The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1898-10-07
PFOPLFrs PARTY TICKEEf
AIRY OF IFC0EPETEHTs.

AIRY OF IECOEPETEETs.
No one need go far to find thecsUse Of
misery, neglect, disease and death, IN
necessarily inflicted upon our brave
soldiers in camp and field, in the con-
duct Of the war, when We remember
the army Of incOmpetents appointed
from civil life through political pulls,
and forced into the supply department
Of the government in the modelling Of
the army. Here are the numbers, but
to print the names would require a
column in an ordinary newspaper:
Acknowledgements with the rank Of
major, 8; assistant sdjutsnt- generals
with the rank of captain, 80; quarter
master with the rank Of lieutenant
colonel, 1; chief quartermssters with
the rank Of major, 6; quartermasters
with the rank Of major, 20; chief com
missaries with the rank Of major, IA;
commissaries with the rank Of major,
.; commissaries with the rank csptains
3. Besides, there there are others in
the civilian list connected withe vari-
Gus departments of the military ser
vice.
Here are a few of the most familiar
of these "favorite sons" holding these
staff commissions: John A. Logan,
James G. Blaine, friedrich NJ. AIger,
George S. Hobart, A. G. @. Quay, NJ. F.
Bell, W. B. Allison, J. B. Foraker, D.
Elkins, @. L. FentOn, n. NJ. Flower, D.
Van Voorhees,, G. H. Mills, William
AstoF Chanler. These names are fairly
representative and show that the sons
Of congressman and senators from all
over the United States, and the sons
Of men formerly distinguished, but
now dead OF retired from active par
ticipation in public affairs, have been
appointed to these staff positions, not
on the ground Of fitness but to reward
political adherents, to the seriO1s det-
riment of the public service.
When We remember that an army is
a human gasteropOd and travels on its
stomach, and that health and physical
tone and vigOr is the infaliabIe index
of an army's efficiency, and that these
appointments Of men without previous
experience in this most important
branch of the public service, it is evil
dent that this army Of incompetents
have not only numbered the service but /
have, probably, been the cause Of IN
told misery, disease and death to many
thousands Of our brave men. In fact
it tells the whole stOry-pOIitics did it.
Now Alger and company will attempt
to make it appear that disease and
death in camp and field was due solely |
to the careIessness an even reckless |
ness of the enlisted men themselves.
Gen. Miles does not agree with the |
suaye IagO Ofthe war department as the !
following patriotic utterances plainly
disclose:
The Daily News Washington special
says that Gen. Miles, at a reception i
given at his home the other night to
his comrades Of the Medal Of Honor /
legion, denounced as false the claim
that volunteer officers and soldiers
we're themselves responsible for the /
sickness in the camps
The volunteer troops of the United /
States in the war with Spain" said he,
were as brave and patriotic body Of
soldiers as ever took the field in any
campaign the world has ever seen.
The battles they fought were won as
gallantly as any recorded in history.
Aud yet the peril which our soldiers
had most cause to dread was not
bullets but disease, which swept over
our camps and destroyed hundreds
where bullets killed one.
sour soldiers entered into fever
stricken camps as they went up the
hill in the face of the enemy with a
and devotion that must open
to them the glorious pages Of history.
'Those who say that these men sick
ened and died because they wished to;
those who blame the soldiers and
officers of our army for the disease
and death that DEVASTATED the camps
and thinned the ranks; those who
assert that our soldiers suffered
their own faults, insult a
quarter of a million of the bravest
men who ever carried arms beneath
the sun.
these men did not suffer and die
because they liked it, and whoever
says they did insult our army and those
who differed it. It is an affrondt to
reason have nothing to say Of the
blame for the death Of those brave
men,"