The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-15

tween the condition OF the army as Il
was anded at Montauk with that of
the marines who were landed at Ports
mouth. The marines were the first TO
land upon the soil Of Cuba. They were
obliged to dig trenches and defend
them against the enemy. For the
time being their exertion was as
great as ina " any part of the army,
They remained upon the soil OF cuba
longer than any portion of the army.
yet the detachment after its campaign
was landed at Portsmouth with almost
no sick and with ~ per cent. OF the
men in sound physical condition. while
the army men are emaciated and fever
stricken.
The Investigation President Mckinley
has ordered into the conduct Of the
war department should be- prosecuted
with an possible diligence. some news
papers have suggested that the charges
could wait-that there is no occasion
FOR haste But there is. The war IL
not yet over-the present condition Is
one Of truce. Probably there will be no
Ill'lf lAkAAilAE hA 'laAiAF ''N -
large possibility OF serious trouble in
the Philippines. We have $4,000 sol
diers at Manila, who must be cared
for. We may have to send more. We
will have to keep n garrison of at least
80. 900 in Cuba for some time, possibly
for years. A smaller garrison is neces-
sary at Porto Rico. There IL, therefore,
--zI - Rg.a RnfnF1n al
once.
As Secretary Aloer takes the extra
ordinary position that there is no oc-
casion for reform he should be thrown
out and his place filled by a competent
man. A continuance of the methods
now in vogue in the war department
cannot but have a tendency TO reduce
our armies in Cuba, Porto Rico and the
Philippines TO the condition OF the
Eighth Illinois regiment, which, al
though II has never fired a shot and
was I'm Cuba but a short time. has lost
a large number by death, has 40 per
cent. on the sick list and out of an ag-
gregate strength of 1875. who arrived
i'm Cuba on July 6, has less than 400
men fit for duty. Colonel Henry l..
Turner, commander of this regiment,
was an experienced, energetic officer
who served in the civil war and has
been in active command i'm the National
Guard ever. since. There were many
regiments that served for two years
in the civil war with a slighter loss
tina this.
Accounts now coming in regarding
the gen of army affairs In Gu
ba are disheartening. The correspond
ent Of the Army and Navy Journal, a
retired captain of regulars, who is no
s~ensationalist. but writes as a soldier
to soldiers, reports that the roads in
front of San Juan the condition OF
which Is given as the reason why u
troops were kept hungry, are no worse
than many over which the Army of the
Potomac kept its men supplied. That.
in fact. "a farmer could have driven
a hay wagon over them" yet the quar-
termaster department assumed that
hey were impossible for wheeled We
hicIes and refused to unload l13 wag-
ons which were on board one of the
TRANSPORTS. Consequently, the supplies
for the men I'm the field were either
transported on poles, carried by two
men. or on pack mules, though one
wagon could carry as much as seventy
men or ten mules. The same depart
ment did not unload the medical and
other stores on account of want of
boats, although the Alamo had two
miles Of p]ontoons on board, which were
Just the craft needed for such a pur-
pose: the Red Cross landing all its
medical supplies in one Of these pom
toons. which had been abandoned by
the army.