The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-06-28
SANTIAGO MAY BE BESIEGED
SOME OFFICERS BELIEVE THIS
 WILL BE NECESSARY.
Problem Now Confronting the Am eri-
 can Army is the Transportation of Supplies for the Roads to the Front Are Still Impossible for Wagons Cuba ms With Advance Forces Seem to
 be Utterly WorthIess-Sitin in the Shade,
 Smoke Cigarettes and Gorge on Uncle

be Utterly WorthIess-Siti in the Shade,
 Smoke Cigarettes and Gorge on Uncle
 Sam's Rations.
 Off Santiago de Cuba, June 26, via Kington, Jamaica, June 27.-Some of- ticers say it will be necessary to lay a regular siege to Santiago de Cuba and advance with a line of earthworks until the rifle pits can be shelled with /shrap- nel by the light artillery. These pieces have an effective shrapnel range of g. 800 yards, and the Mauser rifles in the hands of the Spaniards are sighted to 1900 yards and they kill at 2,100 yards.
 However gratifying to the national pride is the careless attitude of our en- listed men, the grave fear remains that
 they may need a more severe lesson
 than the ambush of the Rough Riders
 before they realize the deadly possibili-
 ties of modern warfare, even in Span ish hands.
 The road over which the ordnance
 must be brought is densely lined by
 underbrush. Every yard is an artificial
 hedgerow and the road to the base of supplies is in a similar state, but very little danger is apprehended of a flank
 is acting strictly on the defensive. The failure of the Spanish troops at Hol-
 guin, Manzllo and Guantanamo to ef- feet a junction with him have left the
 Spanish commander so weak that it
 would be an act of insanity upon his
 part to attempt to assume the aggres- sive, or to retreat
 The problem now confronting tne American army is the transportation of supplies. for the roads to the front are still impossible for wagons, but are be- ing improved. In the meantime, the pack train is being used. The first of these left Juragua last night and oth- CTS left to-day. The officers and men were completely out of rations yester- day. The Seventh received half rations
 and to-day they received nothing. The
 boys are complaining bitterly but are
 pacific on the assurance that the pack train will be here tonight. Should a night attack occur our soldiers would fare worse than did the marines at Guantanamo, as the attacking force ~here would not be at the disadvantage of having to charge uphill.
 The Cubans with the advance forces,
 in spite of the good behavior of their comrades at Guantanamo, seem to be utterly worthless. All day they sit in the shade of their palm matched camps and at night they smoke cigarettes and gorge on Uncle Sam's rations, while in sight of them Uncle Sam's boys, with
 empty stomachs and not bit of tobac-
 co for their pipes, build roads all day
 under the blazing sun and sleep on their rifles under the stars at night. The Spaniards are using -sheat-
 ed lead bullets and the brass rips on touching and tears the flesh horribly, while the small brass splinters cause blood poisoning. They are practically eApioSiNe puiiSlS, dHu dIe uSeu III tHe1F Reningtons They also cut a small
 cross through Tthe end of the Mauser
 bullet so that it mushrooms on striking
 with similar result. The outlook here is threatening. Everybody believes a
 great battle is imminent. With the Spanish and American, advance posts close enough to see the whites of each others eyes collision may occur at any moment.