watchful care of the trained and zealous officers so necessary to the health, instruction and efficiency of an army. Re~ul&rs and Volunteers. By this failure it became necessary to send the regular army, small aS it was, in compact regiments, carefully looking after their own health and comfort, a nd side by side were regiments of men equally patriotic and zealous but suffering from a lack of knowled~e, which rendered the su- periority of the one over the other, so ap- parent. Deaths| Volunteer~ 426; Roa~laa.~, ~t, In the camp at Chlckamauga, where the volunteers and the regulars were camping side by side, in the ratio ef about two of the former to one of the latter, there were 425 deaths among the volunteers and enl~ one of the regulars, No braver, no more zealous, no more de- voted soldiers ever followed a country's flag than the volunteer soldiers in the American army; but putting a gun in a man's hand no more makes him a soldier than putting a plane in his h nd, makes him a carpenter, Our' people and their representatives have lndul~l in thin mistake~ for thirty years. The science of arms is a profession which requites a long apprentlc~ship and capful training under schooling st a master, ann no amount of patriotism and no degree of brav- ery can make Up for the lack of such, Wain- long In Cuba, or had been transported fal~ ther, would have been lost. Wor ond Peace Are Dffl~erent. In gathering together Ierge bodies of men it is hard to impress upon them that their daily life must be materially changed. Men from the villages and the rural districts are not able to understand why practicin~ a mode of life to which they ha.re been ac- customed will endanger and develop dis- ease dangerous and fatal. And this as with many other lessons in life, there s~eems to be no master but experience, and the only lessons learned and taken to heart are those received in that thorough school All Complaimta Were lnve.tiKote4L Many individual complaints were receive~ at the department in various ways--anony- mous letters apparently written by soldiers. newspaper articles prepared far from the scene of action, letters from friends and relatives based upon letters received from members of their families in the army, and from members of Congress, generally based upon hearsay evidence. Never was a singl$ : complaint allowed to pass without a thor- ough Investigation and report; nearly al- ways with the result that the complaint was trivial and not founded upon fact, bu~- in the few cases which merited remedial rneasures they were at once applied; and if neglect upon the part of officers was di~ covered, they were promptly admonished. Advoeate~ of War l~Ir~t to Complalu, Hardly had the sensational journals of the country ceased their exciting and in- flammatory editions crying for war when they began to magnify complaints and utter criticisms as unjust as they were pernicious and harmful, spreading dlscon. tent ~n the ranks and produelng alarm at home. R~medl~l Meosures Instantly q~ake~, ~'mmedlately upon receipt"of reports at the Department that sickness was preva- lent in the camps, measures were taken to remove the men and scatter the commands. Chickamaugu and Camp Alger were aban- doned, but after supplies and equlpment had been sent to those points they could not be entirely given up until the supplies were properly distributed. And, moreover, until the camp lessons were learned, on$ suitable location Was as good as another. 0RDNANC~n DEPARTMYe.N~. HOW ~ ~uarter of n Million Men Wero Armed nnd Equipped. The bureaus attracting the most attention are the Ordnance, Quartermaster's, Sub- sistence and Medical departments. When the first call for troops was made, the Ordnance Department was called upon to suddenly equip a quarter of a million men with a class of articles not produced by private manufacturers. Appropriations of Congress for these equipme~rts for many years had been barely sufficient for repine- ++