The record-union., 1898-11-16

| character, General Breckenridge ex-
pressed the opinion that there had not
been enough of fighting to obscure 9TH
| er results common to war; He thought
| that the evils which had been expert
enced were inevitable under our Amer
! lean system. He condemned this sys-
tenn as most reprehensible, and said
! the volunteer soldiers must always suf-
fer the worst of the consequences
If the regular stands up under it
/ better than the volunteer, it is only
| because he has had time to adjust him
self to the unfavorable conditions.
He traced all the trouble to the want
of preparation and mobilization in time
OF peace, and that, in turn, to the fail
| ure OF Congress to appropriate the nee
essary money for reforms.
Replying to a question from Mr.
| Woodbury., he said that considering the
| system, he thought the Government
has done far better in its conduct of
the war than anybody had expected,
and just about one-fourth as we'll as
it should have done it.
General McCook asked General
Breckenridge if he had visited General
Shafter in his tent when the latter
was i'll at Santiago. and General Breck-
/
Did he then offer the command of
the army to you, as has been reported
| in the press 2"
General Breckenridge replied: II very
much prefer not to answer that ques-
| ton. You should ask General Shafter.
| Such a conversation as occurred be-
tween General Shafter and myself on
that occasion is not of a character to
| he of Echt foi IN hNu
a reply from me would promote the
object of your inquiry. If General
Shafter has not repeated the converse
| ton, l ought not to do So"
"As a matter of fact, he did not turn
the command over to your" suggested
Governor Beaver, to which General
General Breckenridge responded:
No, he did not; and 1 do not think
there is any impropriety in my saying
that he could not have done So"
With this the matter was allowed to
drop, and General Breckenridge was
excused
Captain Robert w. Dowdy, who was
master of transportation at Montauk
Point, stated that at the beginning of
! the history of the camp the transpor-
tation facilities were inadequate
! though they were afterWard improved
| While there had been much criticism
of the railroad running to the camp
| he thought it had answered the de-
mands upon it very satisfactorily. He
| said that there was not Sufficiency
of ambulances, but that there were
| enough of them to carry all sick sol
| diers who were not able to walk. Ii
was not true that these vehicles had
been used for purposes other than
those for which they were intended,
and the newspaper stories to the con-
trary were made out of whole cloth
He described the strike Of the car
penters at the camp, and said that
many of the men first employed were
tramps, and utterly worthless.
DR.. William c. Weaver of the Ninth
! Pennsylvania Volunteers was the first
witness before the War Commission at
the afternoon session, and he proved
an important witness, as he gave de-
tailed information concerning the con-
duct of a regimental hospital at Camp
Thomas
DR.. Weaver said that typhoid had
broken out about the 18th of June, and
that 1t had increased from that time
until the 10Th of August. There had
been about 600 cases of this disease in
| the regiment, and twenty-eight or
thirty deaths The doctor said there
was an insufficient supply of drugs, and
that at times he failed TO get what was
needed Quinine was one of the ar
ticles of which there had been a scare
ity, and 100000 pills were secured from
home He said that at one time there
were fftysix typhoid patients in the
regimental hospital, because there was
no accommodation for them in the di-
vision hospital. At another time there
| were siXty-seven patients in the camp
tents for whom admission could not be
secured in any hospital, division or reg
! imental.
In summing up the causes of disease
/ in the camp, DR.. Weaver included over
worked men as one He also expressed
the opinion that the water from Chick
amauga Creek was polluted. He con-
sidered the water in this stream as
hardly fit to battle in, much less to
drink. His Information was that there
were possible sources of contamination
above the intake pipe of the pipe line
system The doctor admitted that he
had never visited the creek at the
pumping station.
DR.. Weaver related his difficulties in
securing tents for the regimental hos
pital, and he said that in one case
Chief Quartermaster Lee had refused
| to allow the regiment to have a tent
which was stored, and which was its
property.
DR.. Weaver said he had been on duty
as long as forty-two hours at a time,
but he had never made any complaint,
| because it was generally known that
| the surgeons of the regiments were
overworked.
Major L. A. Lagarde, regular army
| surgeon, who was in charge of the di-
vision hospital at Siboney, said the
| transports taking troops to Cuba were
overerowded, and the air was very hot
In his steamer the Saratoga. thirteen
| cases of fever had developed going
| over
He said he had obtained from the Red
Cross Society all that had been asked
for. Miss Barton had apologized for
not being able to supply more, saying
that she had only expected to be called
on 10 aid the Cubans, and not our own
troops. However, she said that the
soldiers should come first Further
more. Miss Barton supplied attendants
for one of the hospitals, Dr. Lesser of
the Red Cross being in charge Her
| physicians and the nurses had devel-
oped yellow fever. proving that the
house occupied had been infected. He
had them removed. The patients had
protested against the removal
The witness said that he had recon-
mended the burning of the town of ST.