The age-herald., 1898-11-16

The aDOVG lebleT 1TOiu MI D. T OAOAluh is only one of thousands.
 the fact that it deprived the central au- thorities from securing information, and as a consequence the office was practically without it.
 "The order had the effect of cutting the umbilical chord,' he said "and the circu- lation was not good.' As a result of the change, when he had asked for facts in the office to include in his report he had failed to find any there
 Evils Were Inevitable
 Resuming his remarks of a general char acter, General Breckinridge expressed the opinion that there had not been enough fighting to obscure other facts common to war. He thought the evils which had been experienced were inevitable under our American system. He condemned this sys- tenn as most reprehensible, and said the volunteer soldier must always suffer the worst of the consequences.
 If the regular stands up under it better than the volunteer it is only because he has had time to adjust himself to the un- favorable conditions" He traced all the trouble to the want of preparation and mo- bilization in .irse of peace, and that, in turn, to the failure of congress to appro- priate the necessary money for reforms.
 Replying to a question from MT Wood- bury, he said that "considering the system he thought the government had done far better in it's conduct of the war than any, body had expected, and just one-fourth as well as it should have done"
 General McCook asked General Breckin- ridge if he had visited General Shafter in his tent when the latter was i'll at Santia- go, and General Breckinridge replied that he had done so.
 Did he then offer the command of the army to you as has been reported in the press?'
 General Breckinridge replied: "I very much prefer not to answer that question. You should ask General Shafter. Such conversation as occurred between General Shafter and myself on that occasion is not of character to be spoken of lightly l fail to see how a reply from me would promote the object of your inquiry. You want to know what General Shafter did, not what he may have thought of doing. If General Shafter has not repeated the conversation, I ought not to do so."
 Did Not Assume Command
 "As a matter of fact he did not turn the command over to you?" suggested Cover nor Beaver, to which General Breckinridge responded: NO, he did not, and do not think there is any impropriety in my say ing that he could not have done SOL
 With this the matter was allowed to drop and General Breckinridge was excused.
 Captain Robert w. Dowdy, who was mas
  stated that at the beginning of the history of the camp, the supply of transportation facilities was inadequate, though they were afterwards improved
 While there had been much criticism of the railroad running to the camp, he thought it had answered the demands upon it very satisfactorily. He said there was not a sufficiency of ambulances, but that there were enough of them to carry all sick soldiers who were not able to walk.
 It was not true that these vehicles had been used for purposes other than those for which they were intended, and the nsws- paper stories to the contrary were made out of the whole cloth. He described the strike of the carpenters at the camp and said that many of the men at first employ ed were tramps and utterly worthless.
 Dr. c. l.. Magruder, local physician, testified to visiting Camp Alger on three different occasions. He said he had found the tents too near each other, and the sinks very near the kitchen in many in- stances. The surface water was bad, and he also thought the presence of so many hucksters about the camp was responsible for about 50 per cent. of the sickness. He mentioned one regiment which was com- peller to haul water for several miles, and the officers of which he said often were unable to get what was necessary even for drinking purposes
 Dr. Weaver Testifies
 Dr w c. Weaver of the Ninth Pennsyl- vania volunteers was the first witness at the afternoon session, and he proved an important witness, as he gave detailed in- formation concerning the conduct of a reg imental hospital at Camp Thomas. Dr. Weaver said that typhoid had broken out on June B, and that it had increased from that time until August 20. There had been about 500 cases O fthis disease in the regl- ment and 2e or 30 deaths. The doctor said there was an insufficient supply of drugs and that at times he failed to get what was needed. Quinine was one of the arti- cles of which there had been a scarcity, and 100 900 pills were secured from home. He said that at one time there were 56 ty- phoid patients in the regimental hosptal because there was no accommodation for them in the division hospital. At another camp tents for whom admission could not be secured in any hospital, division or regi- mental.
 In summing up the cause of disease in the camp Dr. Weaver included overwork of the men as one. The first revielle sound ed at 4:3o and after that time the men were kept quite constantly engaged with drills and other exercises until 6:05 notwithstand- ing the weather was intensely hot. He also expressed the opinion that the water from Chickamauga creek was polluted. He con- sidered the waiter in the stream as hardly fit to bathe in, much less to drink. His in- formation was that there were possible sources of contamination above the intake pipe of the pipe line system. The doctor admitted that he had never visited the creek at the pumping station.
 The Difficulties Encountered
 pr. Weaver related his diniculties in se- curing tents for the regimental hospital,