The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-06-04
A WAR Or PLUMBER
Shocking Condition Of the
Troops at Tampa Due to
Amateur and Politi-
cal Soldering.
tPoultney Bigelow, in .sHarper's Weekly"
With the Troops Under Canvas.
May u. 1885.

HIH FH L
tPoultney Bigelow, in "Harper's weekly
With the Troops Under Canvas.
May q, 1885.
Down here (Tampa) we are sweltering
day and night. with the Thermometer q
in the shade. Nobody dares complain, for
fear of appearing unpatriotic. Still, II
will do us no harm to hear a little OF
the truth, for this affair is turning out
just as officers of the regular army have
foreseen.
Here we are thirty days after the
declaration of war, and not a regiment
is yet equipped with uniforms suitable
for hot weather. The United States troops
sweat night and day in their cowhide
boots, thick flannel shirts and winter
trousers. In addition to this, they wear
a tunic at inspections-a piece of torture.
Who is responsible for this? No one
knows.
The poor men have to sleep on the
ground in the heavy. dirty sand. Their
sweaty clothing picks it UP, and their
food is full Of it. Every Whit of hot air
blows fine dust about. and every horse
cart or even passing person adds discom-
fort to men already miserable. How little
it would cost to have the camp sprinkled
once or twicesa day. Or at least the Gov
might have provided rough
boards from which the men could have
sawed themselves a few feet of flooring.
We are in the habit of plying the sol
dier of Europe as hardly treated. For
downright neglect I have seen nothing to
beat the way the American is treated by
Uncle Sam.
nh, - c,1pa1fn5 ru;fI, or1xy f1af
which is most ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS pork,
and beans of that brown quality that
makes one ready to spend the rest of the
day in a watermelon patch. Is it a Won
der that the men develop an abnormal
thirst, and rush off to satisfy this crav-
ing as best they can-some with plain Wa
ter, some with milk shakes, some with
beer, some with other compounds? The
result is that already the camp doctors
are busy every morning. with men and
officers suffering from various degrees of
dysentery. We hush this up as we'll as
we can. but to do so altogether is inn
possible. Who is responsible? No one
can tell.
The wal is thirty days in swing. 1t
took less time than that for Germany to
put half a million well trained men on the
French frontier in 1870. Today we look in
vain for a single regiment fit to a the
field. Every day raw recruits are dumped
down here out of an incoming train, and
they are taken out into the deep sand
made to move their legs up and
down until exhausted nature cries out for
rest. The ordinary man asks why were
not these recruits licked into shape up in
the cool North. and sent down properly
clothed and armed. Who is response
BILE?
The army is numbered up with civilian
staff officers whose duty it is to see that
our men are properly located and taken
care Of. The colonies and captains of
the individual regiments are powerless IN
this matter; they can but obey the orders
of their superiors on the staff.
In no army Of Europe, not even in
Spain, have I seen troops SO badly treated
through the incompetence of staff officers.
who are today strutting about in new uni
of camp as frauds.
While the nation has been periodically
voting men and money for this campaign
of alleged philanthropy, promotions have
not been made wholly from deserving Off
GERS whose lives have been spent in active
military work. but from the ranks Of poll
sticians who may have had a smattering
of militia drill, or may have worn a uni
form forty years ago.
Today, thirty years after the declara-
tion of war, there has not been held at
Tampa a single military field exercise
likely to be of service to generals of bril-
gade or division, let alone an army corps.
The main reason is, no doubt, that there
are no ~brigadiers or major generals in
Tampa who would know how to go to
work in the matter.
If people up North could see what I
have been seeing, there would be a cry
of Indignant protest throughout the coun-
try.
Nothing, I am sure, is so well calculated
to encourage Spain in her obstinate re-
sistance as the knowledge that our mill
tary resources are being squandered as
recklessly as were those Of France in
1870.
Finally, let US insist thai for the src-
cess conduct Of a war there must be one
man, and n man only, responsible for
the command.
Today no one is in command. There are
half a dozen people in Washington pre-
tending to be directing operations.
General Miles sits at the Wa Depart
ment with no more influence that mis-
doorkeeper.
There is no head to the army. The
railway, express, telegraph, steamship and
other corporations are getting fat out OF
this war; so are all contractors who deal
with politics. The more inefficient the
army, the better it suits them II this
war should be dragged out for a year o.
so they would be more than delighted.
Meanwhile brave boys IN blue will be siy-
Ing in the heat Of Tampa, to say nothing
Of the Cuban swamps.
we can thrash Spain any time we
choose. But just now 1t would do us all
much more good to discover why, thirty
DAYS after wal is declared, our troops are
losing their vitality in Florida, with not a
single regiment fit to take the field.