Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-09-01
ALGER- MILES MIDDLE
The Charges Made by the General
Of the Army.
WAS PLACED IN "A FALSE LIGHT.
The Correspondent of the Kansas City
Star Reiterates the Truth ofthe State
ments Made by General Miles, and
Declares Them Matter OF Record.

The Correspondent of the Kansas City
Star Reiterares the Truth ofthe State-
ments Made by General Miles, and
Declares Them Matter of Record.
Kansas City, Mo-. Aug. 30.-The
Star prints an exclusive dispatch
from Mr. j. d. Whelpley, it's spec
ial correspondent who has just re-
turned from Porto Rico. bearing upon
the Miles-Alger controversy. Mr..
Whelpley takes occasion to deny the
statement that his recently published
interview in Porto Rico with General
Miles, wherein the latter was quoted as
casting reflections upon the war de-
partment. was not genuine. and in sup
port of the statement already made by
1t The Star prints interesting kilograms
that passed between the war depart
ment and Generals Miles and Shafter
on the points at issue.
Doubt is expressed by some" says
Mr.. Whelpley. "as to whether General
Miles ever said these things / credit
him with. Others suggest he may have
said them in confidence which was be-
trayed. / feel confident General Miles
will stand by the interview referred to.
MY talk with him was not conf
Dental. went to him as newspaper
reporter, for the avowed and express
purpose of securing an interview. There
was no reservations from publication
, in the conversation. This is proved by
his refusal to answer some questions
which he would have answered had this
been SO. There was no hint of conf
dence.
I'm this instance however, no
+, question of veracity need arise. Gen
eral Miles himself, even if he so de-
sired, could not conceal the proof of all
he said. 1t is written in the records of
the war department and it not only
needs a clearing away of inconsequen-
tial matter to tell the story clearly and
in full
General Miles in his interview in
The Star makes several distinct state
| ments, one to the effect that he was
commanding general of all the Ameri-
can armies, first, last and all the time,
in Washington, in Tampa, in Cuba, in
Porto Rico, or anywhere else he might
| be-
HE charges General Corbin with
sending a secret dispatch to General
Shafter contrary to this. He charges
the war department with mutilating
and even suppressing parts or the
whole of certain messages in their
transmission to the public, thus putting
him and his relations to the army in
false light to the people at home.
HE charges that his recommends
tions in regard to moving the troops
| from Santiago was disregarded, this
| disregard leading to grave consequent
ces. He recites the fact that General
| Shafter disobeyed orders in occupying
| fever infected houses and allowing
| Cuban refugees to mix with the Ameri-
can troops.
Finally he claims that Washington
allowed the plans of his Porto Rico
campaign to leak out to such an ex-
tent as to render them useless and
dangerous.
| 1T needs only glance at the official
| records of the war department to show
each and every one of these charges to
be truth. and to throw much additional
| light on the situation.
"On the fourth of July General
| Shafter sent dispatches to Wash
| ington showing the deplorable con-
dition of affairs in and about San
| tiago. 1t was this situation which
| determined General Miles to go to
Cuba The day he sailed with rein
forcements, July Z, he sent a telegram
of instruction to General Shafter, and
on July II he arrived and assumed
charge of the forces, the dispatches
| from the secretary of war thereafter
being sent to Miles, Shafter not being
| mentioned,
| 'In the face of this situation, Secre-
| tary Alger, through General Corbin,
sent a dispatch to General Shafter as
surfing him that General Miles did not
come to Cuba to supersede Shafter in
any way. This dispatch General Miles
refers to as secret, for he says he
did not know it had been sent, not be-
| ing notified from Washington and Gen.
| eral Shafter saying nothing about it,
After the surrender General Miles still
retained control. He authorized Shat
| ter to appoint peace commissioners,
and judging from Skaters report
| that all was over he instructed him as
| to the disposition of the troops.
"On July II. after the surrender of
| Santiago was completed General Shat
| ter wired General Miles that was
/ told by the secretary OF war that you
were not to supersede me in command
here To this Miles responded that i
have no desire and have carefully
avoided any appearance of superseding
| you. Your command is a part of the
United States army. which 1 have the
| honor to command.
Secretary Alger discussed the matter
with me yesterday, saying he did not
propose to enter into any controversy.
My cablegram to General Shafter,
he continued, was simply due to my
desire to assure him that l intended to
be absolutely fair. Before his departure
from Washington General Miles and
had talked the matter over, and he
started for Cuba knowing that he was
| not in any way to interfere with the
operations which were under the con-
troll of General Shafter. That there
could be no doubt whatever, l cabled
to General Shafter informing him that
General Miles had left for Cuba with
instructions not to in any manner sup
ersede him as commander of troops in
the field"