New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-10-18
Az awful Sill r.

Wall thi. * terrible, The Democrats have At
last found an issue. There was nothing in
,hou,ipg TAX dodccr" about n man who De-
fore going TO the war wrote his attorney say
ir,,. "Is If nroctlcabln 10 alter matters so as
ITO have me taxed ut Oyster Bay! Would ms
"be practical or not? If not, then VIII pay III
'New-York. Anyway, | don't want To seem
.to sneak out Of anything. and who. on com
ING home from the war, paid the taxes. II was
necessary TO find n better issue, ana AT last inc
awful thing Is launched and we hear great
deal about Colonel Rooseyelts incXcuSable sur
cast upcn the National Guard" and the sting
ING retolt' of Secretary Algcr When Coionel
Roosevelt asked that his men be tahen from
Santiago and sent to Porto Rico he wrote:
There are eighteen hundred effective men In
this division. If those who were leit pehlhd
were Joined 10 them could land at Porto RICO
i'm this cavalry division close to four thousand
men who would be worth easily any ten thou-
sand National Guards armed with black pow
der Springfields or other archaic weapons.
Therefore, say the Democrats, vote against
Theodore Roosevelt, who was rcbukcd by
Alger,
Isn't il funny? Here for months the Demo
cratic Journals have been almost inarliculatc
in their anger ut Secretary Agcr and denounc-
ing him for acknowledgement of the war IN
deed. one Of their principal arguments now Is
that people should vote for Van Wyck-who by
the way, they say. is running solely on state
issucS-to rebuke Mr.. Alger Well, then If
people are going to vote 10 rebuke Mr.. Alger,
why should they vote for a civilian who had
nothing 10 do with the war and has no opn-
ions about National questions when they can
vote for Colonel Roosevelt. who was in the
war and had the courage 10 tell Secretary Alger
some of the very things the Democratic press
lad been telling him all through the war;
Probably nobody made more noise about the
vfckcdness of sending the National Guard 10
Cuba with Springfield rifles and black powder
than the Democratic campnigners who are now
working for Mr. Van Wyck. and some Demo
cratic journalists who are now particularly con-
cerned for the honor Of the National Guard did
not hesitate TO charge the list Regiment with
cownrdice before Santiago and did not offer TO
attribute any uncertainty In its movements TO
the confusion resulting from smoking powder
and inadequate arms Colonel Roosevelt made
no such charge. He wrote TO the Secretary,
saving that his men. with their modern arms
and sm0kclcss powder. were able TO do better
work than the Guardsmen, and asked that they
he sent 10 Porto Rico. instead Of sacrificing the
badly armed Guardsmen Perhaps he did
wrong If so. il was because he repeated in
mild form a. a matter of fact what the Demo
cratic Journals had been bowling all summer,
and made himself the target for the expression
Of arrogance which the Secretary perhaps felt
because Of the Democratic attacks on him for
sending the Guardsmen off with the archaic
weapons which were in their possession when
the war broke out II might seem as If the
Democrats would have sympathy with Roose-
welt as victim Of Alger. Instead they want to
rcbuke Alger by rebuking Roosevelt for being
rebuked by Alger. What the logic of this per-
Torrance is no man can say. But 1t is too
much 10 expect Democratic arguments to hang
together.