Evening star., 1899-07-17
CRITICISM OF GEN. OTIS
James Creelman Makes Him Out Grossly In
competent.
Says He is Jealous of His Subordi-
mates md systematically Sup
presses the News.

James Creelman sends the following ca
blegram to the New York Journal regard
| ing the situation in the Philippines:
| LONDON, July 16.-After having spent
several months with our troops in the
| Philippines am firmly convinced that un-
| less Gen. Otis is removed and a competent
| general put in command the whole cam
| paign will be failure.
1 have been in the Cuban campaign as
well as in the Philippines, and 1 can say
| honestly without the slightest prejudice
| that Gen. Otis is much more responsible
for the disastrous, humiliating condition of
| affairs in the east than Gen. Shafter was
for the calamities in Cuba, for the War
Department furnished Gen. Otis with a
| perfectly equipped, well-fed army, and he
| had months of dry weather in which to
| fight against an imperfectly organized
| enemy.
To be perfectly plain, Cen Otis is a fussy
| old man, unaccustomed to anything but
| regfmenta1 command and saturated with
| the ideas and methods of routine clerk.
| He is man who has grown old serving in
a regiment, and his experience and abil-
| tiles do not go outside of regimental lines.
| Now that he finds himself in command of a
| large army. intrusted with the government
of a great archipelago, ii is no wonder that
| things are as they are.
| Dewey Was Dissatisfied.
! 1t was because of this knowledge that
| Admiral Dewey, without consulting General
Otis, privately cabled to President McKin-
fley asking him to send to Manila a small
| commission of men skilled in craftsmanship
| and diplomacy. 1t was apparent to him, as
| to others, that General Otis was not COM
| petent to deal with the far-reaching, IN
| tricate problems involved in war with the
natives.
| Again and again Admiral Dewey express
| ed at the beginning of the present hostili-
| ties his dissatisfaction over the failure 20
| make any advance against the enemy.
| When, finally, in despair of any action by
| Otis, Dewey began to take possession of
| other islands, Otis wrote to the admiral
| bitter letter complaining that the navy was
| forcing the campaign too fast.
| l was there then, and / remember how
| generals and other officers on the firing
line bitterly denounced General Otis in pri-
| vate for immersing himself in petty details
| of municipal affairs, army contracts and
| custom house cases, while our firing line
| was stretched twenty-five measured miles
| around Manila, lying idly before an enemy
| growing stronger and more expert in lnfan-
| try fire every day, while week after week
| of dry weather slipped away and the rainy
| season approached.
Even before the first insurgent attack on
J our troops Aguinaldo throwing up
| strong earthWOrks in sight of our lines.
| Major General Anderson, commanding the
| 1st Division, insisted that his troops were
stop the Filipinos from building fortifica-
| tons.
I'VE will do nothing" said General Otis,
| "unless the Fiipinos commit some act of
| war
But they are intrenching themselves
| against u.s. replied General Anderson. and
the moment a man puts a spade in the
| ground with hostile intent he has commit
ted ar act of war
| Anderson's arguments We're useless. The
| entreates of other generals to be permit
ted to put an end to the bellgerent work
of Filipinos were of no avail.
Got Rid of Anderson.
| When 1 reached Manila a few days after
the bloody outbreak the whole army was
/ lying in trenches, being fred at night and
| day, while General Otis was absorbed in
routine details that AN army clerk could
have done as well. He refused to allow
the army to make any advance. So insist
ent was General Anderson that the only
! way to destroy the enemy was to fight them
| that General Otis treated him with open
| hostility and finally had this splendid SOL
| dier return to the United States.
General Otis principal thought seemed to
| be to prevent real facts being telegraphed
| to the United States, and his abuse of CEN
| sorship has been almost incredible.
| While the army in the field was anxiously
| awaiting orders during the advance on
| Malolos, he spent whole hour reading my
| dispatch to the Journal, striking out names
| ing descriptive passages, erasing all men
| ton of the part played by the navy, and
| even occupying five minutes in selecting
sir gle word.
This is the same experience which other
| correspondents have had during the war.
General Otis has wasted hours of valuable
| time during the most critical days in re-
yislng press dispatches, coloring them to
| suit his own views.
On the night of the charge at Talihan
| river l went to General Otis palace, hav-
l tI,nh hot oil
| e1al insisted on changing the dispatch 1
| submitted to him. and actually struck out
| the name of Colonel Funston, whose regi-
| ment swan the river under fire that day,
| saying:
Il propose to make all the heroes that
| are made in this war.
Colonel Thompson, the press censor, has
| refused to allow me to mention regiments
| distinguishing themselves in battle. saying
he was ordered to do so by General Otis.
| During General Wheaton's advance to
| Pasig and beyond with the flying brigade,
| Otis ordered all press dispatches stopped
| unless they described the enemy fighting
| furiously and said enormous losses were
| inflicted by troops
| AS a matter of fact on this occasion the
| insurgents were contemplate in numbers,
| and ran away except in cases of one or two
small bands, and their losses were very
| slight.
| Refused to Cable Misstatements.
General Otis conditions for press dis
patches We're outrageously dishonest
| that l refused to send any dispatches, pre-
! ferring to let the journal be beaten rather
| than tc telegraph official lies.
The most extraordinary thing is that
up to the time 1 left Manila. which was
after the capture of Malolos by Macarthur
and Santa Cruz by Lawton, Gen. Otis had
never been at the front.
Imagine this jealous clerk, who never
| went outside the city, directing with abso-
| lutely tyrannical exactitude the operations
of divisions commanded by soldiers like
| Lawton and Macarthur.
| l knew from my own association with
| both divisions in the field that Gen. Otis