Arizona republican., 1898-06-28
THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Two H1onths have passed since the beginning of the war with Spain and it is by no means near it's end. If the government at Madrid permits it to take iIs natural course and does not interyose request for peace it may continue for long time yet, since there are many things that favor the enemy in their resistance. What we all hope for is that a decisive blow or two like that at Manila will convince the Spanish ministry and people of the futility of the struggle and bring about a petition for peace before any further bhsod is spilled or treasure sacrificed.
 But suppose Spanish "honor'' con-
 tiEues to be unsatisfied. How long
 will it take to reduce not only Santi- ago, but Havana, capture Porto Rico
 make good our hold upon the Philip pines, put Cuba into state of order and tranquility and establish ourselves securely in all these places? Suppose the queen regent and her subjects pre-
 fer a war to the death, cost what 1t
 may, to submission of any sort. The supposition seems unlikely, but it is quite possible to be realized.
 In that event, we have a hard task before us, and a tedious one. We are finding out every day how unprepared for hostilities we actually were. It is extremely fortunate that we went 1o war with Spain instead of with some first class power. If it had been Great Britain whom we challenged there might be British army of occupation to deal with.
 We have done a very great deal in these two months, and it ought not to be thought that inefdciency has char acterized our officials in the main. But we are doing work now that ought to have been done years ago. It is no summer days pastime to defend a long coast, equip great fleet of auxiliary vessels, get an unprepared navy into condition. secure and prepare squad ron of warships from other countries, provide for a largely increased body of regular troops, organize and equip 100000 volunteers, keep all the fac tions at home good natured and un- divided on the main issues of the war, provide for the government of several populous colonies that have been thrust upon us and in addition to all this maintain forward movement against the enemy. Spain finds it about as profita ble to sit quietly and let us gain ground upon her inch by inch as to pursue more active policy, but we must be positive in our conduct of the war. No negative course will suffice, for we have gone into it with a definite purpose in view. And so we must push forward almost before we are ready to do so. This two-fold demand upon us of simultaneous aggression and prepa- ration is of course the cause of our slow advance.
 It was impossible, at the outset, to see how large a scale the war would doSuuC. All Sduy tnC pISSlQCut AdS called for 100000 volunteers, and it is reported that he will soon call for 100, 900 more. As we undertake each new invasion the number of men re- quired for it has to be increased over the original estimates. General Shaf- ter is to be reinforced at Santiago, by some eight thousand troops, it is said. The force to be sent to Ma nila will number 2z,000 at the least. Porto Rico will re- quire 15,000 more, and when the grand coup is dealt at Havana the army is to be made so large that there will be no reasonable chance of disaster. All of these things show us that because of our condition at the outbreak of hostilities the war must progress slow 1y at best. It is to be no sixty or ninety days affair, unless Spain sues for peace unexpectedly soon