The times., 1898-10-13
READY FOR REVOLT.
Gen. Dodgefs Methods Cause Friction
Among the Relief workers.

Among the Relief workers.
| The Alger Relief Commission continued
the examination, of Maj. Gen. William NJ
| Graham, WHO was in command at Camp
| AlSer, Yesterday Gen. Graham will be
| the last wftnessIJhe Commission will put
on the stand in Washington until after
IT'S return from its tour of inspection of
| the army camps, which will be some time
| after the ELECTION.
Inc Commission appeared anxious to
make the most of Gen. Grahams testi-
mohy, which was on the whole satisfacto-
| ~ TO the defense
In justice to Gen. Graham, however it
/ Is only fair to. say that he showed dis
position to cut loose and make some inn
portaht revelations. but, under the re-
strictlons made by Gen. Dodge in direct
ing the line of inquiry, he was not permit
teu 10 DO so. The result was that his
evidence was confined to discussion OF
commonplace and unimportant subjects.
Ihere are plain indications, however.
that some OF the members of the Commits
sion are chatting under the dictatoriaI
methods of Gen. Dodge, which are only
LOO apparently designed 10 shield Secre-
tary Anger and the Administration from
criticism, and are on the point of as
serting their independence and exposing
the Iarclcal character of the so-called in
Vestlsation up to date.
capt. Howell was the first member of
the commission to challenge Gen Dodge
and 1t is said that he will be followed bv
Col. Denby and perhaps one or two
olher members of the Commission later
| on.
capt. Howelfs revolt occurred during
| the examination of Capt Culver on Mon
oay. 1T was made manifest early In the
examination of Capt. Culver that he had
n ntnNy
| cate; ne was merely indulgng in a eulo-
| gy or Alger and everybody connected with
! the Administration
! APT hoWell interrupted him and said
that he did not think ii necessary to
question the witness further: that his
| testimony was unimportant and that 1t
| would De well TO call another witness
zen Dodge insisted upon continuing
the examination of Capt Culver He
said that he was giving the Commits
/ sion valuable information and in his
OPINION the witness ought not to be
smut on OF course Gen. Dodge had his
way and Capt Culver was permitted 10
| go on Tor an hour or more with the re-
cital of his dreary rubbish
However Capt. Howelrs objection
made painful impression upon Gei.
Dodge and the members of the Relief
commission who are in sympathy with
| MIN. II foreshadowed a division which
may lead to something, and naturally
! that is just what the Commissioners of
the Dodge type are most anxious 70
avoid
Ihe important point of preventing
damaging exposures before election has
/ apparently been accomplished The
/ commission will call no more witnesses
/ here until after Its return to Washing
! ton and Gen. Dodge will try to prevent
any disagreeable information reaching
! the public through the medium of the
/ Commission while it is engaged in its
inspection work.
There Is chance, however, of some
interesting disclosures in spite of Gen.
Dodge's precautions after the Commits
/ sion reaches Florida
The charge is made by some army OFF,
GERS that Capt. Fred. Alger. a son of the
! Secretary OF War, was mixed up in a
peculiar way with the location of the
/ camp at Miami Fla The site is said to
! have been morass which needed clear
ing and the camp was located there ac-
1 cording 10 report, chiefly for the purpose
of having the ground cleared up by the
soldiers. Capt. Alger, II is charged. was
! a part owner of the land This matter
! will be looked into carefully by two or
| three members of the Commission and
| if the accusations are found TO be true
! they will see to il that the facts are
made public even If il should Interfere
with the plans Of the administration re-
garding the Congressional elections next
month.
Upon resuming his testimony before the
Commission yesterday morning Gen Gra-
! ham gave his opinion of the causes of
! illness at Camp Alger. The ground was
| limited he said. "and the tents of neces-
| sity were close together. causing the men
| To breathe the air from each other 5
! tents. The lack of bathing facilities was
| partially remedied and men were
marched seven miles from camp for bath
! ing once each week. Another cause of i'll
ness was the eating of ice cream and
| other delicacies. One man ate ice cr am
between 6 and o'clock in the morning.
| and the next minute called for a box OF
| sardines. do not know whether the man
got the sardines or not
| only per cent of the troops were al
! lowed in Washington on passes at ore
J time. The same rule prevailed at Camp
| Meade but the number was increased at
| the latter place after some of the regi-
/ ments were mustered out Col. A c.
| Girard was the chief medical officer at
| Camp Alger. There was a general di-
vision hospital there and at one time an
/ order was issued for the establishment
/ in addition. of small regimental hospitals.
where a man taken suddenly i'll could BE-
| attended
Gen. Graham added that he approved of
the division hospital system as it allowed
| the chief medical officers TO be In c.ose
| contact with all cases
There was no lack of medical sup
| plies at Camp Alger' he continued
There were number of volunteer med
ical officers, though, in regiments who
were inexperienced and did not know
what to do They had to be broken in.
Even then men suffered through the
neglect of such officers, who failed to
! recognize the necessity of making out
descriptive lists. Men would come to
division hospitals without descriptive
lists. and the paymaster could not give
them their money. In the same way
they would become lost from their COM
panies. Men going to division hospi-
tails should have descriptive lists, as
much so as if going to New York City
Gen Graham said that the general
subsistence department was most eff
cient and the officers, as a rule were
very attentive.
DIR. Connor brought to Gen. Graham's
attention a report from DR. Smart that
the tents were badly crowded-so much
so that battalions occupied space too
small for companies.
That is untrue said Gen Graham.
did the surface drainage run into the
wells?" DR.. Connor asked.
u am sure that il did not" Gen
Graham answered
"A medical officer here says that it
did" 81
Il positively deny that, SIR" responded
the witness.
Did physicians with the troops going
to Manassas fail to carry their pouch as -
Il am not sure. / know of an instance
of young man whom | found Ill in the
road and u sent for a physician being