The evening times., 1898-10-10
LAYING ON THE WEITEWASH
Shafter Satisfied With the AIger Re-
Iicf Cammissiou,s Work


lief Commission's Work
Kalamazoo, Mich, Oct 1O.-Gen. Shaf-
ter has been here since last Thursday,
and will remain several days visiting
old friends and scenes of his boyhood.
Speaking Of the work of the War In
vestigating Commission, Gen. Shafter
said:
Gen. Wheeler's testimony before the
investigation committee is very forcible
and very convincing but wait until the
line officers tell their stories. They will
not be as cautious as Gen. Wheeler,
and will tell story that will not only
corroborate Gen. Wheeler, but be much
stronger
Gen. Miles and others may say that
this commission is not legal. Perhaps
not, but the testimony il is bringing
out will satisfy the public that the
stories paraded up and down the land
about the neglect and starvation and
needless suffering of the troops at San
tiago have been grossly exaggerated for
political purposes"
What about Col. Roosevelt and that
famous round robin?" was asked.
Il realized, Gen. Shafter answered,
that if the troops were compelled to
remain in Cuba they would in short
time be wiped out by fever. Orders
came from the War Department to
move the troops into higher land and
wipe out the fever. We all knew this
was impossible. j then made up my
mind to send reply to Washington,
stating the situation and giving my
reasons why the troops could not be
held in Cuba much longer. As IL was
a serious matter, / sent for my field
officers, and asked them all what they
thought about it, and to express their
opinions. Col. Roosevelt was there.
Finally somebody suggested that the
views thus expressed should be put in
writing / adopted the suggestion, and
every officer wrote ont his views. Col.
Roosevelt then asked me if he could
send his statement to the New York pa
pers. l told him he could do as he liked.
but must be held personally responsible
for his statement.
1t was this statement of Roosevelt s
that raised the mischief and panied the
President. Perhaps it would have been
better if the matter had not been made
public. Then some correspondent got hold
of my original dispatch, and the whole
thing was aired.
Il knew my men must get sick. If there
had been a defeat everything would have
had to be dropped, for the artillery and
supplies could not be gotten aboard the
transports again. Therefore it was re-
solved TO push ahead and get though with
IL. 1t took men of nerve. but my men
had IL.
''It took about six days to get in the
vicinity of Santiago. / reconnoitered the
Spanish lines and got an excellent idea
of the lay of the land, and knew very well
what We had to do.
Il have been criticised for delay. knew
after talking with Gen. Toral that he
must surrender. AT any time we could
have taken Santiago in two hours, but it
would have cost 1000 men who are back
in the United States, whose bodies would
have been lain in Santiago.
"Of course there was great deal of suf-
fering and sickness. My losses were a
great deal more than 1 would have wished,
but a great deal less than might have
been the case
My orders We're very short and very
clear, and ] was never interfered with.
/ was to capture Santiago and drive out
CerVeras $ feet. That was all there was
of it, and ] think We succeeded"