Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-09-17
HOW A60U1 CAMP MHRRl 1 I

Los Angeles (Cal) Daily Times (Reps)
When the government Of the United
States begins an investigation as to
the why's and wherefores Of the loca-
tion of our soldiers in camps OF dis
ease and misery, it is to be hoped that
the matter of Camp Merritt in San
Francisco will not be overlooked, for
it is one of the most outrageous ex-
amples of camping ground apparently
located because of a sinister pull, IN
all the long list of noisome, disease
breeding and deleterious camps.
1t has come to the knowledge of
the Times that before a tent stake was
driven in the damp and deadly sand of
Camp Merritt, one of the most distin-
guished citizens of the State, man of
..ational fame and commanding influ-
ence, went in person to the geeral Off
Ger then in command in San Francisco,
and entered his protest against placing
our men in that bit of unhealthful ter
ritory. He explained to the officer in
full detail why tie camp would surely
prove disastrous to the health and NOR
ais of our troops; told him Of the ma
ture of the soil; pointed out to him that
it was a wind and fog-swept area that
would conduce to pneumonia and kim
dred diseases, and made every posi-
~ off 70 no bn of
Sle Preside or sent to some other
location where they could be protected
from the raids of harlots and shielded
from the fog-filledl blasts from Old
oceans dreary waste. Despite this pro-
test, and in face of conditions plain
upon their face, Camp Merritt was
established, ard the people of this coun-
try want to know the reason why, they
insist upon knowing the reasons, and
if there be justice in this land of ours.
they shall know the reasons sooner
or later.
There is one reason babb,ed about
the streets of San Francisco and whis-
perez in drawing-rooms; it is told
across dinner tables and chatted about
in hotel lObbies-that reason is this:
The street railway lines controlled by
Coils P. Huntington and his associates
coveted the traffic resultant from the
location Of the troops at Camp Merritt,
and men who claim to know say there
was no ether reason. Mr.. Huntington
does not contro, the railway lines run
ming to the military reservation at the
Preside, and he saw the immense traf-
tic of the soldiers and their friends De-
ing diverted. because of the Preside
Location, to competing lines. Hungry
with greed and utterly regardless OF
the health. morals or comfort OF the
boys who had enlisted to fight for the
flag of II nation, the octopian pull"
somewhere else. and the men Of our
volunteer forces were bundled out Of
comparatively healthy quarters on the
governments military reservation and
made to wallow for long, dreary, deadly
months in one of the most wretched
and awful locations that was ever the
bivouac of a soldier.
AS we have said, this is the loudly
proclaimed reason given in the city OF
San Francisco why our gallant boys,
the pink and flower of our country,
have been left to lie ard rot with dis
ease and SILVER with the cold, that
portion of the street railway lines
owned by the Huntington outfit might
be enabled to garner glorious harvest
of nasty 5-cent pieces. If this is the
true reason, the people want to know
it; if it is not the true reason, the
Huntington tribe has the right to have
the fact indisputably established; there
fore, when this matter Of camp scandal
investigation begins, the people of Cal
ifornia have a right to demand that the
whole story about camp Merritt be
brought out in all its hideousness, no
matter whose head may fall at the con-
clusion of the inquiry A frightful
wrong has been done to cur soldiers:
they have been murdered, from all ap-
pearances, to make a Huntingtonian
holiday, and the blame for the crime
must be located where it belongs, ana
the guilty must be punished, though
the heavens fall