The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-24
FAULT OF THE VOLUNTEERS
DID NOT KNOW ENOUGH TO
HUSTLE.
Newspaper Correspondent Says There
Was Abundance of Food at San
tiago-Incompetent Surgeons.

New York, Nov 23-James J. F.
Archibald, San Francisco newspaper
man, who was with the First regular
infantry from California to Santiago,
was the first witness before the war in
vestigating commission today. In re-
ply to General Beavers invitation to
tell every thing he could and make any
criticism he considered likely to be
useful to the commission, Mr.. .Archi-
bald said his chief reason for volun-
teering to appear before the commits
sion was because of the published
statements that there was great hard
ships in Cuba because of a lack of food
Il wish to say" he said, that 1 have
had considerable experience campaign
ing with the troops in the west, and
there the regular soldiers have had
much rougher experiences than they
did in Cuba. There was plenty of food
The inability of the volunteers to adapt
themselves to the circumstances was
due to their own experience. If they
had known enough to hustle and cook
the food that was there they might
have less cause to complain.
There was a scarcity of medical
supplies, of surgeons and of nurses 1t
appeared to me that DR.. Wood caused
considerable unnecessary suffering by
pital near Siboney. He refused to al
low anyone to visit the sick. and once
when / tried to find a wounded man of
the First infantry he refused to let
me in.
HE declined to allow Cubans who
had offered TO build shelter for the
sick, to do so, and when / tried to rea-
son with him. he said: I am running
this hospital to suit myself which I
suppose was proper. l mention that
incident as the only matter that came
to my notice in which I blame the au-
thorities."
At an executive session the commits
sion decided TO adjourn its New York
session Saturday night and proceed to
Boston. It was also decided for the
remainder of the session in this city
to give preference to civilians wishing
to testify. and that any officers the
commission desires to hear shall be
summoned to Washington, where the
commission viii wind up the investiga-.
ton.
DR.. Elmer Lee was the first witness
at the afternoon session. Asked what
suggestions he could present for the
improvement of the medical depart
ment of the army for the future DR..
Lee said there should be a United
States medical college to train surgeons
for the army, and that schools for
army cooks should be established.
Mrs. Johanna Won Wagner of Yon-
kers a professional nurse, established
a diet kitchen at Camp Wikoff and
served there for a month from Aug. 80.
She complained Of the lack Of compe-
tent hospital help, the scarcity of am,
balances and the inexperience of some
of the contract DOCTORS On more than
one occasion she saw improper pre-
scriptions, and on one occasion she
complained to Major Corbes that a
dose prescribed for a man would kill
him. The matter was referred to the
surgeons of the general hospital.
What struck me most painfully,
said the witness in conclusion. was the
utter Indifference of the medical men
in the regimental hospital to the suf-
fering of the sick"