The herald., 1898-10-14
Associated Press Special Wire.

- y
. voting the forenoon to hearing the
. testimony of DR.. Hoff a chief surgeon .
of the Third army corps, stationed at .
Camp Thomas. the war investigating =
. commission gave the remainer of to-
. day to the reading of papers submit .
. ted by Secretary Alger, with his state .
. ment concerning the conduct of the
war .
The documents reveal the fact that .
General Miles recommended the oc-o
. cupation Of the Isle OF Pines about
the time of the battle of Santiago and .
. that Secretary Alger disaprroved the .
suggestion. 1t also appears that Cen
eral Miles recommended that some .
. point between Santiago and Porto
Rico be taken previous to the begin
. ming of either campaign. The corre- .
. spondence also developed the fact that
there was an apparent conflict Of au- .
. thority between General Miles and .
General Shafter a Tampa, before the .
Santiago campaign was inauguarted.
1t also shows that orders were Is
sued by the secretary OF war that In
. the event that General Shafter should .
. be disabled by sickness or other .
. cause. the command of the troops at .
. Santiago should devolve upon Cen .
eral Wheeler and upon the next in >
. command. in case of the disability of .
both Shafter and Wheeler. .
Today's Proceedings
The commission summoned Major .
Louis l.. Leamar. a surgeon of the .
. First volunteer engineers, to appear .
before 1t, and he Is expected to testi- .
. fy at tomorrow's session. He has .
recently been quoted as saying that
. 200 meni had died daily because OF the .
. administration Of the quarter .
masters department.
DR.. Hoff's Testimony
, WASHINGTON, Oct. 13.-Lieut. Col l..
- II - A.
Committee at its forenoon session today.
II. is a regular army officer and was chief
surgeon In the Third Army Corps at Chick
arlauga. He said he did not consider the
camp to have been in the best sanitary
condition, but expressed the opinion that
is was the best 1t could be under the cir
cumstances. The men were encamped
somewhat closer to each other than they
should properly have been. and 1t had hasn
impossible without blasting to make the
sinks az doop as good sanitation required,
owing to a layer Of, limestone which lay
two or three feet below the surface of the
ground throughout the camp. Further
, more II was impossible to compel the men
to use the sinks, and ne thought probable
that this difficulty had led to injurious re-
suits. DIR. Hoff said that In the beginning
the camp was deficient in medical supplies.
There were at this time many cases of
diarrhoea, and 1t had not been possible to
meet all the demands for remedies.
The shortage was due to the fact that It
had been expected the troops would come
to camp supplied with medicines.
Continuing DR.. Hoff said the capacity of
the division hospitals was often doubled
and trebled. 1t sometimes occurred that
there were eight men in tents which were
intended to accommodate six, because of
the delay in securing tentage to care for
the increase of disease. which was unex-
pectedly rapid. On one or two occasions
patients were necessarily placed In beds
upon the floors. because of a temporary
deficiency in cots. AS rule, the nurses
were without training. and this fact occs-
stoned some difficulty in dealing with the
typhoid cases. Yet he had known Of no
specific case of suffering on this account.
He specified the case OF q man afflicted
with an infectious disease who had been
compelled to lie In the open air one night
on account of lack of tentage. The wit
ness was sure that no injury resulted. as
the weather was pleasant.
DR.. Hoff said that the shortage in medi-
cal supplies had continued for several
weeks, but there was generally sufficient
to meet the immediate demands. He also
said that some acquisitions had been re-
turned by the washington authorities be-
cause improperly made out
DR.. Conner stated that the governor of
Arkansas had complained Of the neglect
Of the troops from that state. The wit
ness replied that the Arkansas troops re-
ceived the same medical care and attention
that had been given to other soldiers under
like conditions.
Engineer Wilson's Report
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1S.-The statement
made by General John M Wilson, chief of
engineers, to the commission investigating
and conduct Of the war, was made public
today.
During the progress Of the war, the fol-
lowing additions were made to the coun-
try's armament:
Armament was placed in position for six
twelve-inch guns, 20 ten-inch guns, 81
eight-inch guns, sc twelve-inch mortars
and IS rapid-fire guns, and additional plat
forms were made ready for still larger
number, and additional emplacements are
under construction for still more.
According to this report, when all the
works begun are completed, the armament
will consist Of so twelve-inch guns, III ten
inch guns. GA eight-inch guns, 321 twelve
inch mortars and 70 rapid-fire guns.
Emplacements were under construction
at twenty-five different harbors on the 31st
Of August. and there were double shifts
working at each place. The total expendi-
lures on account Of gun and mortar bat
teries during the period Of the war amount
to $4.821.500.
Among the purchases for harbor defenses
were 400 miles of cable, 150 tons Of high ex-
plosives, 1850 new torpedo cases, "A search
lights, etc. Twenty-eight harbors were
mined, 535 mines being placed The ex-
penditures on harbor defense for the pe-
riod were 81, ,661,0 900. Intrenchinr tools
were purchased sufficient for an army of