The times., 1898-12-20
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 90 1895.
The Vest Resolution.

The Vest Resolution.
few months ago Senator Vest was
said TO be a sick man. In the preceding
session he took little interest in current
legislation, even when it touched matters
about which he had previously shown par
Iicular concern. Now his extraordinary
activity is exciting attention. He is the
busiest man in the chamber, taking the
initiative in many matters. He Is not al
ways wise leader and there are times
when it is difficult to account for the di-
rection of his ympathies. as when he
announces his opposition to the policy of
expansion. which has already received the
Endorsement of the American people. But
Whatever his motive in that his resolution
providing for an investigation of certain
charges of corruption In the War Depart-
ment does not spring from a mere dispo-
sition to fight the Administration. ANY
senator who has spent years in the public
service, who has acquired experience and
influence, and who is not bound by special
faNors to assume the absolute virtue of
everybody appointed to office by the Pres
ident, must find himself driven by a sense
OF his responsibilities into such course
as Mr. Vest has taken. Now, If ever, men
who have been trusted by the people to
guard the interests of the country must
recognize the demands of duty. An army
OF hundreds of thousands of the most Wig
orous young men in the land responded to
the call for volunteers and offered their
lives for the most righteous cause that
ever moved people to war. To these
men the nation owed at least ordinary
care. and never was a nation more eager
IN render it. To the President the repre-
sentatives of the people in Congress gave
carte blanche in the matter of expendi-
tures. Every request was quickly granted
In the confident belief that in the selec-
tion of officials and agents for the Gov
erament the Administration would be as
Indifferent to political partisanship as Con-
gress itself.
At the close of the war Senator Vest
receives communications from trustworthy
citizens making charges of favoritism. if
not of positive corruption, in the purchase
of vessels and in the contracts for SUM-
plies for the army. He is told by respon-
sible men that for our soldiers were
bought articles of an inferior quality at
eXorbitant prices. He is told, further.
that in the selection of officers to make
purchases and to provide for the proper
care of the army the influence of poll
ticians. rather than the qualities of the
persons. was the chief consideration. He
IS Informed by newspaper correspondents
in the field and in the camp and by the
reports of boards of inquiry and by sur
geons and others. that the splendid army
of young men, who were the perfection
OF physical manhood, was wrecked by the
failure to take the commonest and indis-
pensab!e precautions against starvation
exposure and epidemic disease So griev-
Gus were the scandals and so fierce the
just Indignation Of the people that the
President himself was forced, as the al
ternative of removing his Secretary of
War. to appoint a commission with the
alleged purpose of investigating the ad-
minlstration of the war. From the testi-
mony OF the most experienced and eompe-
tent of army officers. from the reports of
the commanding general of the army, he
learns that there is every reason TO think
the evils that caused so much suffering
and so many deaths were avoidable. and
that their primary source was the deter
mination that no conspicuous hero should
emerge from the war and the ambition of
the civilians of the War Office to direct
the movements of the army without the
direct participation of the commanding
general.
With these things before him any sena-
tor with a sense of the obligations i'm
posed by the confidence of the people of
his State must find 1t hard to avoid TAX
ing the steps required by justice, by the
honor of the nation and by the future
welfare of the army. Already the regular
army is threatened by the same sort of
dangers that caused the avoidable suffer-
ings of our soldiers in the recent war
The Hull bill opens the door TO the ap-
pointment of civilians to staff positions
from which officers are so often detached
for special service where the lives of thou
sands may depend on the efficiency which
they lack. This is one of the considera-
tions that make the investigation called
for BY Senator Vest imperative. 1t would
be a mistake. however, to limit the in
quiry to the purchase of vessels and the
contracts for supplies The same causes
are at the bottom of whatever may have
been wrong in respect of those things, and
also the privations of the army. Enough
has been revealed by the few important
witnesses before the Alger Relief Com
Spission to show the necessity of the same
committee taking up this part of the
matter. The influence and experience of
Senator Vest cannot be better employed
nj this moment than in projecting thor