The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-09-17
Shall There be an Investigation ?
From Philadelphia CPa.) Ledger, September 10.

From Philadelphia (Pa) Ledger, September 10.
Public opinion is u force to be reckoned
with in this country, and even Secretary AL
ger, who has hitherto seemed impervious to
the criticisms Of an indignant public and of
the faithful press, which gives voice to public
feeling, is beginning to recognize the preg-
nant fact that the public demand for an in
veStigatiOn of the conduct of the war from
first to last must be respected and obeyed.
With fatuous disregard for the public desire
to know the whole truth as to the RESPONSE
bility for the unnecessary sufferings of the
gallant army. which have been spread before
the public in such painful detail for weeks
past, and which have evoked such remark
able series of condemnatory comments in re-
preventative journals all over the country,
Secretary Alger some days since was reported
as declaring that there would be no invest-
CATION of the matter for the reason that there
was not nothing to investigate. The tidal
wave of popular Indignation and resentment
has not ebbed in the meantime, and now the
intelligence comes from Washington that Sec
reary Alger has asked for an investigation Of
his Department with reference to the conduct
of the war, and that this tardy request was the
subject of discussion at the Cabinet meeting
yesterday. This is the first hopeful symptom
that the magnitude of official short comings
the transportation and landing of troops, in
the care of enfeebled soldiers-that the gravi-
ty of official blunders of commission and of
omission are serious considered at Washing
ton as subjects for possible searching inquiry
The "Ledger'' has strenuously urged an
exhaustive investigation of the conduct of the
war in all It's ramifcations from the moment
that it was apparent that the mortality and
suffering among the troops could not be rea-
sonably attributed to the ordinary vicisstudes
of war, of even n war in the tropics at the
most dangerous season for active military op-
erations, or assigned to the ordinary risks and
dangers of camp life to which unseasoned
soldiers may be exposed. The mortality and
privatiOns among the troops in camp and on
transports so far exceeded the peril to which
they were subjected from the bullets of the
human enemy in Cuba that some eXplana-
tions of the situation other than the country's
''unpreparedness" for war or the Sudden
requirements of vast army became neces-
sary. The men who have perished in camps
where pestilence has walked at MONDAY, in
foul and crowded transports, or from lack of
proper medicine and food in ship or camp or
on the march, cannot be recalled to the living
scene, but they are the mute witnesses TO con-
ditions which were remediable and PREVENT
bic by clear foresight and due provision for
emergencies along the line of official respon-
sibility. The cloud of living witnesses to
these conditions, so disgraceful to the Repub
lc have carried and will carry the story of
departmental neglect, incompetence and
laundering incapacity to every American
constituency, and unless responsibility for
these conditions is ruthlessly fixed and deter
mined by the vigorous probing of board of
competent and impartial investigators, the
Administration will be discredited and public
condemnation will record itself wrathfully at
the ballot box.
President Mckinley owes it to himself, to
his fair name, to his sense of justice to the
American soldier and to the country to urge
a relentless official inquiry, to the end that
every and all officials, directly or remotely
answerable for the system of army manage
ment, or lack of management, in the late war
may receive the substantial punishment and
the obloquy that are the portion of those who
offend thus previously:
But the American public want the truth.
and the truth only. To meet widespread dis
! trust of Algerism and detailed accusations Of
incompetency in the War Department with 81
ence and inaction feeds the public discon-
tent, and if persisted in, will discourage en-.
listments in the future wars, which it may be
necessary to wage for the safety of the nation.
The strdent appeal of the public for an in
vestigation has reached Secretary Alger. The
Administration cannot act too swiftly in grant
ing Secretary Alger's request.