Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-07-22
Three Months Of War.

proud achievement for our country.
Was such war as this ever seen be-
fore? In 1866 Prussia and Austria had
a struggle which lasted only six weeks,
when Austria was forced to retire from
the field. But the powers of Europe
are supposed to be prepared for war all
the time. The United States on the
other hand is a peaceful nation. 1t
does not maintain large war eetab-
lishment. Its ways are the ways Of
peace. Yet what has it done in the
short space of six months!
They have been three months of such
activity in warlike preparation and
prosecution that the world never saw
before. Still this unexampled energy
was not satisfactory to many news
paper warriors far in the rear. They
wanted more brskness in the conduct
of the war. They wanted to have San
emily even before the American forces
arrived. They seemed to think that
negligence and incompetency were
shown because the American COM
manders We're unable to reduce strong
Notifications and carry by assault in
half an hour defenses which it had
taken years to rear. They abused the
Americans for not moving through an
unknown jungle with the worst eli
matte conditions with the same speed
that a good roadster goes over a
smooth modern road.
But the American army did its work
eXpeditiously and decsively. If it did
not satisfy newspaper strategists who
never smelled burnt powder except on
the Fourth of July, it performed work
that has astonshed military experts
throughout the world.
Three months ago we had an army
of $4,000 regulars and about 100000 ma
tional guardsmen. the great majority
of whom were no better than raw re-
cruits. A few states, our own among
them, had soldiers, well equipped, who
We're ready to take the field. Most Of
the other states had not made adequate
provision for their soldiers and many
went into camp without uniforms Or
equipments. In less than three
months, however, we had an army of
100000 men in the field, seasoned and
hardened. ready for any work. The
performances of the list New York
and the I'd Massachusetts before Santi-
ago show the stuff of which our volun-
teers are made, and the material of
which we can make a great army if the
occasion ever should arise.
If it had been said three months ago
this great task would be accomplished
| in that's space of time. the man who
made the statement would have been
regarded as one whose mental facul-
ties needed looking after. But never
theless the administration was severe
~ tfitiN iStt IDI dlltStu ltllIIsoStbIlS anu
incompetence.
The government, it was contended,
was wrong and laundering. and all wis
dom seemed to be concentrated in the
newspaper offices. Everything that the
government did was wrong; the army
was mismanagcd and the navy was un..
disciplined. The Maine was blown up
| by an internal explosion because the
officers did not know how to look after
| their ship; if Dewey had the temerity
to go to the Philippines Montejo would
| blow him out of the water; New York
bombarded because there was nothing
to stop the Spanish fleets so inefficient
was the American navy. The great tor
| pedo boat hotilla under Nillamil which
accompanied Cervera would make
short work of the American fleet, for
the Spaniards We're the greatest eX-
perts in the world with torpcdoes and
| they would demolish our battleships
and cruisers. Then it was said that
Sampson had shown singular negIi-
Eence, in that he had failed to capture
! CerVera on the high seas, unmindful of
the fact that Cervera had the fastest
ships and selected his own route and
| destination.
But the army also was held up to
scorn. Toral had outWitted Shafter
and had got away; Shaftcr did not
understand his business and did not
/ know how to invest a city; the soldiers
were not provided with the luXuries OF
! life; they did not have mattresses AMI
napkins, and actually had to live on
| bareback and coffee.
All this sort of thing was calculated
to affect the judgment of the public
and perhaps it did to a certain extent:
but in the meantime the army and the
navy-Whose officers understood their
busincss-keep hard at it, and the re-
suit is the most brilliant work on land
and sea ever seen in a campaign of
three months. The American people