The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-19
sONE CAMPAIGN AMMUNIrIoN.

] SObE a MIAlSHN AMMt NlIION.
In our Washington dispatches yesterday
the statement was made. on what was said
to be the authority Of a Spanish officer
of prominence, that If the Spanish govern
ment had known TO what straights our
army at Santiago was reduced, as shown
| by the reports Of our newspapers. it would
not have consented to the surrender OF
that city, and would not have asked for
| our terms of peace when il did. on the
contrary, the war would have been contin-
ued with the belief that Spain could have
held Cuba
It may be that prominent Spanish Of
fcer made the foregoing statement. but il
| is somewhat remarkable that the name Of
the officer is not given. But even if the
statement was made, what does it amount
to? Our army went to Santiago to take
that city, and it would have taken IL even
if its condition had been a great dean
worse that IL was There were 100000 SOL
ders waiting to go there. and they would
have been sent there if they had been
needed. Besides the condition Of our
troops at Santiago was not as bad as that
Of the Spanish troops. Before our troops
began TO be sick the Spanish troops were
hardly able to crawl out of the trenches.
The hospitals in Santiago were full Of
them. and the mortality among them was
fearful. Five days before the surrender
Gen. Linares wrote TO the general in chief
at Havana and to the minister of war at
Madrid, begging TO be authorized to sur
hf eFt
less, and that his army was so weak from
disease that if he attempted TO leave the
city fully one-th.rd of it would have to
remain behind. lie also said that TO CON
tend further was useless sacrifice. In
the face Of a statement like this-a state
ment that cannot be successfully contra
dicted-it is not probable that much
weight will be attached TO the alleged
statement of the prominent Spanish Of
flcer viz; THAI If the condition Of our
army had been known Spain would not
have surrendered
But after ali was not the alleged state
ment of the nameless Spanish officer given
TO the newspapers for the purpose of In
fluencing the congressional elections IN
favor of the Republican party? The rea-
son for asking this question Is the fact
that some of the Republican papers are
saying that the effect of the criticisms of
the conduct of the war and of the war de-
partment has been 10 create in the minds
Of the Spaniards the belief that the Amer
leans could have been kept out of Cuba,
and to influence the Spanish government
TO make demands in respect to the Cuban
and Philippine debts. In other words, the
papers which have been, and are still,
condemning the conduct of the war are
told that they are responsible for the de-
lay of the peace commission in framing
a treaty of peace.
No doubt the attacks which have been
made upon the war department and even
upon the President in connection with the
conduct of the war have had damaging
effect upon the Republican party They
account in some measure for the apathy.
to which Senator Hanna recently refer
red, among the Republican voters. There
fore, the story that the publications re-
lating to the conditions which existed in
our army at Santiago and in the home
camps are having the effect of making the
Spaniards inclined not to comply with the
terms of the protocol, Is just as likely as
not campaign material intended to check
the attacks upon the conduct Of the war
and thus help the Republicans in their
efforts to capture the next House.