The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-16

| gagged in the war had acted with zeal
and every man had done the best O.
! which he was capable, and he hat
! never known war in which there wa:
not criticism at the close of it.
Resuming his remarks of genera
character, General Breckenridge ex.
pressed the opinion that there had no
been enough fighting to obscure othe
results common to war. He though
that the evils which had been expert
enced were inevitable under our Ameri.
can system. He condemned this system
as most reprehensible and said the vol
unteer soldier must always suffer the
worst of the consequences.
If the regular stands up under it bet
ter than the volunteer, it is only be-
cause he has had time to adjust him.
self to the unfavorable conditions"
He traced all the trouble to the want
of preparation and mobilization in time
OF peace and that, in turn, to the failure
of Congress to appropriate the neces-
sary money for reforms.
Replying to question from Mr..
Woodbury., he said that, considering
the system, he thought the Government
has done. far better in it's conduct of
the war than anybody had expected.
and just about one-fourth as well as
it should have done"
General McCook asked General
Breckenridge If he had visited General
Shafter in his tent when the latter was
i'll at Santiago, and General Breckin-
ridge replied that he had done so.
Did he then offer the command of
the army to you, as has been reported
in the press? ?"
General Breekinridge replied:
: Il very much prefer not to answer
that question. You should ask General
Shafter. Such a conversation as oc-
Cured between General Shafter and
myself on that occasion is not of
character to be spoken of lightly. 1
fail to see how reply from me would
promote the object of your inquiry. You
want to know what General Shafter
did, not what he may have thought of
doing. If General Shafter has not re-
peated the conversation, I ought not to
do so.'
"As a matter Of fact, he did not turn
the command over to your" suggested
Breckenridge responded:
mo, he did not and I do not think
there is any improperly in my saying
that he could not have done so.'
With this the matter was allowed to
drop and General Breckenridge was ex-
cused.
Dr. William G. Weaver of the Ninth
PENNSYLVANIA Volunteers proved an i'm
pOrtant witness. DR.. Weaver said that
typhoid had broken out about the 18th
of June, and that it had increased from
that time until the goth of August.
There had been about 600 cases of this
disease in>>the regiment and twenty
eight or thirty deaths. The doctor
said there was an insufficient supply of
drugs, and that at times he failed to
get what was needed. He said that
at one time there were fifty-six typhoid
patients in the regimental hospital, be-
cause there was no accommodation for
them in the division hospital. AT an
other time there were sixty-seven fever
patients in the company tents, for
whom admission could not be secured
In any hospital, division or regimental.
In summing up the causes of dis
eases in the camp, DR.. Weaver includ-
ed overwork of the men as one. He
also expressed the opinion that the
water from Chickamauga Creek was
polluted He considered the water in
this stream as hardly fit TO battle In.
much less to drink.