The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-22
INVESTIGATION OF THE WAR
GEN. MERRITT TESTIFIED AFTER
 GEN. MILES YESTERD4Y.
The Operations Against Mantla-The Insurgents and the Spaniards to Com tend With-The Spaminrds Lacked Their T.Oss
Their Loss.

"Sand'-Ncyer Possible to Obtain
 Their Loss.
 Washington, Dec. 21.-General Nelson A. Miles, commanding the United States army, and General Wesley Mer- ritt, commander of the American forces at the capture of Manila, were the principal figures before the war inves- tigation commission to-day. General Miles responded to the summons of the commission only after several days consideration. He was accompanied by his own stenographer. His exami- nation was comparatively brief and not sensational. He spoke with some bit terness as to the "embalmed beef' and the field. This he characterized as an experiment for which ''some one in Washington was responsible He said that the landing facilities of the Santi- ago expedition were inadequate and that the men were short of rations and medicines and might have been better protected from exposure to fever con- tagion.
 General Merritt told the commission that he regarded the Philippine expe- dition as a decided success and would conduct it on the same lines if he had to do it over. He began his testimony by a description of the operations around Manila prior to it's capture. Ow- ing to the smallness of his force he said the army was compelled to operate along the sea front in cooperation with the navy. Had there been larger American force on hand the city could have been taken from the high ground inland, but this was tactically imprac- ticable without leaving our base at the mercy of both the Spaniards and the insurgents. The city's defences were good The Spaniards had excellent arms and plenty of ammunition. All they lacked was sand" The engage ment lasted not over two hours. The army had both Spaniards and insur- gents to contend with. "The insurgents were very anxious to take part in the attack" said General Merritt, "but they were not notified when the attack would be made, as I was sure the en- trance of the Filipinos into the city would mean unnecessary bloodshed and some looting."
 General Merritt said that the Ameri- can losses were not correctly stated n the press reports. There were about 120 officers and men killed and wound- ed. No accurate account of the Span ish loss was ever obtainable. The American force, however. captured over ,000 stands of modern arms and the Spanish loss was known to be severe. There was some discussion by the conl- mission of the relative merits of the Springfield and the modern small cali- bre rifle This drew from General Mer- ritt the statement that personally he should prefer the Springfield with smokeless powder to the "Calibre 30' or the "Mauser." The supplies were sufficient at all times except as to ice and milk for fever patients. He ex- plained that therre were apparently no milk producing animals in that country. There were some smalll cattle appar- ently imported from China, but they gave no milk to speak of.
 As to medical supplies and hospital conveniences, General Merritt said he had heard no complaint. On entering the city the army took possession of all the good houses 1t needed and turned them over to the medical department. The sick and wounded were thus well provided for The army in the island depended upon local stock for transpor- tation. This proved quite satisfactory and he doubted the advsability of inn porting American horses or mules Asked if he had the cordial and eff fective support of the administration General Merritt said: From the pr2si- dent I had the most hearty sympathy and support and this applies also to the various departments.''