The times., 1898-09-12
WAR ON OUR SOLDIERS.
1"han Hawthorne's Opinion of Sec
retnry AIger,s Mefhads

/
retnry AIger's Methods.
| Our war with Spain was important and
interesting, but our war with our own
men in authority is more so. The welfare
and honor of the nation depend on II
more. III we are silenced hoodwinked
and humbugged by our officials and pub
] lie servants the disgrace will be greater
| and the effects more sinister than if we
had been beaten by Spain on land and
| sea, says Julian Hawthorne in the New
York Journal of yesterday.
| THE enemies we have to dread. and
whom We are bound to destroy. or they
will destroy us, are not the sovereigns of
Europe. with their armies, but the men
here at home, in positions of trust and
authority-in all positions, from low to
the highest-whom we, the American peo-
/ pie, elected to do what was honest right
and wise. and who have used their pow
ers TO do what was evil and shameful
| There is no excuse for it.
when we look at the corruption and
rottenness of Spanish rule as revealed by
this war, We say they affront human ma
! ture; but we remember that Spain is
HiOiiettGHSt tiidt hei pcOplt are
| ignorant, that her ruling class has never
| had any stimulus to high behavior: that,
with them, generosity and noble conduct
! bring no rewards nor recognition. But
we've are intelligent, educated. free, and
nowhere so much as in this country is
| civic virtue and labor for the common
| veal so highly honored. The rottenness
| of Spain is traditional. prescriptive. al
most inevitable, but is IL so in this coun-
| try? Are the robbery the falsehood, the
/ insolence, the cruelty, and the cowaFdice
which we have been compelled to witness
during the past month-are they the log
zeal result of the Revolution, of the Dec
| laration. of the civil war? Are they the
answer TO the prayers and the fruit of
| self-deyotion of the Pilgrims2 Spanish
officials themselves have not exhibited
\ the cruelty, rapacity, and baseness which
have been exhibited by our own officials
/ in the treatment of the soldiers of the
! State. Weyler? There are scores of en-
bryo Weylers among US. only waiting the
! chance 10 infiict upon their own country
men the outrages which Weyler reserved
| for his country's enemies Ask the moth
ers of America. sitting with the bodies of
! their dead sons across their knees. Who
| killed those boys? Who starved them?
| Who cursed them and insulted them in
| their helpless destitution and misery?
| w no Hileu luciI O"H Dtillt1S anu pJCh-
cts with the food and with the money
which belonged 20 those dead boys? Who,
! when confronted with the witness of
| those fostering corpses OF the brave
| youths of battle buc murdered in the
| home camp, replied that they died Of a
surfeit of dainties given by their foolish
| mothers and sisters and wives? Mr.
Alger, Secretary of War. said that and he
caused the appointment of the men who
did the other things; and when their guilt
was charged and proven he said the
charges were false and the culpTits in
nocent, and not only innocent but des ~
ing Of honor and reward. The man cap
able of saying that and doing that is as
evil as Weyler. and even more despicable /;
and the brood he has brought forth, from
Shafter down is worthy of him. But who
made Alger?
Not Aiger himself. His army record
is one of shame and dishonOr. After Lin
coins leniency had saved him from the
punishment he deserved he made a for
tune by selling lumber, and some of the
money so acquired he spent TO eject Nc
Kinley President. At no moment in his
career did he ever betray the possession
OF any quality which men honor and ad-
mire. But Mckinley made him Secretary
of War. And by that appointment, OF
course Mckinley becomes responsible for
Alger made Mckinley, or shared that
honor with Hanna, and Mckinley pays
his debt by making Alger. Alger con-
ducts the war, and now the question
comes, VIII Mckinley dare 10 unmake
what he has made? That depends on
what sort of a man Mckinley is
First and last. there have been diverse
opinions on that point, most OF them in
clining toward lenency. The average
verdict is that he is gentle, amiable,
kindly and intelligent; not a man of blood
and iron by any means. though / recall
a striking article published in the Herald
near the beginning of the war, and dated
from Washington, in which he is describ-
ed as a man with nerves of steel and q
will OF adamant, controlled by the brain
of q Bacon. Another correspondent, ap-
parently, is writing To the Herald from
| Washington now. But on the average we
have been saying that our President is a
man who is personally good and means
well. and does the best he can under diff
ficult conditions. That, at all events
was whatwe said or hoped up TO the time
of the Presidents visit 10 Camp Wikon
with Alger a week ago. Did that visit
modify our opinion OF him? II was a
crucial test Mckinley had a great op-
portunity there Is it the belief of the
country that he came out of it with flying
colors?
Many of the newspaper reports tried
to make it so appear. We were told that
the troops cheered him; that he person.
ally and Independently inspected all parts
of the camp: that he spoke kindly to the
soldiers. and told them that the country
was proud of them and would take care
of them; if they had not all they wanted
they only had TO say so. and the lack
would be supplied. and when he went
away he declared himself greatly relieved
TO find that the abuses complained of
were imaginary. All this sounded well
and. pleased Aiger and the officials. if il
pleased no one else
But in the week that has since passed
we have learned that the soldiers who
cheered him were dragooned into doing
so by their officers, and did ii from fear
not from enthusiasm or from belief that
any good would result from his visit; that
he did not independently visit all parts
of the camp and inform himself as to the
actual condition of it. but went only
where he was told to go, and saw only
what had been prepared for him to see:
that before he was allowed TO go there at
ness and starvation were hurriedIy re-
moved from the camp. at the risk. and
in many cases at the cost, of their lives
while other bad cases which could not
be moved from the camp were secreted
III places where they would escape obser-
vation; that the promises he made the
soldiers that their wants tif they had any)
would be supplied were not worth the
breath that uttered them, and that things
have been just as bad since then as they