Connecticut western news., 1898-09-22
ALGER AT LEXINGTON.
Frank Discussion of Conditions
 of Camps and Hospitals.
GENERAL LUDINGToN ACCUSED.

General Sanger Charges the Guar
 termaster With Responsibility For
 Much of the Suffering Endured by
 the soIdters-AIger's Addres-. Lexington, Ky. Sept. 21.-After the
 review here yesterday afternoon Secre-
 tary Alger made short address to the soldiers, admonishing them to be strong
 in their duty to their country. He said
 the government had always done and
 will continue to do all in it's power for
 the enlisted men. He declared the citi-
 zens, instead of finding fault with the
 government, should lend their country
 their assistance by helping the soldiers
 all they could. This sentiment was
 warmly cheered and the secretary add
 ed that he was glad to say that he had
 heard excellent reports from the citizens
 of Lexington along this line. and he
 wanted to thank them for the great
 good they had done in furnishing so
 many delicacies free of charge to the sick and for refusing to practice extor tion on the well.
 Secretary Alger called all the generals
 and colonels of the Third division before him in General Breckinridge's tent last night and told them that he had sent
 
 vision hospital. He said there had been
 much criticism of the division hospital, and he wanted to know their views on the subject.
 Plain Talk From Army omcers. General Sanger was the first to speak. He declared that, while he thought the division hospital was a good thing. he was free to say that as 1t was conduct ed it had been a disgrace to the service, had robbed the regiments of their sur geons and had entailed untold hardships on sick men who should have had at-
 tention at the proper time. General Wi
 ley. who followed General Sanger. took
 up the Chickamauga trouble and said: The neglect to furnish supplies. gen. tlemen, was criminal. While in Chick amauga I was in command of the divi sion over which General Sanger is now. and while holding that command fre- quently made acquisitions which were not honored. An imperative order had been sent to us to have all water boiled. Now, you can't boil water, MT. Secreta- ry, without boilers, and I made requi- sition on Chief Quartermaster Lee for water boilers. No attention was paid to this, and I repeatedly urged him to send the boilers, as men were taking typhoid fever by not having boiled water to drink. Failing to get any reply to my repeated telegrams, I sent him sassy message, and I received prompt reply, which read, The war department does not furnish boilers
 Failing to get boilers from the war department, I bought them myself, but much valuable time had been lost, the seeds of disease had been sown, and, MT. Secretary, you have seen the re- suits of this criminal negligence in the large death reports which have been | sent out from every camp in this broad land. These men in the quartermas- ter's department cannot stand off and say it was somebody else's fault. It was the fault of Quartermaster Lee. and it was the fault of Quartermaster Ludington, who is standing right there"
 General LudinRton Minced. Here he pointed his finger at Luding- ton, who winced perceptibly.
 General Sternberg came to the de- fense of his department and said: We have had a difficult problem. No acquisitions came to Washington which were not honored. We honored | them all promptly and tried to secure | the best, regardless of cost, as Secre- | tary Alger had instructed us to do. If the medical officers failed to do their duty, they should have been reported. If their acquisitions were not honored, | complaints should have been lodged \ against the proper persons"
 Secretary Alger closed the meeting by | saying: T want one more word with you. shall hold each and every one of you personally responsible for the sanitary condition of your camps. Any officer failing to report any negligence in camp to his superior officer shall be
 held accountable. and any higher of l ficer failing to correct these things will | be severely dealt with. Have every | man in his place. With the light of the experience we have had we ought to l perfect our camps and keep sickness | down to a minimum. Make your men | feel that they are being cared for as | we did in the civil war, and I will as- | bot x.-flI ls.r Ia