New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-07-25
WHAT THE WAR HAS TAUGHT
TIE FOLLY OF HASTY A CTION.
GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL WHO BE-
r,rvES EVENTS HAVE PROVED
THE WISDOM OF NOT RUSH
ING OPERATIONS.
ING OPERATIONS.
r.y TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE

rav TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBrSEl
x,rston July 24-"The war with Spain
-,, three months old but It must already
80 opened the eyes of good many men and
..as them grateful that their advice was re-
...,sd and that their efforts came to naught
srr,nr the last few months which preceded the
ao.,araticn OF war;" remarked an officer OF the
covsrnment yesterday. in conversation with
tribune correspondent
"1o whom do you refer?" asked the corre-
spondent
"Oh. YOU know all those statesmen in Con-
u,sss and patrlots out of it. who were trying
20 drive the Administration and Congress into
action which would have inevitably brought
., war when the country was wholly unpre-
r.red. OF course. there were a good many
things these gentlemen did not know. or the
nractical Importance of which they failed to
roarze able and patriotic as they were Be-
s,des they knew or believed they knew. and
r,ers supremely impressed with the importance
y, so many things that were not How we'll
do I remember the tremendous effort, which
rearly succeeded to have the United States
acknowledge or recognize the Cuban Republic.
and the assertions which clustered around and
supported IT, Do that. they said. and Spain will
will he able to buy arms and ships and equip
an army Of 100000 and drive every Spaniard
out Of Cuba In thirty days. How absurd that
seems in the light of the events Of the last three
months. The men who supported that pro-
sramune and sincerely believed in il. of course,
knew nothing about war or the cost of money
and time 10 prepare for war; they tremendously
exaggerated the strength and resources OF the
tiyy,a ated n
Spain in Cuba Why, look at it! The United
States had a fair Navy. small but effective
Army. we'll equipped, and considerable supply
OF reserve arms and ammunition on mana, ana
yet nearly two months before war was actually
declared and when many Of US prayed and
boped that it might and would be averted. 1t
was regarded as necessary TO strengthen the
Army and the Navy that S50,OO0,O0O. equal to
25OOOO 600 Spanish pesetas, was unanimously
voted for that purpose Ships and guns and
powder and proS ctiles were bought Wherever
they could be G6und. and, although all due dill
sence was used it took much longer than thirty
days to spend the money. and more than sixty
DAYS to get possession of the material pur-
chased.
STRENGTHENING THE ARMY
again" continued the Government officer
at became necessary. so soon as war was de-
clared 10 increase our Regular Army and raise
a volunteer army, and every energy was Deh'
in that direction. OF course. 1t would be rloicu-
lous to compare the military resources OF the
United States in the way of men, thousands OF
whom, had received some military training. with
those of the Cuban insurgents but after ninety
.,Avs of effort we have barely one hundred thou
Ind volunteers and Regular Army recrui's
s,xtSy for active service \in the field IT was
,arv esays before we were ready to land a mill
most wpedition on Cuban SOIL ana tha' was al
.Jn visolly composed Of Regular troops.
NJ our sow of these facts. should think some
rev,se ti;atesmen in Congress would be glad to
from m heir speeches or have them expunged
"You 8 published records of its proceedings.
aiobt wlaem to admit however, that they were
of tn lan they said that the bare recognition
would noedependence of the Cuban Republic
war wts have involved the United States in
by nc pain" remarked the correspondent.
have pYs ans. On the contrary. 1t would
sooner ~So,xedN and brought on the war even
in my "pnd when we were less prepared for It,
hh,ya nFiniqn. And just think what that would
-rny 'S;--,,,ved If General Miles had led an
a. into Cuba ne would have been obliged to
take ps orders from General Gomez. the Cuban
,Comfnander-in- Chief. who would have directed
all military operations; If tie military opera
tons against Santiago had been undertaken
General Shafter. whoever commanded the
American contingent would have been subordi-
nate to General Garcia, and so on. and the mill
tary tail would have wagged the military dog in
every campaign. Even the distribution OF reiier
supplies from the United States would have
been controlled and directed by the Cuban mill
tary authorities"
THE CUBAN REPUBLIC.
"You referred to certain assertions in support
of the recognition of the independence of the
Cuban Republic What were they?' asked the
correspondent
oh they were numerous and various. One
Of them was that the Cuban Republic was a
regularly organized government. even II a fee
bic one: that IL had civil establishment and a
capital somewhere in the interior that the
President was attended by Cabinet; that all
the functions Of a government, such as the col
lection of taxes a mail service. the admnstra-
ton Of justice. and so on. were regularly exer-
cised. Has anybody heard OF that regularly or
ganized government and its exercise OF all gov
ernmental functions since the war began? l
certainly have not and I do not know anybody
who has. And then there military estab-
lshment. with q regularly organized and
equipped army the strength Of which was vari-
ously estimated at from 10000 to 10000 men.
Even the War Department believed in the exist
ence OF such army, and estimated its proba-
ble strength at 10000 men. and predcated esti-
mates to Congress that basis Has anybody
yet seen muster-roIl OF q regiment or company
OF that army?
"Of course, we all know that there are bodies
OF armed insurgents In the field in most Of the
provinces and that they have kept the Span
ierds busy during the last three years. That