The age-herald., 1898-08-30
THE ATTACK ON
 SECRETARY ALGER Inspired and Carried on by His
 Old Political Enemies. AMOUNTS TO PERSECUTION Mrs. Alger's Mail Is Being Filled With Scurrilous Clippings Regarding
 Her Husband Our Volunteer
 Army Being Discredited.
AMOUNTS TO PERSECUTION
BY ARCHIBALD W. BUTT


 Washington. August 29.-(Specia.L .LThere seems to be concerted attack being made on Secretary Alger, and the more the details of the attack become known, the more evident 1t is that 1t is inspired, if not actually carried on by his old political enemies. From some directions it amounts almost to persecution. For instance, to show venom of some parties connected with it, there is no piece of scandal printed about the sec retary nor any attack, no matter how trifling, that is not sent to Mrs. Alger.
 Every morning her mail is filled with these scurilous clippings. Nothing ever good is sent to her. In consequence she is kept under a nervous strain. When it Is remembered that Mrs. Alger is at the head of the woman's relief society which has furnished many thousands of dollars in comforts to the sick, contributing largely out of her own means, such acts seem cruel and ungrateful. This is an old meth cd of evening scores for political offenses in Washington, but one which invariably excites sympathy for the party thus per secuted.
 The question is being seriously asked if our volunteer army is not being discredited by those papers which are daily publishing individual cases of hardships of the men, The heads of the army depreciate the sen- sational talk of hunger and want among the men. As a rule these complaints come from outsiders and seldom from the men. Those men who failed to be provided for at the beginning of the war with officials are the busiest in prosecuting the administra- tion for incompetency and neglect and for political reasons are loudest in censuring those who had the care of the soldiers. These men seek to discredit those charged with the conduct of the war and see no good in the organized efforts of those charged by law to provide supplies and medicines to the men and all others holding supervisory military commissions. TO those who have gone through the last war there does not seem to be the i'll treatment of the men that those who would make politi- cal capital by appearing to be the guar dians and friends of the army would make it appear.
 I had occasion to discuss this matter with Senator Lindsay, of Kentucky, who is here making few inquiries on his own account. He said, among other things:
 There have been possibly inexcusable blunders and doubtless the soldiers have suffered. But I am afraid that the papers, or rather some of them, are pursuing a course that is calculated to depreciate the manhood of our army. While the soldiers haze a right to have all supplies and medf- ctnes which they are entitled to by law, still every soldier must recognize that there are times in an active campaign when hardships are unavoidable. It rather de- tracts from the criticisms in which the press indulges to lay stress upon the fact that the army in front of Santiago IS to De made the subject of maudling sympathy, because during active operations full rations were not supplied.
 Senator Lindsay served for four years in the Confederate army, two years as pri- vate and then ay a lieutenant and captain. He therefore knows something Of war and it's hardships.
 4I am glad to see," he continued, that few complaints have come from the men whe did the fighting, or who have served in camp during these heated days. It de- grades the American soldier to the plane of children when we talk of the soldiers in front of Santiago having nothing but cof- fee, hardtack and bacon. For the last three years of the war, 5OO000 of our men never tasted a drop of coffee. remember that a ration of bacon served to the Con- federate soldiers would incite the widest enthusiasm and patriotism. Hardtack was a luxury to us. and we seldom got it save when we could capture some federal com missary wagons.
 When we would go into the field to meet the enemy we were always ordered to cook four or five days rations and store them in our knapsacks. Old soldiers will remem- Der that medicines and morphine especially were contrabrand of war, and 1t was the rarest thing that we could ever get them. Of course, these things are no excuse for failure to supply these things now. but it must be shown that there has been such a failure. We have no right to prejudge the conduct of this war. do deprecate how ever that our army is to be depreciated in the eyes of the world by efforts to hunt out the individual cause and apply 1t to the entire force of men who patrioticaly an- swered the call to arms. That campaign before Santiago was too glorious to mar it by complaints now. The results were magnificent and each soldier there should be regarded as a hero. I believe that the battle of Santiago will go into the history 4ho xxarld ac of tlao tasto