The age-herald., 1898-08-05
HAS GIVEN THE ORDER
Shaiter Insists on Removal North Within
 Two Weeks.
WILL BE DONE FAST AS POSSIBLE
Roosevelt Writes Letter Saying That to Remain There Means Destruc- H'sss. ton of ofThousands-W anto to
 Go to Porti Rico.

santiago de CuDa, Aug o.-oufninoneu by Major-General Shafter, a meeting was held here this morning at headquarters and in the presence of every commanding and medical officer of the Fifth Army corps, General Sbafter read cable message from Secretary Alger, ordering him at the rec ommendation of Surgeon-General Stern berg to move the army into the interior, to San Luis. where it is healthier.
 As a result of the conference General Shafter will insist upon the immediate withdrawal of the army north within two weeks. As an explanation of the situation, the following letter from Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, GO a... nding the volunteer cav airy, fo. Generdf iihafter, was handed by the lattersto the Correspondent here of the Assocated Press for publications:
 9Major-Ceneral Shafter
 "Sir:--In a meeting of the general and medical officers called by you at the palace this morning, we were al as you know, unanimous in view of what should be done with the army. To keep us here. in the opinion of every officer commanding di- vision or brigade, will simply involve the destruction of thous ands. There is pos sib!e reason for not shipping practically tile eHllFe COHlllldHu HOTtH at OlCe. ItllOW fever cases are very few in the cavalry division where I command one of the two brigades, and not one true case of yellow fever has occurred in this division, except among the men sent to the hospital at Sboney where they have, l believe con tracted it. But in this division there have been 1500 cases of malarial fever, Not a man has died from it, but-the whole com mand is so weakened and shattered as to be ripe foF-dying like rotten sheep when real yellow fever epidemic, instead of a fake epidemic like the present, strikes us as it is bound to do if we stay here at the height of the sickness season-August and the beginning of September.
 "Quarantine against malarial levers is much like quaiantining against the tooth ache. All of us are certain, as soon as the authorities al Washington fully appreciate | the conditions of the army. to be sent home. If we are kept here it will, in all human possibility, mean an appalling dis aster, for the surgeons here estimate that over half the army, if kept here during the sickly season, will die. This is not only terrible from this standpoint, of individual lives, but it means ruin from the stand Io..t of ;ihe military efficiency of the flower of. the American army, for the great bulk of regulars are here with you. The sick list, large though it is, exceeding 4,000 men, affords but a faint index of the debiltation of the army. Not 10 per cent. fit for active work. - weeks on the North Maine sceast for instance, else ; where, where the yellow yer germ can not possibly propagate, WI d make us all as fit as fighting cocks, able we are eager, to take leading part in the great campaigns against Havana in the fall, even if, we not allowed to try Porto Rico. ''' ger
 I. We can be moved north, if maved at once, with absolute safety to the country, although of course, it would have been infinitely better if we had been moved north or to Porto Rico weeks ago. If there were any object in keeping us here we would face yellow fever with as much indifference as we faced bullets, but there is no object in it. Four immune regiments ordered here are sufficient to garrison the city and surrounding towns and there is absolutely nothing for to do here, and there has not been since the city surren- dered. It. is impossible to move into the interior Every shifting of camp doubles the sieksrate in our present weakened con- dition, and anyhow the interior is rather worse than the coast, as I have found by actual reconnaissance. Our present camps are healthy as any camps at this end of the island can be.
 Wr1Ce only because cdnnOL See our men, who have fought bravely and have endured extreme hardships and danger so uncomplainingiy, go to destruction without striving so far as lies to me to avert doom as fearful as it is unnecessary and undeserved Yours respectfully,
 "THEO. ROOSEVELT, "Colonel Commanding First Brigade" Petition From Officers
 After Colonel Roosevelt had taken the a.h fA1 in a letter addressed to General Shafter. It reads: . -a-
 .We, the undersigned officers command ing the various brigades, divisions, etc.. of the army of occupation in Cuba, are of the unanimous opinion that this army should be at once taken out of the island of Cuba and sent. to some point on the northern sea coast of the United States: that it can be done without danger to the people of the United States that yellow fever in the army at present is not epi- demic, but there are only few sporadic cases; but that the army is disabled by malarial fever to the extent that its effio- iency is destroyed: that it is in a condition to be practically destroyed by an epidemic of yellow fever, which Is sure to come in the near future.
 I've know from the reports of, compe- tent officers and from personal observa- tion that the army is unable to move into the interior and that there are no facili- ties for such. move if attempted and that it could not be attempted until too late
 Moreover the best medical authorities of the island say that with our present equipment we could not live in the interior long during the rainy season without loss from malaria1 fever, which is almost as deadly as yellow fever.
 "The army must be moved at once or perish. As the army can be safely moved now, the persous responsible for prevent ing such a move will be responsible for the unnecessary loss of many thousands of lives. sf''
 "Our opinions are the result of careful personal observation, and they are also based on the unanimous opinion of our medical officers with the army. who under stand the situation abeolptSly.
 U. FORD KENT, Major or-General Volunteers, commanding First Division, Fifth Corps.