The evening times., 1898-06-06
DAVIS SCORES 8IGELlW
Answers Criticisms In Har-
per's Weekly.
srR!GruRrs NOT JUSTIFIED
Regular Army OfDcers. He Says. Are
Well Fitted fer Their Duties.
High Praise for Wheelcr-De-
nOunced ms sn Attack Calculated
TO Injure This Country.

New York, June 6.-Richard Harding
Davis writes from Tampa to the Herald
as follows:
"The utmost indignation has been SUak
ened here today by an article attacking
the Regular Army. which appears in the
current number of an illustrated weekly
paper. 1t Is doubtful II anything has ap-
peared tn print since the beginning of the
war, in even the yellow journals, SO un-
American. SO untrue. or so calculated to
give courage to the enemy. The article Il
by Mr.. Poultney Bigelow. who, with the
editor of the periodical. is tonight uni
versaily condemned by every one who has
been here sufficiently long time to know
that the statements as to the condition OF
our Army are absolutely false.
Mr.. Bgelow states that owing to the
stinginess of the Government the health
of the men here Is seriously affected. that
they are being treated worse than those
of any Continental army-even that of
Spain-and that there is not a single regi-
ment fit to take the field. The camp doc
tors. SO Bigelow writes, are busy with
men and officers suffering from dysen-
terry. We hush this up all We can, but
to do so altogether is impossible
''I asked Col Pope, chief surgeon of the
Fifth Army Corps, just what was the
present health of the men. and he said:
The sick list is only 2 per cent. This is
less than one-han of the normal rate Of
1-2 per cent. 1t is the heaIthiest Army
in history
THAT is the answer of the chief surgeon
who has been on duty here for six weeks.
to Mr.. Bigeoow. who was here four days
and who says We are so anxious to hush
up the truth. He also charges the Gov
ernment with giving the men unseasona-
bic food.
1--WE are in the habit he writes. of
plying the soldiers Of Europe. For down.
right neglect have seen nothing to beat
the way the American is treated by I'm
Gle Sam. There is German military at
tache at Tampa, noting all those things.
and what Is concealed from the Ameri-
can people in the North Is carefully sent
TO Europe
81 happened to be talking the other day
on this same subject to this same militia
ry attache. the Count Won Goetzman, who
said that the rations served our men here
At Tampa were as good as those served
to any Continental army. and that our
men received them in much greater guam
ttity. So that Is the answer of the Ger
man attache TO Mr. Bigelow.
As to his most sensational charge. that
there Is not single regiment here ready
to take the field. 1 can best quote the
commander-in-chief:
There is not regiment belonging to
that Is not ready now to take the field
and that has not been ready for months.
Before war was declared L wished TO
concentrate the Army at Chickamauga,
but the Secretary of War was of the opin-
ion that such. movement would be con-
sidered an act of war-that it would be a
menace-so I told him that wherever the
regiments were they were ready to move
at the pressure Of a button, and when war
was finally declared they did move from
the mountain countries, from the lake
countries. from Montana Iowa and Cali
fornfa- They moved like clockwork. They
were equipped with everything-transpor-
tation, camp outfit and everything-and
they are all ready and as fit today as they
were then have never been so proud as
was yesterday. when I rode through the
camps of the Fifth Army Corps and saw
the mangnificent condition and physical
perfectness of our men There is no army
corps anywhere in the world that is bet
ter supplied with men and officers of
courage, fortitude and intelligence.
81 nat is the answer of the commander
in-chief to the editor of the periodical and
Mr. Bigelow.
Perhaps the most unwarranted and un-
kind paragraph in the article is the at
tack upon the ability of Gen. Joseph
Wheeler. who is in Mr.. Bigelow's opin-
ion. too old to understand modern cav
airy tactics. This he says of the most
gallant cavalry leader OF the Confederate
army, the author of a book. airy
tactics. and a gentleman Miy1Dhas sud
led and followed the changes in tactics
that have occurred from year to year
ever since the civil war.
"Mr. Bigelow says that there has not
been held at Tampa a single military
field exercise likely 10 be of service to
generals of brigade or division, and in
another part of the same paper is n
truth-telling photograph of Gen. Wheel
er. commanding big brigade of cav
airy stretched out for miles in the woods
back of Tampa.
These brigade drills are frequent, and
the insinuation that Gen. Wheeler does
not understand them. and that he is too
old for such service. is both false and
cruel. There are two Southern major
generals at present. We hear a great
deal about one of them, and of his Pres
idential chances. Before the war is over
We shall hear more if the kind.
THAT some official action will be taken
in regard to this article is generally be-
lieved. Every one knows that mistakes
have been made and that the condition
of the volunteers is bad. but this is no
time to print news of such a nature, and
It is certainly not the time now. or later.
to print reckless and untrue statements
our Regular Army
MIR. Frederick Remington. the war ar
list, who has collaborated with Mr.. Bige-
low on several occasions In Russia and
AlSiers and Germany. said to me: I'm |
N the breeching with BigeIow l won't /
pull with him again. Bigelows not an |
American
The most curious fact about the pub |
icatfon of the article is that in another |
,art of the paper containing 1t Is an alb
'olutely true and correct statement of the
condition of the Army at Tampa, sent by
'aspar Whitney. the accredited war cor
'espondent of the paper, who says that |
here are 10000 troops at Tampa ready TO /
move.
''The official opinion of the article NAV |
'e gathered from the fact that Capt.
3rady sent the following dispatch to Gen.
sreely:
Bigelow's article caused widespread |
condemnation among Army officers high
n rank. and correspondents pronounced it
ntrue and seditious'
THAT is the censor's article to Mr.. Bige-
ow's article.
so you have them all. The commander /
n-chief repudiates it. The chief surgeon
hows 1t is a falsehood, and even the war |
rtist and war correspondents of the pa
yer that published 1t repudiate it, too. |
Any editor who publishes 1t is liable to |
that 1t is the sort of treas
m that should be pointed out quickly
nd nailed up high as a warming"