The age-herald., 1898-09-23
HAS NOTHING TO WITHHOLD
The War Department Was Not Prepared
 to Equip the Volunteers.
HAD NO TENTS OR AMBULANCES
The Secretary Says That the Declara- ton of War Was Unexpected, and Therefore His Task Was
 the. More Heavy.

Chattanooga, Tenn, Sept. 22.-Secretary Alger, who arrived last night was astlr early today About o'clock the secre- tary and Surgeon-General Sternberg, ac- companied by Brigadier-General Boynton left for Chickamauga Park, where they spent the day in a critical inspection of the hospitals over which there has been so much controversy. Before leaving Chat tanooga Secretary Alger said to a reporter:
 ''The press has been disposed to eXagger- ate the condition of some of the camps and things have been charged against the war department which were untrue and unWar- ranted. l want the facts and all the facts to come out and have nothing to withhold from the public.
 "The great trouble has been that the peo- pie have not appreciated the immense prob- lem of forming an army of 200,W0 Volun- teers without notice and without the neces- sary equipment. The Spanish war came upon us almost like bolt from clear
 If there are any commanding officers who now incompetent or who fail to put their camps in iirst-class condition and sky, and it found every branch of the war department unprepared for the task of equippng and handling such vast num- Der Of unframed men.
 Had no Ambulances
 For a time there was difficulty in fur nishing supplies and equipment for the troops, but that was to be expected. The department had only a limited supply of tents and it had practically no wagons and ambulances to start with. There were thousand and one details to look after and a fairly disposed public will understand the disadvantages under which the war de- partment worked for many weeks. As fast as possible equipment and supplies were sent to the several camps and if there has been lack of medicines and necessaries of life, the fault lies with the commanding officers of the camps.
 There may have been some incompetent officers, generals and colones in charge of some of the camps and if such is found to be the case they will be held strictly to ac- count for their msdeeds.
 keep them that way, l propose that they shalI be replaced by men who are compet- ent and who will see that perfect sanitary conditions are established and maintained" Secretary of War Russell A. Alger, Sur geon General Sternberg and party have made a thorough inspection of Chicka- mauga today. The party left the city in their special car at S15 this morning, and since have been busily engaged going from place to place over the battlefield.
 Visit to the Hospitals
 The first place visited was Letter hospital, where about an hour was spent. From Letter the party went to the Sternberg hos pital, where another hour was spent. In both hospitals General Alger and General Sternberg spoke cheering words to each and and every ope of the patients and shook hands with every nurse. One re- mark General Alger repeated often was; 'I honor you, brave boys, as much as do any of the wars heroes"
 At Il o'clock the visitors got to Lytle There they were met by the entire Sixth regiment United States volunteers. The general reviewed the regiment on dress pa- rade and highly complimented the men. A salute of seventeen guns was fired in his honor by an artillery squad.
 At noon the general returned to his car, where he spent some time looking after ac- eliminated correspondence and receiving callers.
 The party returned to the city at S:SO o'clock. After a banquet at the Read house tonight the visitors will leave at 10 o'clock for Huntsville.
 General Alger said that the present con dition of the hospitals here is far better than he expected and practically all that could be desired.