The times., 1898-10-08
An unMise Commission.

An Unwfse Commission.
One who had read nothing of the
privations of our army in Cuba and the
subsequent transport horrors would
infer from the questions asked by
the Alger Relief Commission that
wicked attempt had been made
TO diScredit an efficient War De-
partment and that the Commission
was moved by a righteous indigna-
ton to refute the SANDER. To form
a correct idea of the situation he would
have to read back of these proceedings.
In doing that he would learn about the
obvious and admitted defects in the
medical service before Santiago, which
resulted in the neglect of the wounded
and their embarkation on horror ships
for the North. He would learn about
the failure to provide supplies for the
exhausted troops and the refusal to
take the most necessary precautions
against epidemic diseases.
As to Camp Thomas, where. the Com
mission learns, the only suffering was
due to the stupidity of the soldiers and
their regimental and company officers,
he would find that not even on the
ships in the slave trade were human
beings neglected as were the sick there
He would read the testimony of COM
missioned officers, ranging from coll
onels TO lieutenants, and of the nurses,
that men delirious with typhoid fever
others just as sick were naked in hos
pital, the filth of which was indescrib-
able except in words that cannot be used
in the newspapers; that there was
never a pillow or a sheet and no medi-
cines. He would read that the sick
were covered with vermin, and that de-
lirious patients were black with flies
that were never brushed away. This
is only small part and not the worst
part of testimony taken by a medical
commission. These and other facts are
further sustained by the report of three
regular army officers, who distinctly
deny that the regimental and company
officers were at fault. Furthermore,
the inquirer would learn that the
hospital deficiencies were due TO
the failure of the various depart
tions, and that appeals to Wash
ington were useless In the case
OF Camp Alger and others where ty-
phoid fever was epidemic, he would
learn from the official report of medi-
cal commission that infected matter
was allowed to stand uncovered in
shallow trenches for the millions of flies
to carry to the kitchens. He would dis
cover that these faults were of a nature
to be easily seen by inspectors, yet that
either they were unknown to the sur
geon general and the quartermaster
and commissary generals, or else these
officials were Indifferent Either ig-
norance or indifference was criminal
AS Julian Hawthorne recites in his
complaint of the Commission, the in
vestigation proceeds on the supposition
that there was nothing wrong. and per
sons who are ignorant of the facts are
called to prove there was nothing
wrong. The questions are shaped so as
to prevent a revelation of the inef-
ffciency and worse of the War Depart
ment. None of the men who have told
the newspapers of their sufferings;
none Of the disinterested correspond
ents who saw and shared in the priva-
tions; none of the officers whose testi-
mony as TO abuses is on file; in short,
none of the men who know all about
the questions at issue, has been called
to the stand. In this Mr.. Hawthorne
sees the purpose of shaping public opin-
ion in favor of the War Department so
that if they are ever called the men
who know will be discredited before
hand.