Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-10-20
A NEW DISEASE.

Some of the most damaging testimony
as to the incapacity and inefiicency of
Secretary Alger is furnished by MajoEl
Louis Livingston Seaman, surgeon Of the
First United States Volunteer Engineers,
just returned from Porto Rico and Sam
tiago. Some of his views on the maIad-
ministraiion of army affairs he says are
not fit to print. He goes on, however, to
declare that : 80 per cent. of the men who
died down there were murdered killed
by maladministration and incompetency."
He claims to have discovered new disease
which he means to report to the College Of
Medicine, aud which he denomnates as
Algerian fever" with the accent on the
Alge'r. Describing it, he says soldier
is taken sick with low type of typhoid.
There is no proper food or medicine where
with to nurse him back to health, and he
dies-of Algerian fever"
Summing up the case of this, he says no
one can blame General Sternberg. He
sent the medicines" Major Seaman says.
There was no lack of supplies of all
sorts; but through the imbecility, in
competency and idocy of the men in the
Quartermaster's Department the supplies
were not taken care of or furnished to
the men. These incompetents, be declares,
were sons of generals, rich mems sops,
SONS of politicians and God knows what"
Major Seaman declines to talk upon the
subject or to mention names of those re-
sponsible for the failures to furnish the
much needed supplies. II have these
straps on my shoulders" he says, " but a
day will come when will talk" He goes
ou to say that Colonel Gibson witnessed
the same scenes which he did, and that
his report will be good one and full of
TRUTH
In reply to the questions whether the
men were starved, he said: STARVED
should say they were. Two hundred a
day died because of the maladmlnistration
in the quartermaster's department in
Santiago" Look at my regiment" he
continued. We started for Porto Rico
early in August. My men being engineers,
were detailed to build bridges, roads, docks,
waterworks-the hardest kind of work
They slept at night in tents that were
often flooded with water. But they were
taken care OF throughout the campaign.
Only two died from typhoid. 1t was not
so in other regiments, and it was not SO in
Santiago"
Major Seaman then went into details
"When we left Ponce he said we had
100 cases of typhoid. They gave as
canned tomatoes, canned corned beef and
beans, pork and little coffee. Had
given these men a spoonful each of such
diet as was furnished would have come
in here with 100 per cent. of deaths
Everything these sick men ate on the trip
came from the National Relief Association
and the Red Cross. The Government
furnished nothing. That is Algerism." In
reply to the remark that the investigation
now being held was expected to result
mainly in whitewash, he said They
had better not try whitewash." "God
help any man who tries to whitewash these
facts if they are caught down in that
country. The power of God Almighty
could not keep the boys hands off them"
There is just one way in which response
bilitY for the condition above noted can be
fixed, and that is expressed in the platform
of the Convention that nominated Samuel
Iredell for Congress, as follows:-
| Resolved, That we believe most search
ing investigation into the charges made by
officers and men of the army against the
War Department is a just duty of the
Congress, whatever may be done by the
Executive. 1t is due to the honor of the
country. 1t is due to her brave defenders,
whose sufferings in camp have been vastly
worse than in their victorious battles. That
investigation will never be accepted BY the
country as complete if conducted by
Congress controlled by the fellow partisaus
of the Secretary of War. The Republican
President should have a Democratic Con-
gress to take part in that investigation or
to conduct one of its own. More important
than present party power is the clear vim
dication of the country's good name now
and an assurance for her future that when
again she calls her citizens to volunteer by
the hundred thousand the humane care of
her soldiery shall be the chief administra
tive concern.