The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-21
THE WAR INQUIRY.
Fruitful Fields for the Investigating Com
mittee.
Ne,0 York Evening Posi-.

New York
WASHINGTON, September 10.-No
inquiry into army methods will be
thorough which does not secure the
testimony of some Of the officers who
have returned from Santiago. This
viii not be furnished by the leaders in
that campaign, or by those whose
names appear at the bottom OF the
Official dispatches, but the fund Of in
formation will be Of Importance to a
commission appointed by the Presi-
dent to inquire into the conduct OF
the Santiago campaign, or to q COM
mittee Of Congress selected for similar
research. These officers agree that
there are well-defned reasons for the
weaknesses Of the army before Santi-
ago. They do not attempt to give the
relative extent to which these defeats
affected the conduct Of the campaign,
but perhaps if they were forced to
give one defeat especial prominence
for the amount Of discomfort attribu-
table toit they would say that it was
the failure Of transportation. They
describe an unlimited supply OF tran
aportation facilities at Tampa and 2
lamentable lack at Santiago:
There were mules IN vast herds at
Tsmpa 80 many animals that y was
sometimes wondered where men could
he:got to care for them. Indeed, the
mules were uncon tro Liable AZ one time'
they broke loose frequently, and their
recovery cost the Government 2 great
deal Of money. However, at Santiago g
the animals were scarce and 1t was as
due to this that many supplies were
1 not on the hrIng hne. Men were .e
obliged to go to the front with tnelr aal
own burdens, and 70 some oi them
this was great hardship. men were we're
found discarding supplies which tney
could not afford to dispense Win, ana
it was said that the route o. the army
was tlaceable By the rejected clothing
and other articles along the roads and
through the fields. The medical sup
plies we're abundant, but they were
not taken to the front, and medical
officers struggled along under the
weightof such materials as they could
carry, with the result that on the nr,
Ing iiEe or near y tne surgeons nau
very little to work with.
This was something more than q
hardship, and it may have been, say
the officers who witnessed 1t, fatal
defeat. Lack Of transportation made
it difficult to get subsistence 70 . the
troops, and while the regular omcers ls'
say that there was never great munger
asa aresult Of this failure IN the system,
desperate at best, would have oeen 9n
lessened in severity with proper food
! at the proper time. The subsistence
was irregularly delivered, and there
was Q lack Of method IN distributing
it. There would be on some occasions
surplusage Of canned tomatoes and
nothing else; and again potatoes would
be the favorite edible. At no time
did it seem possible to get the regular
rations equitably distributed among
the troops.
The officers at Santiago who had
also served in the civil war said that
the soldiers Jared much better in
Cuba than they did during any cam
paign il in the rebellion, and that no
criticism can attach to the subsistence
department for the quality and guam
tity Of supplies on hand. The only
chance for improvement, they say,
was in the issue Of ration more suit
able to the tropical climate in which
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