The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-14
Everybody reioiced when the proto-

Everybody rejoiced when the proto-
col was signed and peace was made.
But our troubles seem to have just
begun. The quarrels between gene
r,,ls and cabinet officers and the doe
tors and newspapers are bad enough,
but when are our soldier boys to quit
dying and go home? Some say the
camps are unhealthy, and even Mon
tank Point has been condemned by
DR.. Sem, who says it will soon be 8
camp Of horrors. Chickamauga WIS
condemned and now it is said Hunts
vile is no better. Tampa had to be
abandoned, and the death-rate Of
Porto Rico is increasing every day.
It makes one sick to read the chapters
q misery in the daily papers. Some
lay all the blame on Alger and some
charge it upon the unfeeling doctors.
Some say it is homesickness that
causes the great mortali and others
declare it to be the resalt of climate
changes-.the sudden transition from
Chickamauga to Tampa and Cuba and
Porto Rico. Whatever it may be, the
present condition is awful. The SOL
der boys have brought back with
them the germs Of malarial diseases
and are dying By thousands. 1t will
take good beds, good rooms, good
nourishment, good nursing and the
constant care Of kind parents.o Sis
ters or some near kindred to save any
Of them. We know all about it at our
house, for my wife and I nursed one
Of our boys in Florida for three long,
anxious months and barely saved him.
&c took him two years to recover after
We got him homo. BE was strong and
healthy, and went to Florida in June
to work on . railroad and che fever
took hold Of him and wasted all his
assh array. or course, he would
halte died but for onr constant caro-
and tender nursing. What then, can
Be expected of these boys taken from
stores and Offices and shady homes 70
thsI siekly heat Of tropical sun9
Major Bacon, our Senator, visited
Washington and begged Mr.. Mel Kinley
not to send the boys to Tampa OF
Cuba until the fall Of the year, but
the administration was in hurry and
paid no heed to him. He is states
man, If We have got any, and foresav
just what has happened. Three or
four thousand killed in battle, or died
from their wounds, and Is, 900 already
dead from fevsrs. If DR.. Sem and
other surgeons are to be believed the
number will be doubled or trebbled
before the year closes. Somebody has
blundered, and the maledictions OF
thousands Of bereaved parents are
upon the blunderers. Even Florida
summer sun is carefully avoided by
Floridians and the army tents at Tam
pa are poor protection.
During the four years of our civil
war there died Of disease in the federal
army 100, 600 men out Of an aggregate
Of 2,75O, 900, being about Z per cent,
and yet within four months out Of
less than 100, ,OO0 men sent to Florida
and Cuba and Porto Rico, 1,5OO have
already died, and they are now aver
aging over 200 day-can't get doc
tors enough, nor nurses enough, they
say.
Our navy has proved to be won
derful success, for it was already
Offered, but the management OF our
army has been series Of tlunders,
and but for the experience Of General
Wheeler and few others, would have
been miserable failure. AS tits,
the poor soldier boys are suffering and
dying like sheep, and there seems to be
no remedy. Verify, it is as was said
by the duke Of Wellington: Nothing
except battle lost is half SO melan-
choly as battle won.
And now the investigation is going
on, and it is searching. The republi-
can papers are more clamoring for it
than the democratic, aud they do not
spare the president. His blunder is
in not ignoring the pressure Of politi-
cal ofice-seekers. The republican
press seems divided as to Alger's fit
ness, but most Of their papers look
upon the fight between Alger and
Miles and Shafter as cat and dog
business all round. The general ver-
dict is that partisan politics and polit-
ical favoritism is at the bottom of
all this shameful neglect Of the poor
priyates in the ranks. Of course the
south comes in for large share Of
ohuua IN having such q sickly climate