Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1898-11-19
GREELY DENOUNCEs ALGERleNl

GFdEEdY DENOUNCES AIJGERIeM.
General "a. w. Greedy, chief signal
officer, does not mince words in speak
ing Of the conduct of the late war. In
an address delivered in San Francisco
he criticised, in unmeaeured terms, the
organization Of the United States
army and his attack has created SEN
sation in officialdom. He called the
system antiquated and inelastic. He
p5ohpoohed the volunteer as an effec-
tive soldier. He told OF inefficlency
OF new officers and scored the method
or their appointment through political
influence. There was much OF humor
in his remarks, as BELTS an after din
ner speech, but behind the
humor lurked the sharpest pos
sible criticism. He did not
mention General Shafter by name, but
there was no mistaklng the direction
Of his thrusts.
Alleged incompetency IN arranging
for the landing Of troops and supplies
at Santiago came in for lively COM
ments. 1t has been put forward as an
excuse FOR Shafter that 90 per cent. CT
the barges provided for making the
landing were lost. and thus an attempt
has been made to put the burden on
the elements. But General Greedy
would not have il so.
"They did lose so per cent Of their
barges," he sneered, for they started
with two and lost one"
In praising President Mckinley for
delaying the war as long as possible
he said that at the time hostilities first
threatened there was not a gun south
Of Mason and Dxon's line that could
be fred, and that our Gulf and South
Atlantic coasts we're thus open 10 en-
emy's attack He characterized the
congressional regulation that but ono
regular army officer was to be assign
ed to each volunteer regiment as an
outrageous opening OF the way for IA
voritism and a detriment to the ser
vice. Eminent critics pronounced the
volunteer army a good deal OF fail
ure. He declared the system on which
It was organized inelastic and anti
Quated, and eneered at the idea OF
farmer boy becoming a soldier in six
months.
He spoke OF the incompetency OF vol
unteer officers appointed for reasons OF
political expediency. When it came to
the discussion Of the dreadful death
rate and the suffering caused for want
OF proper supplies. General Greedy was
particularly severe. He said that many
officers appointed had the idea that Il
was the duty OF the commiesary de-
partment to feed the soldiers, whereas
it was the first duty of officers to make
acquisitions for supplies, which the
commissary department would then
furnish. Then he went on to cite IN
stances OF gross blunders in forward
ing OF supplies.
For instance: In his own experience
at Tampa he had been forced to break
into nearly 200 freight cars to secure
provisions intended for his department.
Train,oad after trainload OF supplies
had been bundled into the camp sta
tion without so much as a scratch or a
pen to show what any car contained
or what was the makeup OF any
particular train. The same reckless IN
competency characterized the loading
OF provision ships, he said. In one
case where men had been sent 10 the
steamer to procure general rations for
troops in the trenches at Santiago
they found nothing in the vessel but
canned tomatoes. and devoted the en-
tire day to moving this one article OF
food. No one seemed to know whai
each steamer contained, and there was
much delay at critical times.
Thus Aigerism is held up to publ,
condemnation and rdicu.e, and yet the
Investigators cannot fix the response
bility.