The evening times., 1898-09-08
Truths About MoHtauk.

Tk. american people are Shamed.
humiliated. and angry by turns when
they look on the returning soldiers
and know that not even Secretary AL
ger believes that they have had any
thing like the proper food for we'll men
under the hard conditions they have
been forced Ia endure. GOV Wolcott,
Of Massachusetts. is man who has
never been suspected of sensationalism
or hysteria. yet in his urgent appeal to
the President he says: The pitiable
condition in which the Second and
Ninth Massachusetts Regiments have
returned has naturally caused pro-
found sense of solicitude regarding
those still to come" He feels that ii Is
necessary for him urgently 10 request
that whether in camp. in garrison. or
on transports. the soldiers may be ten
derby guarded by every precaution In
clothing. food. and medical attendance
which science may suggest That is
not unreasonable. 1t was assumed,
when the war began. that this would
be done. Nobody dare say il has been
done. The pitiable condition of the re
turning troops proves that il has not.
been. The appeal is evidence that Gov.
Wolcott distrusts the cheerful reports
made by the Secretary of War and his
surgeon general
II was because Of this distrust that
The Rey r. Heber Newton made fire.
quent visits TO the camp al Montauk
and found. among other things. sick
soldiers i'm oyercrowded tents. in the
beginning of the time without cots.
many Of them: lacking the most ordi-
nary provisions for the comfort. nay,
! even for the proper sustenance of those
who have been suffering from malarial
/ fevers. and whose digestive powers
| have thus been weakened: short of hos
pital attendants in any form, thus
undergoing miseries which the mind
| sickens To contemplate" This long
after private charity had done much to
! relieve the general situation of its hor-
rors. After talking with the surgeons
of New England regiments-those re-
ferTed To by Coy. Wolcott, il is sup
pased-as 10 Chickamauga, DR.. Newton
explains: 1t is one long tale of official
acknowledgement: a huge crime. gi-
gantic shame To the nation. 1t is an
! utter DftAhubNi II ol 1NiiiiiIiStA oA4'Ai
that nearest parallel Ia which is to be
sought in the 'debacle' of the French
empire, which Zola pictured 50 real
istically."
Ii was this doubt of official assur-
ances that led Dr. ". Gilman Thomp
son. a fever expert to make personal
investigation and report which does
mol agree with the expressions of the
I Secretary and Ike surgeon general.
Ii WAS this natural distTust that led
DR.. Lewis a Stimson. a prominent
| New York surgeon and a veteran of
| the civil War. to spend two days in
camp and write the letter which has
been published in The Times. He finds
con September - "a deplorable state
OF affairs" which he ascribes To feeble
| execution defective organization. lack
of foresight. dependence on routing
which is all that anybody has charged
against the administration of Camp
| Wikoff. 1t is easy to remember that
| the surgeon in charge there did not
| know how to keep record of the pa
| tients in hospital until Gen. Wheeler
| told him: that one surgeon in charge of
A division hospital did not get medi-
cines because he lad only one horse to
| bring them. because he did not know
| enough TO send the one horse three
times until Gen Wheeler told him.