Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-06-09

| the whole strength of a nation, and
our own navy, magnificent and unsur-
passed as its personnel is, is far down
| in the list among the navies of Europa,
/ while our army, or, rather, our method
| of handling it, as exemplified in the
| present instance, must be an object OF
sublime ridicule in the warlike courts
| across the sea- Although Lord WoleS-
| ley, of the British army, paid
| our mighty resources the com
| pliment of saying that the United
| States could defeat any nation I'm the
| long run" we must take into con-
| sideration the untold damage and loss
that could be inflicted upon us by any
well prepared nation before the long
run" was at an end.
The moral effect of our success upon
other and more important powers Is
a consideration of weight which we
cannot afford to overlook, and this
effect must already be greatly lessened
by this wretched delay. In our navy
alone has anything like readiness or
active preparation been noticeable, and
that is due most likely to the fact that
this branch of the service is more re-
moved from contact with the powers
that be at Washington than the army;
for example, no political pets OF the
;,,;r hox annnlnTp6
in the navy or to Immediately manage
naval affairs, while the army has been
burdened with the appointments OF
incompetent and inexperienced sons
of somebcdies, and its preparation for
war has been left largely to political
spoilsmen and others equally incom-
petent c. careless. That is the cause
of the trouble and in this matter frank
and honest criticism is desirable.
Just thirteen weeks ago to-day Con-
gress gave the army and navy
$50. 00O, 600 to prepare for war. Yet SIX
weeks passed before the army had
bought even a cracker or a shoelace.
This was simply pure and outrageous
neglect of plain duty on the part OF
someone. A dispatch from Tampa
says the siege guns which were sup
posed to be on the way to Cuba, are
lust being unloaded from the cars.
Had the navy pursued the same dila-
tory tactics the early and magnificent
victory Of Dewey might not have been
accomplished In fact. in the navy
alone has anything at all been accom-
plished in this war; although the coun-
try has been for weeks receiving prom
ses of the speedy movement OF the
army to complete the splendid work of
the navy Indeed, Dewey has been
compelled to do the best he could with
the aid of the Philippine rebels with
cut waiting for re-inforcements from
America, although it has been so long
since he won his glorious victory over
the Spanish fleet at Manila that the
matchless achievement has almost be-
come a mere memory.
The army was told to get ready for
war six weeks before war was de-
! clared, but war came and found the
army unprepared. 1t has now been
! thirteen weeks since the first warning
and the army still lies at Tampa and
| Chickamauga in not much better state
of preparation than when they arrived
| there. The result has been to hamper
! the navy in its operations and hold all
our plans in allegiance, to say nothing
! of allowing the enemy all the valuable
time he needs to complete his defenses
/ at all points. The time for surprising
! him by swift movement and attack
while unprepared has gone by, and the
Spaniard is as we'll prepared now,
| thanks to our inexcusable delay, as he
ever could hope to be- This delay has
already been very costly to us in more
ways than one, and may prove very
much more costly in blood and treas
ure before we have subdued Spain,
I which meanwhile takes heart from
what it supposes is our weakness and
timidity.