The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-09-17

neglected to notify the Quartermaster General
of the President promise. AT any rate, here
is regiment which went to Santiago more
than 1900 strong and, while it never went into
battle, goes back to Ohio 752-weak
Do the powers that be learn anything from
such experiences, which have become, alas
but too familiar? Nothing. Read in this
mornings Herald the story of the awful suffer
ings Of the First Illinois-Chicago's crack
regment-and your blood will timgle with in
dignation. ''Horrors on horrors head ac-
eumulate.
This sort of thing has now been going on
for weeks and weeks. Appeals, petitions.
protests against the laundering incapacity OF
the Department Of which Secretary Alger is
! the head have poured in upon President Nc
hnley. All have been ignored. Dispatches,
letters from members of Congress and Cover
nors of States have, apparently, been tossed
into the waste basket at the White House. At
first the people were inclined to shield the
President. They argued that he had been
misled into making vicious appointments; that
he had been i'll advised, but that he meant
well, and would do his duty as soon as it should
be made plain to him. The people are now
convinced that they were too optimistic
time has come for plain speaking
1t Is simple axiom of the law that qui facit
per alum tacit per se-he who does any act
| through another does it himself Secretary
Alger-who, by curious coincidence. leaves
| Washington Just as General Miles reaches the
capltai-s being denounced from one end Of
the land to the other as responsible for lack of
sincerity and intelligence in the administration
of the War Department, and the consequent
chaotic stale of the army and the suffering and
death among the troops while upon their own
kindly soil. But the people are now asking,
II Secretary Alger is responsible for this, who
is responsible for Secretary Alger and the
answer is, the President. In colloquial par
lance, ''it is now up to Mr.. Mckinley" and
the question is, What do you propose to do,
| Mr.. President?
The notion that by ignoring the awful facts
| which are moving the heart of the country to
its very core you will succeed in lodging the
responsibility and that the storm Of public
wrath will elbow over'' is fatuous. From the
commanding general of the army and the Gov
ernors of States-Republican as we'll as Dem
ocratlc-down to the humblest private in the
ranks and to the most obscure comes the de-
mand for investigation, reformation, retribu-
ton This is no time to initiate the ostrich
which, circled with hunters, buries its head in
the sand and imagines that it is safe. You
are exposed, your party is exposed, the cOun-
try is exposed to a dire peril by your feeble
attempt to dodge this issue. In the presence
Of the daily neglect and torture of our troops,
| without any attempt at redress on the part of
| the Administration, many of the voters who
| helped to elect you as the representative of
| sound money, are now asking themselves
whether there are not some things even worse
than fifty cent dollars. An aft: native answer
to this question in the approaching elections
would mean disaster.
Don't fool yourself, Mr.. Mckinley. This
outburst of public feeling is too heartfelt to
elbow over" The Administration must take
vigorous, radical, immediate action or it will
be "blown over" by the cyclone of universal
! nOpnlar wrath.