Evening star., 1898-12-22

OhcIuueS.
Gen. Miles before the commission in adj
dltion to the testimony reported in The
Star yesterday, stated that the first plans
Tor sending troops to Cuba were not his as
lie was opposed to sending troops there
until Cervera's fleet was located The uues-
ton at the outset was a naval problem
ana the dispatch Of troops there, in his
Judgment. hinged on which fleet should
destroy the other. If the Spanish, he
thouSht, had destroyed the United States
fleet the United States would have been
blocked for number of years
II we had had a force in Cuba then we
would nave lost 1t, as it would have been
Impossible to get it back here"
He was also opposed to sending large
force to places like Havana or Matanzas
because of the large percentage of yellow
ItNef deaths there. He said the dest trlIction
oI SerVeras fleet settled that problem He
sdld he wanted to operate with a small
IoFce against the Spanish forces by har-
aSslhS them during the sickly season, aid
ing the Cubans and not endangering the
ilVeS OF his own force. He also at first
favored taking Porto Rico to prevent the
spanish from using that as It base of oDcra-
ions. ten Niles gave details of the Porto
tllcah expedition organization and obstacles
ne tHplalned ms reason for not landing
near San Juan. The cables were all in the
possession Of the French Company. and
sad ne, Il was afraid they would give
away our plans and destination to the
Spaniards."
Gen. Merritt's Testimony.
General Wesley r. Merritt in the after
noon began his testimony by description
OF the operations around Manila prior to its
capture owing to the smallness of his
ioFce he said, the army was compelled to
operate along the sea front in co-operation
with the navy. Had there been larger
American force on hand the city could have
hE4 ts1yg
peeh taken from the high ground inland,
Dut TINS was tactically impracticable with
out leaving our base at the mercy of both
Spaniards and Insurgents
Inc cify's defenses were good The Span
, iarus had excellent arms and plenty of am
muhltlon-all they lacked was sand" The
engagement lasted not over two hours
Inc army had both Spaniards and insur
gents to contend with.
me insurgents We're very anyious to
take part in the attack" said General Mer
rltt' put they Were not notified when the
attack would be made as | was surn tbe
entrance OF the Filipnos into the city
some loo;ing." ~
General Merritt said the American losses
were not correctly stated in the press re-
porls; Ihey We're about 120 officers and
men Killed and wounded. No accurate az
count of the Spanish loss was ever Obtain
aDie. The American force however can
tured over 1000 stand of modern arms
severe. ~ W
Merits of Rifles.
Ihere was some discussion in the COM
mission over the relative merits of the
Springfield and the modern small caliber
flfe This drew from General Merritt the
statement that personally he should prefer
the Springfield with smokeless powder to
the "caiiber 30 or the Mauser
However, some of the line officers would
be better judges of that than t. he added
AS an instance of the lack of stopping
power of the small bore rifle he said one
OF his officers was shot through the leg in
the Manila fight and did not know it till
the next morning.
General Merritt said in reply to questions
that the volunteers We're as enthusiastic
as could be desired. He regarded them as
very excellent troops
The supplies were satisfactory at all
times except as to ice and milk for fever
patients. He explained this by saying that
there was apparently no milk producing
animal in that region. There were some
small cattle apparently imported from
China, but tfley gave milk to speak Of
AS to medical supplies and hospital con-
veniences, General Merritt said he had
heard. no complaint. On entering the CITY
the army took possession of all the good
houses 1t needed Ind turned them over to
the medical Zyar,ment. The sick and
wounded were thus well provided for
The army in the island dapap5ad ,,Dao