The Portland daily press., 1898-07-25
NEWS FROM GEN. SKATER
Condition Of the Prisoners and Fosd
Of tile Soldiers.

Washington, July 24.-General Shafter
reported by cable today that the condition
OF the troops at Santiago was rapidly
improving and said he hoped in the
course of day or two to have them all
located in comfortable camps where they
may rest and recuperate and where the
sick may recover. He is feeding II 900
of the Spanish prisoners of war, and al
though he has not yet been nble to fur
nish them tents, yet this deficiency is be-
| ing made good and meanwhile their pres
emit condition is no worse in this respect
than was their condition before the sur
render
| The General makes no mention of the
letter from Garcia to himself, nor
does ne speak of any friction between
them, whence the department. has come
to doubt the authenticity of the published
| stories on these subjects.
In his report to the war department.
relative to the conditions at Santiago,
General Shafter has thrown some light
| upon the difficulties in which certain of
the newspaper correspondents there have
involved themselves. From his report
it would appear that, animated by ambi-
ton to take prominent part in the i'm
portant events following each other in
rapid succession at Santiago after the
Initiation of the of the negotiations for
the surrender of the city, few of the
correspondents were guilty of grave
breaches Of military law, necessitating
corrective action by General Shafter.
Thus, for instance, one correspondent in
his efforts to take part in the flag raising
over the City hall, resisted the military
officers in the execution of their duty and
even attempted personal assault upon
the commanding general. This made
him subject to summary and severe pun
ishment, even death, yet General Shafter,
probably realizing that ignorance OF
| military law was the explanation Of the
| action, contented himself with expelhng
| the correspondent from Cuba. "A more
serious oftense, from the fact that 1t
might easily have led to rioting and loss
| of life was that Of three other correspond
ents who, it appears by General Shafter' S
report, by circulating 1nflammatory pos
tiers stirred up the town. They were like
| wise deported and as evidence that he
had no personal ill-feeling towards the
paper represented by them, but desired
only to exercise such control as is imper.
atiyely demanded in the interest of safety
Of our troops and protection of the peo-
pie under their care General Shafter has
declared that these correspondents may
be replaced by others from the same
newspapers who will observe the rules of
prudence. No mention is made of any
other cases needing attention and it is in.
dicated that the relations between the
newspaper men and the army officers at
Santiago are generally amioable and sat
isfactory.
In very dignided manner General
Shafter takes notice of some of the severe.
ly critical newspaper articles that have
appeared touching the condition of the
troops before Santiago while they lay in
the trenches. He admits that there was
a shortage Of tobacco for time, but
shows conclusiVely that there was no lack
of the necessities of life and the troops
were adequately supplied with hard
bread, bacon, sugar and coffee. Although
this bill of fare Is not as extensive as that
afforded in garrisons itrembodies the
main features Of the army ration, while
on field service, and removed from a
base of supplies. AS it has been alleged
in some quarters that there W as a lack of
purpose in the battle incident to the
advance on Santiago, it is interesting to
note that while General Shafter. admits
that for two days he was himself lying Ill
owing to the great heat and exposure he
asserts that the plans laid down in ad-
vance for the movement were carried
out with absolute exactness.