Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-06-05
Danger OF a Premature Advance.

| II 1t were not for the repeated state
| ments thar come from Washington that
a campaign In Cuba by the massing OF
| the American troops on that island Is
| shortly to be begun, We should say that
this notion was the product OF utterly ir-
| responsible individuals, or that il was
| put forth, as statements sometimes are
| in time Of war, for the purpose of de-
ceiving the enemy. But it's iteration and
| reiteration tend TO make one believe that
in certain official quarters at the capital
the opinion is strongly entertained that
there should be an immediate forward
movement on the part of the United
States army and that troops that have
been gradually collected in the southern
part OF our country should be sent across
to Cuba for the purpose of taking Habana,
and compelling the Spanish authorities
on the island 10 surrender.
That, unless Spain yields before this
action II taken this is TO be the ultimate
proceeding, no one thinks for a moment
Of doubling; but, in our opinion, such
movement cannot be made at the present
time without involving risks which no
wise and prudent commander would wish
TO voluntarily assume. If we send our
soldiers into Cuba at this time, the enemy
we are chiefly 70 meet is not General
cal disease. We are sending from this
state, say, 1000 men to take part in a
Cuban campaign. If these troops are
sent into Cuba before the first OF next
October, one risks little in saying that
probably 1000 OF them will find their graves
on the island, even though they may
never come within gunshot OF the Spanish
army. A movement OF American troops
made at this time would be as wasteful
OF life and as perilous in execution as
was the charge OF the Light Brigade at
the battle OF Balaklava, and that, too,
without the fine stimulus OF enthusiasm
with which that event is associated, be-
cause the death Of men in the hospitals
while often just as heroic as their death
on the battlefield, has little OF romance
connected with 1t.
Losses through disease would have to
be expected to an enormous extent in a
campaign carried on in Cuba during
the rainy season, even If the soldiers
making up the American army We're
as we'll drilled, and under as good meth
odical supervision as are the men making
up the German army, where everything
that affects the health Of the soldier or
detracts from his ability as a fighting
machine is made the subject OF PAINS
taking study. and is subsequently made
the basis OF exact official action But
nobody will pretend that our volunteer
regiments are under this careful meth
odical supervision. Probably our Mas
sachusetts troops are made up OF as
good men and have. on the whole, as in
telligent a class OF officers as the regf-
ments of any state in the Union, and
yet no one who is not absolutely blind to |
facts will pretend that the men who have |
oeen drawn recently from Industrial |
life into the ranks, and the officers who |
have been recently commissioned to act |
over them, have the knowledge or train |
Ing which would enable them to act In |
The most efficient manner for the pur- |
pose OF protecting themselves against
disease.
The Spanish soldiers who have been
sent to Cuba have dropped or like flies
n cold weather. and yet the Spanish |
authorities have considered that Il would
De simply suicidal on their part to at
empt to campaign during the rainy sea-