The Florence tribune., 1898-09-03
WHO HAS BLUNDEREDf
The Secretary of War and the Heads of
 His Departments.

The New York Herald publishes the following:
 "The American people heard with sympathy for the sufferers the stories of the privations of our fighting men in Cuba, and before the soldiers of the Santiago campaign-wan, feeble and emaciated-began to arrive ut Mon- tauk Point, they were asking:
 "Who has blundered 2"
 This question must be answered. If the American people take brave pride in their slain, different chord is swept when the story comes of men stricken as result of the neglect of those who sent them to war An investigation will be made. The problem of swelling an army of | 25 900 men into an army of 1000 had | been discounted in the minds of tie | people. It was recognized as colos- l sal problem that would be accompani-
 ed by wearing friction. Disquieting
 stories from the State camps were
 brushed aside with the feeling that the
 best had been done under the circum- 1 stances.
 1 But how about the man at Santiago2
 Why was not his hunger and sickness
 met with bread and care? Why were
 his comrades without artillery, need-
 less slaughtered in the open plain be-
 fore men and Mausers behind strong
 defenses?
 | These questions affect the Secretary
 of War and the heads of his depart
 ments, and General Shafter himself.
 There will be no immediate pressure
 for an answer as to the State camps or as to the Porto Rican. campaign, which seems to have gone well. It will be sufficient for the present if Secretary Alger and General Shafter will tell the people why there was such bitter and cruel failure in the handling even of the army of only 10000 at Santiago. There is an opinion that the great problem of assem mbling an army of 280, : GOO men throws no mantle over neglect
 in handling and caring for the 20,0OC men at Santiago. They were sacrifc- ed at Santiago, and they are now suf-
 fering at MRntauk Point.
 The United States government had . weeks to get only 10000 men into the , field, and 1t kept them there after the
 battle was over, though they begged
 to come home. The government was frightened into action by an angry ' cry of pity from the people, while the war department was busy sending 20,- 600 additional men to Porto Rico, and, though there have been weeks for pre-
 paratiop, there are tinkers and mechan- ics still hnmmering away at Montauk, with chests of medicines and other E stores in disorder and confusion. > The ball of blame has been tossed from one governmental official to an- E other. Shafter has cabled defenses oi
 himself, and Secretary Alger has ar raigned the generals and colonels be- cause they cried out for the men. The amazing fact has come to light
 that the commissary department,
 which has charge of feeding an army of GOO men, is composed of only 22 3 regular officers. Five of these 22 men are on staffs and two are in Washing
 ton. One is old, another i'll and the e third is in Manila. This leaves l2 men of the regular establishment under or r ders from General Eagan to do the ? work of distributing III ,000, 900 ra tions issued since the beginning of the war.
 Only one of these men was at Santiago T -Commissary Wheaton. He was as- ]. sisted by Commissary Henry, who was . volunteer.
 They did the best they could. Com ? missary Henry was shot while in the f fighting line distributing supplies. q This left one man under orders of Gen. Q Eagan.
 ' After earnest representations, eight Il volunteer majors were added to the
 commissary corps. They were under | the orders of Gen. Eagan, but in many
 cases they were new to the work as not e to be able even to make out requisi- d tion. In addition, every general officer a of the volunteer troops had 8 commits . sary on his staff, but the commissary general had no authority over these. One cannot shun the conclusion n that here is where one of the causes t lay for the improper distribution of . food. The blame for this belongs to :, the secretary of war, who should have so presented to Congress the pos D sible exigencies as not to have the $ commissary department dependent for ] the feeding of 280, 900 soldiers upon the management of l2 regulars and 20 vol 5 unteers."