The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-10-09

after the battleship Maine was de-
| stroyed in that harbor by Spanish
treachery he remained in Havana until
the last moment. When he left, he told
Captain General Blanco that he would
return to relieve him of the responsible
tiles of the government of Cuba and re-
sent the insults to Americans. He will
take his command, the Seventh army
| corps, into Havana when the Spanish
| troops now stationed there evacuate the
| place. General Wheeler will stay with
| his troops until they have been settled
| in their new quarters when, 1t is said,
he will ask to be relieved, that he may
! return home and take his seat in the
house of representatives.
| The new army organization, which is
necessary to supply troops for service
| in the new territory, is now being ar
| ranged and, so far as can be learned,
will be as folows Most of the volunteer
| regiments from the various states will
| be mustered out of the service as soon
| as the regulars have been increased in
| number The standing army at present
| has but $4,000 men. Under the new ar
| rangement there will be 100000, and
| they are to be distributed in the follow
| ing manner: Twenty thousand will re-
main for duty in the United States, 49,
900 will be sent to Cuba, 10000 to the
Philippines and from G,000 to 5000 to
Porto Rico. Some of the troops that
have been mentioned for the Philippines
will be stationed at Guam, in the La
drone islands. There will be no trouble
or delay in getting the Spaniards out of
Porto Rico. In fact, they have already
started to leave, and as they evacuate
the cities the American troops take
charge of them.
Cuba is the only place where there Ii
likely to be any delay, and, while part
of this delay is caused purposely to ex-
haust the patience of and annoy the
United States commissioners who have
charge of the work, other reasons are
given, among them being that Spain
cannot get the necessary ships to trans
port the troops to the home country as
quickly as she would like. According
to the arrangements, the first of the
Spanish troops now in Havana are to
embark for home early this month. 1t
is believed it will be some time later be-
fore they will be in readiness to leave,
and army officials and military experts
say that from the way the Spanards
have acted in regard to the matter the
new year will be ushered in before the
last of the dons' soldiers will have left
the island. There are more than 10000
of them in the hospitals suffering from
fever. starvation and the effects of bat
tie. 1t will take considerable time to
remove these men, and there is little
doubt that Uncle Sam will allow some
of them to remain in the hospitals until
their condition is such that they can be
removed without fear of destroying
their chances of recovery. The Ameri-
can troops will be ready to enter the
cities and Notifications early in Novem-
ber
1t is thought however, that they will
not be sent into the island in large bod
les until month later when the condi-
lions of the climate are such that there
will be little risk from fever and the
other diseases. Then 1t has been sug-
gested that the troops be not allowed to
occupy the buildings used by the Span
iards, as it is thought that disease
germs Turk in them. While nothing has
as yet been done in regard to housing
the troops that will go to Cuba, it is
expected that the government will pro-
vide portable wooden barracks until ar
have been completed and
the quarters now used by the Spanish
soldiers can be made tenable.
When the time does come for the