The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-03

New York, Sept. 2.---The World prints
an interview with General Shafter in
which he is represented as saying: AT
Santiago we had to deal with things as
they WERE not as they should have
been. OF course there was sickness.
Il was inevitable in a summer cam
paign. But nobody was neglected. The
doctors were scarce at first, but we
had boat loads of them as soon as they
could get here. The doctors got sick
like the rest. They were overworked
and exhausted, but their ability was
unouestionable Look at the low per
centage of deaths from wounds. II
never was lower in any war. why, N
the civil war I lay on the pattleHelu
myself until maggots developed IN my
wounds; and was right near py, not
down in a malarial sub-tropical coun-
try far away.
THE MEN RESPONSIBLE.
'oThe men who ordered a summer
campaign in 4 fever infested country
are responsible for the natural and un-
avoidable consequences.
fNone of our wounded were allowed
to lie on the battlefield as l was in the
civil war. Nothing of the kind hap
pened. Anaesthetics were plentiful
at was the heat that was so deadly
and the rains. Right in the midst OF
the most torrid heat a shower would
fall 1t would drench everybody with
out cooling the air. In a few minutes,
under the sun again, every man would
|be steaming Men of the strongest
constitutions succumbed.
Our first case of yellow fever de-
veloped at FL Caney. But the army
was ripe for it, and it spread like
prairie fire. Many a man had yellow
fever who never viii know it. And to
tell the truth it is not so dangerous
as the calentura or heat attacks of
Cuba. Why? Why it is a common
thing for a mans temperature TO rise
from normal state to los in lew
hours. That means death in most
cases.
WORSE THAN YELLOW FEVER.
ct can give cards and spades to
yellow fever in the game of death. !
would rather have yellow fever, l tell
you, when a man burns up inside there
is little hope for him.
"Our men were all unacclimated.
They never had faced constant sun.
Many of them never had slept outside
before they went into camp How
could they be moulded into proper
material for such climate and such
campaign? 1t could not be done. These
men YOU see coming back with thin
bodies and the yellow fever are suffer-
ing from the parasites of the low fever
of the Santiago plateaus. The cool air
and good home care will cure them.
That malady seems to destroy the red
corpuscles in the blood. The veins are
filed with water. There's man on
deck suffering just that way Take a
good look at him. II he were pale you
would say he was in the last stages
of tuberculosis. But he is as yellow
xr-a11 hn
He is weak and viii require care. But
good air and a decent climate VIII
make him well again. He has had the
fever within three weeks. He does not
know how narrow has been his escape
from death Wait till October, or bet
A4ttsr still. the first frost They Will be
all right when they get wholesome, nu-
tritous food.
CHOSE THE LESSER EVIL.
1--WE had TO choose the lesser Of the
two evils-to ship the men north to
healthy climate, not wanting TO keep
them where they must die. We at the
front did not wait to let the fever have
its run We wanted to save life. Now
the problem was to save the most lives
possible. We have never had a foreign
war since 1S12-14. The United States
has no hospital ships. 1t was not a |
question of using what was best, but |
that brought the troops down.
eff 1 could have few weeks to equip |
hospital ships, the conditions would |
have been better. If the war had con- |
tinued we would have stayed right |
there fever or no fever. The sudden |
end of the war was unexpected. We |
were not prepared for the unexpected. /
1 made it an invariable rule to send |
home % per cent less on transport |
than she had brought south. That was |
a fair view to take.
SANTIAGO CAMPAIGN.
CT am satisfied with the Santiago
campaign. When it is fully under
stood, with all its difficulties, it will
receive Just place in military history.
We were hurried off to Cuba We land
ed and could not have gotten our stores
back on board il We wanted TO- When
the invasion was planned il was obvi-
Gus that it might be a rush such as it
was
And it was success-complete and
nneGuivocal Many things were done.
I, 4 is true that were forced upon US by
She exigencies Of the hour, but the
means employed even under such stress
proved to be wisely chosen. was
compelled TO do a great many things
that under different circumstances
would not have been considered.
Y sized up the Spaniards correctly.
For example, at San Juan I was sure
they would not come out from their
works and attack us. The FL Caney
fight, I hoped, would be finished at 10
z. m. but it took until o'clock, and
rather feel now that it was for the
best Had had Lawton on the right
OF the line we would have undoubtedly
taken the city of Santiago that night,
IN which case only the garrison would
nave surrendered to us. whereas, later,
all the troops in the region surrounding
were included The men outside of
Santiago on July 2 could have gone
to General PandO I knew that the war
was over as soon as Toral spoke to me
about surrendering the troops in the
eastern province. almost fell over.
I'VE never had on the fighting line
at any one time more than 10000 men,
and with these we captured y 600
STRONG INTRENCHMENTS.
Nine thousand Spaniards were for
titled in the best intrenched positions
ever saw. Indeed, the intrench-
ments were Of such a character that
Smelling with guns we had did not do
them serious damage. Where a 13-
inch shell from our ships dropped into
a house in the town it demolished the
dwelling; tut all the occupants were
gone"
Did Cervera's men help in the San
Juan fisat?" was asked, TO clear up a
nooted point
yes, indeed. He had LOCO men ashore
HIS chief of staff, Bustamente. was {
/