The silver lance., 1899-09-22
WASHINGTON NEWS.

Observation-Disclosures
thus far has been entirely satisfac
.ory," General Miles spoke with much
satisfaction of the practical headway
that had been made in the experiments
at Sandy Hook with heavy ordnance
and the newest and most powerful ex
plosives
All signs indicate that the President
is determined to stake his politica'
fate upon the success of General Otis
during the coming dry season in the
Philippines. He hears daily from til,
prominent men all over the country
of the unpopularity of General Otis,
and criticisms of his ability as sol
dier, but fails to act upon the advice.
He has been informed that the failure
of General Otis to end the insurrectioI
during the next few months means the
probable failure of the Republican par
ty at the polls, and has been advised
that it would entail almost certain de
feat of his candidacy before the mex
nominating convention. Fully appre
ciating this sentiment. he is permitting
the time to pass without supersedine
General Otis. 1t is reported at the War
Department, however. that General
Otis command will be only nominal.
He has outlined campaign with the
advice and approval of the War De
partment officials and the President
but Generals Lawton and Macarthur
will be intrusted with carrying it into
execution with little interference from
General Otis. They will be told what
is expected of them and be permitted
to execute their orders in their own
way, being held responsible only for
the results obtained.
The friends of General Otis are be-
coming hopeful that they will succeed
in having him retained in his present
command. Last week they were
deeply discouraged, and one, high
official of the war department. openly
admitted that he believed popular
clamor'' would result in his friends re-
call and the assignment of General
Miles or General Merritt to Manila.
The prediction is now being confident
ly made by General Otis admirers
that he will be permitted to demon
strate what he can do with larger
army before being censured for his
failure to make more progress during
the last campaign. The President has
repeatedly expressed his confidence in
General Otis, and Secretary Root has
commended his reports for clearness
and conciseness. But the latter official
has been inclined to the suggestion
that an officer of high rank, the major
general commanding the army being
preferable, should be placed at the
head of the fighting forces. Secretary
Root has viewed the situation from an
unprejudiced standpoint. and his rec
concentrations We're placed upon Gen
eral Otis ability as soldier. He has
taken the broad ground that where the
army is there also should be the
ranking officers. He is opposed to the
proposition to permit the major general
commanding to remain at his desk
performing routine work, another ma
jor general acting as military governor
of Cuba. and the third as commander
of the department of the east, while
the army is in the Philippines under
the command of brigadier general,
which is General OTIS rank in the
regular army.
In an interview w. r. Merriam, di-
rector of the census, said in reference
to the appointment of the enumer-
ators: "Our next great undertaking
and any branch of work which must
reach every nook and corner, farm and
cabin in the United States is greats
that of selecting about 5000 enumer-
ators for taking the twelfth census
We are trying strenuously to prepare
for complete and reasonably perfect
census. The burden of the work of
gathering the materials for it, however,
will fall on the enumerators. I'm any
important line of private business pre-
liminary training is required of those
charged with conducting it's details
Lawyers and doctors study before they
practice their professions. and mechan-
les are required to serve thorough ap-
prenticeships before asking for jour
neymen's work or wages. So, in my
view, those who desire to act as cen
sus enumerators should take up the
study of census laws. schedules and
statistics, thus familarizing them
selves. as far as possible. with the de-
tails of the work. In this way they
will be prepared on the 1st of June
next, like a great and well-drilled
army, to begin their labors understand
ingly and harmoniously from ocean to
ocean, without after that day requir-
ing further. orders or instructions.
While / shall not undertake to select
enumerators without consulting with
the proper census supervisor as to the
qualifications and experience of appli-
cants, ! would like to suggest that all
candidates adopt the course l have in
dicated and thus help to insure at the
threshold of the twentieth century the
most perfect census in the history of
the republic"