The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1898-08-05
OUR WASHINGTON LETTiIE
WASHINGTON, d. c., August Isl

WAsHINGTON, d. c., August list.
Mr.. EDIToR:-Whilc there is some Crti-
ciSm of the terms Of peace offered Spain,
in answer to its request, and which tn"
French Ambassador, acting as Spanish
Minister has accepted, the general i'm
preston is, that on the whole, the admin
istration has acquitted itself very crcdlta-
bly, in handling this matter as far as 1t has
gone. The terms require Spain to with
draw its troops at its own expense from
Cuba and Porto Rico: to pay all just
claims ofAmcricans for property destroyed
in Cuba; the United States explicitly dis
claims any responsibility whatever for
bonds issued by Spain and secured by its
revenues from either Cuba or Porto Rico
"A decided check to the scheme which
certain Americans have been trying to
work in behalf of the European holders
of that class of Spanish bonds, and the
final disposition of the Philippines is left
open to be settled as we may see fit. One
mans guess is about as good as another
as to what will be the next step of the
tricky Spaniards. Any other country
might be counted upon to follow the
recommendation of its accredited minis
ter, but Spain cannot be counted upon to
do anything.
Commissary General Eagan Of the army
is out in an Interview replying to a letter
written by r. B. Roosevelt, a New York
lawyer, charging that there was either
shameful incapacity or infamous dishOn-
esty" in the commissary department, and
that neither enough, nor proper food had
been furnished the men at the front.
Eagan's reply is what the boys call 'hot
stuff; he calls Roosevelt several kinds of
a notoriety hunting liar, aud says his let
ter was "a low, libellous, scandalous Wilt
fication of honest men
Surgeon General Sternberg admits that
although more than 5000 Of Gen. Skaters
men are now down with the fever. that he
thinks the worst is yet to come. The only
consoling thing about the situation is the
small number of fatalities among the fever
patients, but the disease may assume a
more malignant type at any time.
When General Miles landed at a Porto
Rican port that was not the one the adj
ministration expected him to land at,
there was considerable growing in admin
istration circles, and even talk of Miles
being censured for not having obeyed or
ders, but as soon as the news Of his sue
cessful occupation, without loss Of life, of
much territory including Il number of
towns, it was denied that any such talk
had been INDUCED in Nothing succeeds
like success you know. Had Miles met
with any reverses, he would at once have
been made Il scapegoat
Representative Davey, of Louisiana,
whose vigorous presentation OF facts ac-
quired during stay of one week in the
camp at Miami, Fla, caused the war de
partment to issue orders transferring the
troops from that point TO Jacksonville,
does not mince words in describing the
condition of those troops and expressing
the opinion that somebody was blameablc
for the Encouragement which he said had
debilitated and disheartened hundreds of
men, To show that he had not exaggcr-
ated the situation, Mr.. Davey pointed to
the official record of nine hundred men on
the sick list at one time in a camp of two
brigades, calling attention to the fact that
the men being from Alabama, Louisiana
and Texas were practically all immunes,
so far as climatic conditions were con
cerned. One would suppose that caEteens
would be one of the first things provided
for soldiers in a summer campaign, vet
when Mr.. Davey arrived in camp he found
that there was only one canteen for seven
men, and when he left, a week later there
were half of the men still without canteenS
It is a chestnut with wbskers on it to
say the civil service commission is hum
bug, but in view of the fact that these
truly good men, who draw big salaries for
protesting goodness, have just Officially
reduced a clerk in the employ Of the com
mission one grade, for alleged ineiliciency,
and that this same clerk as q witness he
fore the Senate Civil Service Committee,
some months ago, had testified to methods
in use by the commission that even Il mug
wump would not call reform, ii seems rec
essary to say it again.
There are plenty of men in Washia gton
who make no bones Of calling the printing
of Grosvenor's tissue of misrcprescnta-
tons in a belatcd issue of the Congression-
al Record, after his request for permission
to print it was refused by the House, as
downright dishonesty. Secretary Kerr,
Of the Democratic Congressional cam
paign committee says the committee re-
CARDS the printing of the speech, under
the circumstances, as disgrace, and while
OH the subject he added: "Unanimous
consent was refused him by the House and
the management of the Record was al
at fault for allowing it to appear in that
publication. The speech will not be of
any great value as a campaign document.
The very circumstance under which il has
appeared discrcdits it. Democrats have
been loyal to the war. We have favored
support for the army and navy, but we
did not agree to the saddling Of an unncc-
eSsary bonded debt upon the country
Grosvenor's speech will be challenged
everywhere it is circulated.