The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-21
Investigate and Punish.

nations winch the NalOr ana the ELL
cheney of our soldiers and sailors have
achieved for America
Some of our soldiers might be eX-
cused for doubling the sincerity of the
popular professions of appreciation. if
il were not that they are intelligent
enough TO acGuit the people of re-
sponsibility for the criminal neglect
and inefficiency of those whose particu-
lar business it has been to provide for
the natural wants of the army If,
however, the public demand for an in
yestigation does not become loud
enough to produce an effect, the vic
Tins may find warrant for rejecting
the costless expressions of gratitude
as pure hypocrisy.
Nothing is too good for our heroes"
was the general cry when we received
the story of the storming Of the enc
my's works around Santiago. They got
nothing that was too good for them
They got half rations of bareback and
no coffee, although an experienced man
like Kipling saws soldier without his
were shot in charging works that seemed
impregnable-and taking them, too
they waited in vain for the litter
bearers to come with congresses TO
stop the bleeding and carry them to the
hospital. They asked comrades to quit
shooting long enough to put on a band
age and then they started on weary
journey in search of the rear In the
Second Brigade more than sixty OF
them missed the way, crawled into the
tall grass, where they bled or starved
TO death. Because their bones, picked
clean by the vultures, cannot be iden-
titled, they appear on the rolls as
missing Those who reached the
rear and the hospital, with parched
threats, drank the stale, warm water,
while a cargo of ice melted in the sun
at Siboney, a mile or so away.
After being haIf-starved and wholly
exhausted, their spirits We're revived
by the prospect of a journey home
over the blue sea, with salt breezes to
fan their fevered brows, under the
tender care of doctors and nurses.
How they were really treated is a
thing too sickening to be told about
again. The War Department has ex-
planned the whole matter-the wounded
We're crowded out of the staterooms
by civilians eager to get North"
When two, then three, vessels came
to our shores with wounded men whose
tales of needless suffering wrung the
hearts of their countrymen and aroused
an Indignation that would have put
into extreme danger anybody who
could be held to account for the out
rage. the War Department assured the
country that nothing of the kind could
occur again. 1t was because of an OBJ
vious indisposition to probe the bust
ness and locate the blame that the
newspapers of the country became Sc
we're in their remarks about this de-
partment. Such self-contained con-
sentative journals as the Brooklyn
Eagle, 10 the number of a score or
more, fully expected somebody would
be shot for it all Nobody feared there
would be further scandals of the kind
except few pessimists who suggested
that since it was plain that no one
would be blamed or punished. the
same careless and inefficient service
would continue, especially when it was
affirmed that the President heartily
Endorsed the War Department and its
management.
Yesterday, contrary to official assur-
ances, came the account of the journey
of the transport Mobile from Cuba to
New York. On board were those Mas
sachusetts boys who did such glorious
work at FL Caney that the regulars
praised their courage. The ship was
crowded to suffocation and the three
hundred sick grew constantly worse.
ten finding relief in death. The story
is untimely. considering the expressions
of gratitude to our country's defenders
heard yesterday, while these poor fell
lows were kept aboard for lack of hos
pital room. The men, well and sick
were literally starving when they
reached here. They had not been able
to retain the tainted meat, beans, and
bareback on their stomachs and there
was positively nothing in the way of
delicacies on the transport for them"
Evidently our gratitude does not cost
us much.
This country is rich, but not too rich
in heroes to wantonly sacrifice the life
of a single man who charged Ell Ca
ney's awful sleeps. These soldiers and
sailors of ours, of whom our orators
speak with quivering lips, have by their
valor opened the way to an enormous
increase of our national wealth. We
could well afford to charter ships
enough to bring them home without
crowding to the point of distress
without allowing them to be forced
out of their staterooms by civilians
eager to come North. We could we'll
afford to clothe their nakedness and to
give them some other protection in
transit than torn rubber blankets. We
could afford to provide for the sick
among them, revolving against the mo-
1OeO' "a - :. .n-s
Turing delicacles the stores of our cities
offer. We could afford to employ
thousand willing doctors and an army
of eager nurses to care for them on
the return journey. We could arrange
to hire all the carpenters of New York,
to buy all the cots and bedding in the
country, to build and equip temporary