The Press., 1898-08-11
Washington Letter.
Washington, August 8, 1898.

Washington, August 8, 1898.
 So far as fighting Is concerned, the war Is regarded in Washington as over. True, the Spanish government is still dilly -dallying about forwarding its official acceptance of our terms of peace, but 1t has caused President Mckinley to be in- formed that 1t Is acting for self-preserva- tion, and not from any desire to delay in the matter; that 1t must secure popular support at home in order to avoid civil war. That the administration has ac- cepted this information in good faith may be judged from the fact that the trans ports which carried the army of General Miles to Poto Rico, and which were to have carried endorsements to Miles, have been ordered to Santiago to assist In bringing the men of Shafter's army home. Gen. Miles is still daily occupying new territory in Porto Rico, but he is do- ing no fighting and it is not expected that he will do any, unless the dilly-dallying of Spain shall be prolonged to such an extent as to provoke the president into withdrawing the terms of peace that have been offered. There Is also reason for stating that Gen. Merritt and Admiral Dewey have orders not to do any fighting at Manila, unless 1t is forced upon them. Although President Mckinley Is natural ly anxious that Spain should accept the terms of peace at once, he would be per fectly willing to stretch the immediate" evacuation of Cuba, provided for in the terms, considerably, as he would prefer not having to send an army of occu- patton to Cuba until we'll into September, after the sickly season Is over.
 To the strictly military mind, the pro- test signed by all of the generals of Gen. Shafter's army, against keeping our men at Santiago, to die or reach a state of facilitated helplessness from fever, which the latter forwarded to Washington, pre- sented a case of insubordInation that in any well-regulated European army would have resulted in the court-martial of every signer of the "round robin." But to the relatives and friends of the men who were dying by inches from the effects of the climatic conditions around Santi- ago, whose removal was unquestionably hurried by the publication-charged to Col. Theodore Roosevelt-of the ''round robin," although war department Officials persist in denying fl, the protest was a good thing. The people of this country care more for the welfare of the men who compose It's army than they do for strict military rule. War department officials know this; that is why they started to bring Shafter's men home so quickly. It Is, perhaps, fortunate for the men whose names were attached to the Santiago "Iound robin" that the war Is about over The public reprimand given to Col. Roosevelt, by Secretary Alger, for senti- ments expressed in a private letter, Is an indication of what they may expect while they remain In the service.
 The president of the Cuban provisional government has written President Me Kinley @ long letter, expressing thanks to and confidence In the U. S., but the most important paragraph in the letter is that which outlines the intentions of the insurgents. It says: "Our first step with the approval of the U. s. govern ment, will be to call a new assembly which will represent as far as possible every section of territory and condition of people. This assembly will elect { new provisional government that will possess more powers than the presen one, which Is, of necessity, a government of the revolution. But the result of tn, new assembly will be to form a govern ment which will still be limited in power and whose important work will be the es lishment of permanent and complet' government, founded on the lines of tha of the U. s., and one which, we hope and have every reason to believe, will b, satisfactory, both to the U. $. and t' Cuba" The prevailing impression fl Washington Is that Cuba will remain un der U. s. military government for som time before the Cubans are allowed t, make any experiment in the governinI line.
 That there are good things in paterna system of government must be admitte' by every man who will take the troubl to investigate. The U. s. consul a Chemltz, Germany, closes a report to tn department of state on the value of tn German workingmen's insurance system which provides not only for the paymen of death indemnity, but for the care O the sick and their families for accidents old age and incapacity to work from an cause, by saying: Whether a system which makes so much for paternalism 1 one to commend, cannot say. Its ei fects here have been anything but bad Poverty, in spite of poor wages, Is prac tically unknown" The fund from whic this insurance is paid comes from bot employers and employees, the former pay ing one-third and the latter two-thirds The insurance Is compulsory.
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