The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-23

who said Armies move on thelr pel- lies" The fighting machines Of an army are men, and men without suffi- cient food cannot fight, for they will be either sick or dead. The utmost pre- caution and care must be taken to feed the soldiers, and no campaign is well conducted which omits such precaution and care.
 In the Santiago campaign there was an abundance of provisions and medi- cal supplies put on board of the trans ports. About this there is no dispute. The mistake, however, was that horses, mules and quartermaster's wagons were left behind. Plenty of provender for horses and mules was loaded on the transports but very few of such animals were taken on board. The next mistake--a corollary to the first-was in not landing sufficient pro- visions and the medical supplies. It Is said that 1t was contemplated to land them by lighters and that two or three of the lighters were wrecked on the voyage.
 But this danger should have been guarded against, and enough taken to insure against such accidents. taL OIlCS, dlSO, lHE ullllpoL Cllol Lp should have been taken by way of rem edy. Dispatch boats should have | reached some cable station and other lighters been ordered.
 | I have always thought the Tighter" excuse too thin. What good would l more lighters have been? Why put ! provisions and medical supplies on | shore with no sufficient number of pack horses or of pack mules, and no suffi- cient means of transportation, to get the goods to the army, twelve or fif- teen miles away?
 Moreover, on the numerous trans ports that carried the army, and on | the ships of the navy, there were avail able several thousand of as good sail ors as the world can show. There were ships boats that could ride the surf and steam launches almost with | out number.
 How is it explained that there was no serious attempt to land provisions and medical supplies by the steam launches and ships boats? Suppose some of these launches or boats had got upset; what would that be compared with the health of eighteen thousand soldiers in the field?
 l It seems to me that ample food and medical supplies for small army of | eighteen thousand men could and | would have been landed if there had | been sufficient means to get them to the l front. At least, if there were sufficient 1 means to get them to the front, the failure to try to land them was criminal neglect and the incompetent staff off, cers responsible therefor should be tried by court-martial and punished.
 See what did happen The bulk of the medical supplies went back to Tam pa on the ships that brought them, for | they might as we'll remain there as to be put on shore Could it possibly have been overlooked that the medical sup plies were not landed? So with food supplies. All the facts are not out But the Breakwater was loaded at New York in part with provisions for q think) the Third infantry (regulars. ) She was in the expedition, landed her troops, but brought back her provisions to New York, substantially all spoiled by disinfecting the vessel at Newport News on her return voyage.
 The Vigilancia went twice to Santia- go, or it's vicinity, and back, loaded in part with the same provisions, original l ly destined for one of the Massachu- setts regiments in Shafter's army. cannot believe that such almost in- credible things as these could have oc- cured if there had been any adequate means of getting the provisions and medical supplies from the shore 10 the | front.
 The radical difficulty was the lack of | a system, thoroughly organized and thoroughly carried out, relating to the | loading and transportation and distri- button of the provisions and medical supplies.
 It seems as though no officer of the army knew of the provisions on the
 "Breakwater" and Vigilancia." No of- ficer and no set of officers seems to ha,e Teen charged with the specific duty and responsibility of seeing to it that the army on its march, and on the fighting line, should surely have its provisions and medical supplies.
 At least the hot indignation of the American people has found no particu- lar subordinate officer responsible for these mistakes, and therefore falls into l SGhSio oA delluliSldllOll Ol OeGIStdIJ All ger.
 The duties of provisioning an army and furnishing the medical supplies, field surgeons, hospitals, etc., including the work of transportation, whether by land or sea, and of distribution to regi- ment or company, are staff duties, duties resting upon a corps of officers known as the staff" Modern Euro
 pean military systems put the staff in, or nearly equal to, the first rank Tn the
 service. Von Moltke, the great militia ry genius of this century, was the chief of staff of the army of Prussia, then of
 North Germany, and then of the Ger
 man empire, and he has the credit of
 moving to the field, in splendid fighting
 condition, and at the proper moment
 tie masses of soldiers who won Sado-
 wa, Gravelotte and Sedan.
 With us the staff is treated as an in-
 ferior arm of the service. No great
 promotion can there be acquired, and 8
 good officer will struggle for promotion
 because of better pay and more glory.
 It is stated that at the outbreak of
 this war the best regular officers of the
 staff sought and obtained service in
 the field.
 One thing is certain. There is nc place in the army where there have