The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-31
FACTS ABOUT CAMPS.
Complaints Are Reflections Upon Om-
GERS and the Men in the Ranks.

Washington Letter in Chicago Inter Ocean.
The newspapers. the soldiers and the peo-
pie at home who are making complaints
against the army camps and attacking the
secretary of war as responsible are short
sighted. Their attacks do not touch the
War Department in Washington They fall
directly upon the army, regulars and vol
unteers, and reflect upon the ability, in
tegrity and intelligence of the best military
commanders in the army. and also upon the
discipline and soldierly qualities OF the vol
unteers.
So long as these attacks and complaints
were confined to the condition of the trans
ports they fell upon the bureaus of the War
Department, the surgeon general, quarter
master general and commissary general,
all officials who were in control before Sec
rotary Alger entered the Cabinet, and Of
ficials who could be removed or relieved
only by the President But the critics of
the secretary of war have gone beyond the
Santiago campaign.
They are now complaining of the condi-
ton of the camps in this country, as though
Secretary Alger had personal command of
each and all. In making charges of gross
neglect in these camps these critics are at
lacking the reputation and character of the
best trained commanders in the army and
the army itself There has been no military
camp in this country or in Cuba that has
not been under command of a regular army
officer of high rank.
The latest complaints are now made
against Camp Thomas at Chickamauga
Park. The camp was established by Major
General Brooke, who was in command OF
the Department of the Lakes, with head
quarters at Chicago General Brooke has
been in the regular army since the civil
war, and at the beginning of this war was
one of the three major generals. He is re-
garded as one of the best officers in the
army. He established Camp Thomas, and
was IN command until he went to Porto
Rico, when he was succeeded by General
Wade, another major general and regular
army officer of long experience. When Cen
eral Wade went to Porto Rico he was sue
ceeded by General Breckinridge, who has
had years of experience in the army.
The charge of neglect, mismanagement,
and ignorance of sanitary regulations at
Camp Thomas are therefore charges against
these three generals. The division COM
manders at Camp Thomas were also regular
army officers, and the large part of the
troops were volunteers from the middle
West. The fault if fault there was, must
fall upon the commanders, or the men them
selves in that camp; for,-the typhoid fever
which developed there cannot be traced to
the War Department in Washington, nor
any of the bureau chiefs.
The secretary of war does not blame the
commanders at Camp Thomas for the
typhoid fever epidemic nor does he hold the
army responsible. Climatic conditions are
regarded as responsible for much of the
sickness. But the critics who are holding
up Camp Thomas as an example OF incom-
potency should remember that they are
charging this lncompetency against regular
army officers of high standing, or against
their own troops, who failed TO obey regu-
lations prescribed for their own health and
comfort. If Brooke. Wade and Breckin-
ridge are incompetent intelligently to es-
military training and experience have been
failures in this country
If the men at Camp Thomas could not be
drilled into living under proper sanitary
regulations, 1t is a severe reflection upon
the habits and character Of the volunteers,
who the flower of American manhood.
What is true of Camp Thomas is true of
every other camp. Major General Coping
er of the regular army was ia command
at Tampa, and if any official is responsible
for the fever in that camp he and his staff
officers and division commanders. all regu-
lar army officers, must be responsible.
Maj. Gen. Fftzhugh Lee is in command at
Jacksonville, Fla, and he is the only COM
mander who was not regular army Off
Ger, but he had much experience in the civil
war. There has been little feVer at jack
sonville, and the critics of the War Depart
ment would therefore say that General Lee
was better commander of military camp
than General Brooke, who established and
commanded Camp Thomas.
Major General Graham was in command
at Camp Alger, where typhoid fever de-
veloped and he is now In command of Camp
Meade in Pennsylvania, whittier these
troops We're removed. General Graham had
General Davis, of the regular army, and
General Butler, a veteran of the Confed-
crate army, for his division commanders.
General Young, of the regular army, eStab-
lished Camp Wikoff at Montauk and Gen.
Wheeler succeeded him in command.
Secretary Alger selected the most expert
enced generals in the army for the corps
commanders, and they were placed In
charge of the camps. They made no COM
plant to the War Department and no
recommendations until typhoid fever be-
came epidemic at Camp Alger and at Camp
Thomas. These Recommendations were
acted upon Immediately and the camps
abandoned.
There is no disposition at the War De-
partment to shield itself by making COM
plant against these men for failure 10 90
their duty. Secretary Alger believes IN the
ability and integrity of every one of them.
The critics who are lighting secretary
Alger and holding up the military camps IN
this country, with their typhoid fever cpl
DENIES as examples of incompetency would
do well to remember that their attacks are
not on the War Department, but upon the
United States army. the regular army OIL
GERS and the great army of volunteers.
An UnmanIy Complaint.