The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-09-15
WAR IS WAR,
Says Gen. Grosvenor, and Sickness
and Suffering Must Be Expected.

Freeport, ILL.,, Sept. 5.-Congressman
Grosvenor of Ohio, made the principal
speech at the C. A. r. reunion here to-
day.
General Grosvenor said in part:
Since the annual meetings of the
Grand Army of the Republic of 1897,
great events have happened in the
United States, events which will
change the map of the world and stamp
upon the American character the ele-
ments of great cosmopolitan factor.
1t would seem fitting and proper that
we discuss the events of the past year,
and consider them with reference to the
history of the Grand Army of the Re
public and the soldiers of the war of
1875. know that 1 am speaking to
men of distinguished magnanimity of
character and generosity of purpose
and, hence, venture to say that there
will be no men in the United States
who will receive the returning soldiers
of the Spanish war with greater evil
dences of comradeship than will the
men who marched and fought from Bull
Run to Appomattox. They will be re-
ceived in our homes and be given the
front rank in our hearts affections.
THE performances of the union SOL
diers will not be discussed by men in
comparison with the men of the Span
ish war, excepting only to show how
imperfect were the provisions for our
safety, our comfort and our efficiency,
as compared with those of the army of
today"
Without discussing the ethics of the
controversy between the United States
and Spain, General GrosvenOr defended
the war as a righteous and holy one.
After detailing the suddenness with
which the beginning of hOStilitieS came,
and the great difficulties confronting
the war and navy departments in pro-
Viding ammunition and supplies OF
subsistence. he said:
In less than hundred days, about
two hundred and twenty-five thousand
men were mustered into the vOlun-
teer organizations of the United States
and the regular army was Increased to
a bout 60, 600, making somewhere in the
neighbOrhOOd of two hundred and
seVenty-fiVe thousand men of all arms;
and at the end of one hundred days
every man of them was fully equipped
for war. Go with me now to the camp
of one of these regiments and see what
they had Arms of the best obtainable
character, probably not the MaUser,
nor in all cases the Krag-J Orgensen,
but in every case an efficient weapon.
Quartermaster supplies in quantities
beyond the dream of possibility Go
to camp and see their tentage, their
bedding. their cooking utensils and
their rations, and you will say what L
say, that no army on earth was ever
so we'll armed, so well clothed, so Wen
cared for; and all this was done IN a
period of less than one hundred days.
Now we come to the sOmbfe and
less satisfactory features of this war
Men have died. Up to the present time
it is believed that the death list by
bullets and wounds and by disease has
reached the terrible figure of nearly
three thousand men. Eleven thousand
men fell dead and wounded at Chicka-
manga and more than sixteen thousand
men fell dead and wounded at Gettys-
burg. One hour at Gettysburg cost the
American people more lives than has
this war up to the present time. There
were more men sick in the spring ana
summer Of 1862 in the union army than
have been mustered into the service,
including the regulars. This simply
shows that war is war and that you can
not have war in any other way Let
US consider a regiment of troops which
does not see war. Twelve or thirteen
hundred young men are suddenly called
together to defend their country ana
march to the camp Of mobilization and
instruction.
''They live upon one spot of ground,
the size of a regiment; they eat the
rations of the United States govern
ment, ample in quantity, ample IN
character. but cooked and distributed
by the uninitiated cooks of the country.
They have changed climates, they are
drinking different water and they are
exposed to all the things which are in
cidental to a camp, and during the first
four or five months; and ordinarily dur
ing the first year, they are exposed to
almost all the diseases known to afnlct
the human family.
"As the last gun of Santiago doomed
over the fever stricken hills of east
ern Cuba, the flag of Spain went down,
never to rise again on the Antilles, ana
the war was over.
But sickness and death held high
carnival and now the test of the sur
geon generals department was made
by a condition of things unparalleled
in the history of the world that we have
known and it is not strange to hear 1t
said that there has been a lack Of eff
ficieney shown in some places by the
medical corps of the army. The Amer
lean people will hold first, that suffering
caused by the act of God, which could
not be met by the ordinary foresight of
man. shall not be charged up against
our officers. but that the suffering of
soldiers and the lack of care and at
been prevented by the utmost activity
of the representatives of the govern
ment shall be thoroughly investigated
and all the facts made known and
those who have contributed innegligence
or overt act shall suffer the cOndemna-
ton and punishment which a crime of
this terrible character justly demands;
but we shall not forget how weak we
were in the beginning and how the
government was driven, as it were, to
precipitate action, and how faithfully
ment have accomplished the tremen-
dous results to which I have REFEREED
In regard to the question of policy
growing out of the war, General Gros-
venor said:
ct will not be denied that we are to
meet the question of Cuban occupation
and Cuban government bv a new set
of facts which were unknown to US
when the declaration of war was made
q -ha1T