The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1898-09-08
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

The suffering of our enlisted men,
and sundry other more or less grave
abuses and incompetenCies OF the
administration of the war in debait
have been sorely criticised, without
reference to party. But. there are
a few peanut politicians VIII"
would charge the whole business
to President Mckinley, and hold
him personally and politically re-
sponsible. The St. PaulDlspatch
meets the absurd criticism very
pointedly. 1t says:
Democrats, populists and all other
dissenters are printing themselves for
a general assault on the admlnlstra-
ton in connection with bureau mis-
takes and department blunders OF the
war. That there have been mistakes.
and possibly even frauds, no enc will
pretend to deny, but none can be
charged to the administration of af-
fairs by the president, and the public
will have very little patience with any
attempt to connect him with the mis-
carriages of Alger. From the beg in
ming he has been tireless and persist
ent in his personal efforts to system
atize everything and leave nothing
undOne that could contribute to the,
good of the service and the succes S o.
the war. No department clerk has
worked more hours or shaved more in
dustriously than he. Not only has he
given to the public service the hour
usually set apart for such work, 5u.
those usually devoted to rest anu sleel,
have been ruthlessly SACRIFICED that ~
might give his personal direction t"
matters usually lett to his subordinr
ates of the various departments.
But the president could not do every
thing. There were thousand, of calls
upon him that he could not personally
attended. In selecting his assistant
he could not, in every case, be guided
by his personal knowledge OF the
Individual, and it would have beeE
a miracle had he failed to appoint
some unworthy one. In selecting his
generals, he had the Whole country
and all parties to choose from,<a he'
chose men for non-partisan duty upon
an absolute non-partisan plan. His
generals were chosen because they
were soldiers, and his heads OF
departments, because of supposed
special fitness for the places to
which they were appointed. II one
was unworthy, or incompetent, thous-
tands were worthy and competent We
will not condemn the whole for the
faults of of few, and the people will
look at the grand result and overlook
the minor details. =
But neither the president nor The
people will forget or forgive the dis.
loyalty or malfeasance of any officer
whatever his station. Ii there has
been fraud or favoritism it will bcs
probed to the very bottom, and the
offender will be made to suffer the
penalty. The public may depend tina
there will be a through, honest ant
S ~eeping investigation of every charge
and that no guilty man will escape.
Like the war itself, it will take time, !,
but the time will be taken, and the
president will cordially and honestly
cooperate with congress to learn
the whole truth. And once the truth
is learned, the executive hand will
fall heavily upon the offenders, il such
there be.
The day of reckoning will surely
come, and woe betide him who has
failed of his duty or done wrong to
his command.