The evening times., 1898-11-26
IncncCtuHi tnsy- ePs.

II the things are answers" that vari-
Gus officials are now putting in as re-
ports. letters. speeches, etc. the
charges that followed the war
ought To b. disposed of and
everybody happy. They would be too.
if answers answered. but they don't.
General SKATERS speech at New York
feed is paraded as a reply to and
refutatiun II the allegations that he was
just little worse than a stuffed suit
OF clothes as the commander Of the
army that invaded cuba. Nobody would
have expected anything from an effigy,
and somebody would have taken hold
OF things. As il was. the army relied
on Shaft. until il Was a matter Of re-
treat or fight. and the American heroes
fought As General Lawton said, lit
was a captains battle, with which the
commanding general had nothing TO do
and about which he did not know
enough To send dispatch in response
TO the frantic appeals of Secretary AL
ger. We have never believed General
Shafter would attempt Ia answer his
critics. and he does not He would
bring down on his head an avalanche of
crushing facts from men who are silent
now.
No sane person who reads the sum-
mary of his alleged answer can find
anything more than an apology-the or
der 10 move came suddenly by tele-
phone and it was different from the for
mer plan. This however. does not ex-
cuse the appalling incompetency in mat
ters 10 which Shafter makes noreferenCe
We know from the testimony OF Colonel
Roosevelt about the endless confusion
at Tampa and the perpIeXity or ineffi-
cheney of the commanding general. who
referred everybody 10 a ncn-eXistent
or hidden and obviously ignorant quar-
terInaster. who. when created or found,
assigned all the troops to single
transport a a joke and left them to
fight il out. OF because he was distract
ed General Shafter does not tell why
he did not So that wagons. equipments
and supplies which are the lifeblood cf
an army. Were provided and taken along
and why there were not lighters or 9TH
er means of effecting landing. In
deed. n has boasted that he scerned
military conventionalities, which are
the product of The experience Of the
worlds great generals. He does not
explain away the specific charges that
he took no pains 10 have anything land
: ed bat the soldiers and their guns. and
! even the soldiers had To look out for
1 themselves. Unfortunately they took
b
does not explain the lack of hospital
. system Of provisions for the care of the
: wounded who were left To bleed TO death
on the field or crawl alone To the rear
/ He makes no mention Of his refusal to
allow the troops To use the frisky Span
ish mules that were idly grazing while
/ the soldiers had TO carry back-breaking
loads for miles in the fierce heat of a
/ tropical midday: or of his refusal to de-
/ tail. al the request of the surgeons.
! enough colored troops TO act as sani-
! tary police 10 prevent the dreaded in
cursicn of epidemic disease. He is even
more evasive than the Surgeon General
He has nothing to say of the transport
horrors with the responsibility for the
An apology is not an answer. That
was shown in the case OF Secretary AL
ger, who hoped his letter to Depew
would serve as reply to his critics.
! Nor is the report of Secretary Long
an answer to the charge that Sampson
has deliberately sought to wrest from
Schley the well-earned glory of Cerve-
Iafa 10. 10
most of The alleged refutations of criti-
/ cisms. but it is only the more blamable
| on that account. Anybody who has fol-
! lowed the varied and contradictory ac-
! counts which Sampson has given of the
| same event must concede there is rea-
| sonable ground of suspicion that the re-
/ lation Of facts has been framed and
! changed in way 10 meet the necessi-
| ties of the argument in favor of Samp-
! son. ] is possible that Secretary Long s
| confidence in Sampson is so complete
| that he has accepted his explanations
and his revised statements of facts
| without Subjecting them 10 the critical
scrutiny justice to Schley would require
! We are not called upon, however. to dis
| cover the cause of the Secretary's favor
to Sampson. but only to note the plain
| fact that in order to make the claim of
/ the latter appear anything but ridicu-
| lous there has been a readjustment of
| geography and time without any SEEM
| ing warrant Such a readjustment is
clearly TO SIMPSONS advantage and has
no other conceivable cause