The evening times., 1898-09-03
SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 3, 1895.
General NheeIer,s Statement.

We do not intend to guess at the in
nuences that induced General Wheeler
TO write his amazing lattar-.hough we
think the prime motive was d natural
desire to maintain a soldiers reputa-
tiOn for bearing even unnecessary
hardships. abuse and injustice without
complaint 1t is 10 be remembered
that for four years his military career
was one Of constant privation. He was
in the service Of a Confederacy that
was without money. and for at least
three years without the means to pro-
vide regular rations, clothing and other
necessities; and it was noble to endure
without a murmur To the point of star
walton and death. just as he is said
to have forgotten at Santiago that he
was not assaulting the Yankees so
he has now failed to consider that the
nation the soldiers serve is the richest
on earth and the most eager to pro-
vide for all the reasonable wants Of
its army.
IL Is not surprising that General
Wheeler should be ignorant OF the most
essential facts Of failure charged
agains army administration, and es-
pecjally Of the just complaints of the
worst victims. While, in common with
the soldiers. he may have been on short
raticns before Santiago, he WAS still
under the care Of the doctors and had
to be carried to the front on a stretch
er. H was not neglected by the medi-
cal staff and he was not able 10 go
among the men in the trenches to learn
that il was because Of their insufficient
nourishment that they subsequently
became The easier prey of disease
germs ii is not To be denied that in
obtaining this letter from General
Wheeler the War Department has
achieved more than in pushing Hanna
Grosvenor and other Republican par
t.sdns to the front as its defenders
But not even General WReeler's posi-
tive denial Of a proved fact can Danish
the fact. That the soldiers have COM
planned, bitterly and often and most
justly, Of their needless sufferings
there is convincing evidence In the
newspapers of the country We find the
statements Of hundreds Of volunteer
Of tried and approved valor as TO the
priyations they had to bear and the
criminality Of which they speak in the
strongest terms Most often these are
in the form Of letters TO parents, which
the latter have given to the press. We
think there are not less than a thou
sand instances in which good soldiers
have made careful but positive, charges
Of iniiiCtions that are obviously, and
therefore undeniably. the result either
of incompetence or Willful neglect on
the part Of the bureaus Of transporta-
tion or commissary supplies, or OF a
lack Of reasonable foresight and care
on the part Of a commanding general.
AS TO General Wheeler'S effort to
make il appear that at Montauk Point
the hardships the sick men suffered
were unavoidable and that everybody
in authority is blameless, it would be
hooted out of any court where the rules
Of evidence are applied. Against Cen
eral Wheeler's letter we place the dis
interested and careful statement of En-
sign Middlebrook. written to a friend.
after a thorough personal examination
Of every part of the five miles of camp
incidentally this navy officer bears tes-
timony to the awful condition of the
transports that brought home the sick
and wounded. If ever an investigation
is made il will reveal things of which
General Wheeler is at present ignorant.
and which viii cause him to bitterly
regret having come to the defense of
stupidity and carelessness in the treat
ment Of the American soldiers