Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-05-23
American and Spanish
SquadrOns not to
Meet in Battle.
Such Is the General Be-
lief Now in WASH
ingtOn.
Battleship Oregon Has
Joined Admiral Samp-
sons Fleet.


grows here and is becoming a fixed
opinion, that the great American and
Spanish squadrons will not meet in
battle. 1t is plainly the purpose of
the Spanish to avoid an engagement.
Strategy and common sense would sug-
gest that Cervera aim to reach the
Atlantic coast and lombard our sea-
coast cities. This view prevails in
New York, and the naval board has
been importuned to have Schley re-
turned to give protection to the sea-
coast. The authorities claim to have
no concern as to the safety of the sea-
board as they assume that if the
Spanish feet reached the Atlantic, it
could never return to Spain. An ed
itorial which recently appeared in the
New York Tribune is attracting much
attention in the naval circles here.
The article intimaIeS that Sampson
has been too cautious, and that irres-
o4ution and undue prudence has kept
him from meeting the Spanish fleet.
Cervera, the article says, has sailed
about with impunity, when he should
have been followed and forced to give
battle. Continuing, the article guard
eddy suggests that had Dewey been in
charge of the flying squadron the
Spanish fleet would have been appre-
hended and the decisive battle of the
war fought. AS the Tribune is par
ticularly close to Secretary Long, the
naval men hint that he inspired the
Tribune's article. Answering this at
tack, the naval authorities state that
Sampson is one of the best naval au-
thorities in the world. He is, they
say, a fighter, and though cautious,
would not decline battle with force
vastly his superior. He has been
hampered, say his companions, by
the naval strategy board, which has
changed his plans frequently, and has
only recently given him authority to
act as events prompted. They also
say that his movements have been too
closely chronicled by the press. This
enabled the Spanish to know every
move that he made or contemplated,
while neither he nor the naval board
knew anything of the whereabouts OF
the Spanish fleet. Cervera has been
reported as being at all places at the
same time, and Sampson has been
looking for him in impossible places.
The friends of Sampson attribute this
attack to politics, and say that there
is too much politics in the naval de-
partment.
The naval department announces
that the Oregon has joined SIMPSONS
fleet The news of the safety Of the
Oregon was received with the highest
satisfaction. The absence of news
from the Oregon and the lack of as
surance that it might form a junction
with the flying squadron, left incOm-
plete certain plans that will now be
quickly consummated. The navy de-
partment never had much apprehen-
sion for the Oregon Said an attache
last night If the four Spanish cruis-
ers of the Cape Verde squadron are
animated by any consuming desire to
try conclusions WIN the OT0SOH, Iu0
Oregon will be found perfectly willing
to accommodate them. It is possible
that with all their batteries concen-
trated on their one antagon-
isf they might send her to
the bottom, but the armor
of the Oregon is thick, and it is almost
a moral certainty that one or two of
the cruisers would go down before she
would. Seamanship and gunnery
count for much, and the whole record
of the war shows that in these respects
our superiority is incontestable. If
meeting should take place the Spanish
squadron, after it was over,
would know great deal
more than it did, but would not
be as pretty as it was. Should the
meeting not take place, the addition
of the Oregon to our forces in Cuban
waters will so complete our superiority
that there would be no discredit il
SPANS surrendering without furthe