The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

A writer in the visalia Delta, under
 the caption, Musings" presents many
 bright ideas. The advice he sand
 wiches among his paragraphs is often
 good and always we'll intended, yet
 when he says Don't stir up polecat
 with short stick" he wanders into
 error. The implication is plain that
 he thinks the part of wisdom is to use
 long stick In stirring up the animal.
 My view of the case is that he would
 far better not be stirred up with a stick
 of any length.
 There was day when not to be able
 to agree with Arthur McEwen was a
 disappointment to me, forcing me to
 distrust my own judgment. But the
 passing of time demonstrated that
 whenever McEwen took a position in
 a public matter he was about as sure
 to get the wrong side of it as the sun
 to rise in the east. Hence, gradually
 learned to disagree from his conclu-
 siens and suffer no pang. Neither did
 he experience any distress, nor were
 Friendly relations in the least marred,
 so no harm was done. Now McEwen
 has been attacking Mckinley for the manner in which the war has been con- ducted. Far from being sorry to take issue with him in this instance, to do
 so IS an actual pleasure. No citizen wants to think the President "a weak kneed wobbler," which is the assertion
 McEwen makes, and which he pro-
 ceeds With some elaboration not to prove. Of course, had the distinguished critic been put at the head of military affairs, armed with pen and writing his orders at regular space rates, the Castilian would now have been hiding in the caves of his native land, and the little misunderstanding which per- sists in enduring have been but the memory of triumph. It seems to me that the war has progressed with reas- enable dispatch, and that the conduct or 1t has been such that the enemy has had to do most of the dying.
 There are several ways of looking at the act of Cervera in notifying Samp- son that there were American prison CTS in Morro Castle. I fail to see the culpability of the admiral. It seems to me that the brave Hobson and his as- sociates were treated with every cour- tesy. The mission to which they bent such splendid energies as to excite the admiration of the world was not a mis- sion of peace. If we are correctly in- formed, the heroes of the Merrimac omitted olive branches from their scant equipment. They freely offered their lives in the expectation that their er- rand. if successful. would crush the Spanish fleet. They were observed, and the Spanish saw them jump into the water. Cannon had been boom Ing at the Merrimac, but at sight of the valiant Americans swimming away from the fated ship the gunners ceased their work They would not fire As prisoners of war the Americans were kindly received. Naturally they had to be placed in confinement, but no ob- ligation, save that prompted by chiv- airy, was on the admiral to send word of their safety. He later sent word that they were in Morro Castle, and thereat uproar sounded. Supposing he had put them there and said nothing about it? But he made their where abouts known, and so the chance of their being killed by their friends was reduced to a minimum. It does not seem to me a crime, although not as- suming to be versed either in the arts or ethics of war, I am willing to accept proof to the contrary.
 Tn these times there is peculiar re- spect for the veteran of the Civil War and tendency to listen to his opin- he n p of Am on military topics has been read and approved, for he is an old soldier, and there is no secret that he was a good one. Personally I had followed his work with much interest. But last Sunday he spoiled the effect of it all. There had ari-en no occasion for in- sulting the women of the Red Cross, and yet he insulted them. I do not think there is decency in characterizing the type as the lively female of our species" or decency in sneering at the work to which they have devoted so many days. It is true they have con- trived a quantity of bandages which | the sunny Bierce designates as belly bands" While the expression lacks re- finement, it is correct. Where the mill | itary expert shows an ignorance at | once surprising and lamentable is in | that these bandages will be useless and the making of them a waste of time. save as amusement for the lively female When the wo- men asked what they could do to assist in providing for the soldiers going to tropic cline they were told by the of flcers of the army and by the surgeons | to prepare these cholera bandages. | They are doing so, and the soldiers, | having studied the conditions into | which are army Is about to pass, are | grateful. They will wear the band | ages, and if any object, the wearing | will be enforced by superior authority. | Possibly the generals do not know what | they are doing; perhaps the cholera | belt is no more potent than red string | tied about the neck, and the men of | the English troops in hot countries are | obliged to wear it just to satisfy | a whim of the Queen. I am inclined, | however, to think that Bierce is in er- TOT, because all the army officers and | all the surgeons cannot be fools.