The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-09-15
WASHINGTON.
From our Regular Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9th, 1898.

| tiiat lido oSSh duOplcu ny the admin
istration in dealing with all complaints
made as to hardships caused by mis-
management and lnetticiency in pro-
viding supplies for the troops. 1t
would hardly have been possible to
have adopted more foolish policy.
The mouths of the men can only be
stopped while they remain in the SER
vice; as soon as they are mustered
out they will tell everything they we're
made to suffer. The idea of those
who persuaded Mr.. Mckinley to
adopt such a short-sighted policy is to
keep the mismanagement of the Var
Department from figuring in the Con
gressional campaign. They think
that when Congress meets arrange
ments can be made to have an inves-
tigation of the conduct of the war
made by picked committee that will
whitewash everybody and everything.
If the people were all fools and there
were no such things as newspapers
such scheme might succeed. MIR.
Mckinley is likely to live to bitterly
regret that he did not have every
complaint investigated and every man
punished who was found guilty of
having caused unnecessary suffering
among the soldiers, instead of allow
ing himself to be made to assume the
rule of apologist for and protector of
the guilty officials.
Complaints of serious nature are
being made by the prlvates of many
volunteer regiments against their Of
ficerS in connection with the failure of
regiments to get mustered out when
the privateS were practically unani-
nous in their wish to be allowed to
return to their civilian occupations.
1t is claimed that, in numerous In
stances, the officers misrepresented
the wishes of their men because of
their own desire to retain commits
slons which carry larger salaries than
their holders can command elsewhere,
not to mention the petty authority
they enjoy, which is source of the
greatest pleasure to men of small
caliber. 1t is announced by the War
Department that no more regiments
will be ordered mustered out, except
for special reasons, for some time to
come. Under their terms of enlist
ment the volunteers belong absolutely
to the government for two years, if
the government chooses to keep them
that long, and yet the government
can muster them out at any time it
sees fit to do so.
An oversight of the administration
in not making the terms of peace
with Spain include immediate Amer
ican control of Havana and all other
parts of Cuba, will cost few thous-
and poor devils, who are unfortunate
enough to be residents OF Cuba, their
lives. Captain General Blanco has
prevented the landing of supplies,
carried to Havana by the Red Cross
Society, for free distribution to the
needy, although he knows that thous-
ands are on the verge of starvation,
and, owing to that oversight of the
administration, those who would glad
ly feed those hungry Cubans and
Spaniards must bow to the inhuman
will of Blanco. The best that the
administration could do was to an
nounce that food for the poor would
be admitted free of all duty or pre-
scription at all Cuban ports that are
under our control, which means San
tiago and several smaller places.
Senator Burrows, of Mich, came
to Washington with his war paint on,
this week. He came for the purpose
of compelling the administration to
either keep out OF the Senatorial fight
in his state, or to fight out in the
open, and he is said to have given
Mr.. Mckinley and Secretary Alger
to understand that he did not care a
continental what the administration
cid, further than to know it. The
idea seems to have got out among
Pingree's friends that Alger, backed
by the administration, was encourag-
ing Pingree's fight on Burrows, also
in Washington. Burrows says he
secured positive denials from both
Mckinley and Alger, but his manner
leaves one to suppose that he still
entertains doubts. 1t seems that the
Democrats of Michigan ought to be
able to take advantage of the Bur-
rows-Pingree fight to elect majority
of the Legislature and secure the
Senator.
Some OF the defenders of the War
Department system of doing things
should hump themselves for awhile
and explain how it was possible, un-
der such perfect system, that an en-
tire regiment of troops-the Thirty
second Michigan was absolutely