The age-herald., 1899-07-19
ADMINlST ATION WlLL IGNORE f>
 AROUND ROBIN" OF CORRESPONDENTS

for the disastrous, humiliating condition of affairs in the east than General Shafter
 was for the calamities in Cuba, for the war
 department furnished General Otis with perfectly equipped, well fed army, and he
 had months of dry weather in which to
 fight against an imperfectly organized enc
 my.
 To be perfectly plain, General Otis is a fussy old man, unaccustomed to anything but regimental command, and saturated
 with the ideas and methods of a routine
 clerk. He is a man who has grown old
 serving in a regiment and his experience
 and abilities do not go outside of regiment
 al lines. Now that he finds himself in com
 mand of large army intrusted with the government of a large archipelago, 1t is no
 wonder that things are as they are. It is because of this knowledge that Ad-
 miral Dewey, without consulting General Otis, privately cabled to President Me-
 Kiney asking him to send to Manila a small commission of men skilled in states | manship and diplomacy. It was apparent | to him, to others, that General Otis was not competent to deal with the far reach | ing intricate problems involved in a war | with the natives.
 Again and again Admiral Dewey ex- l pressed at the beginning of the present hos | tiities his dissatisfaction over the failure l to 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 a bitter letter complaining that the navy was l forcing the camnaipn too fast Othcers Denounce Otis l was there then and I remember how generals and others 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-two measured miles around Manila lying idly before an enemy growing stronger and more expert in in fantry fire every day, while week after week of dry weather slipped away and the
 rainy season approached. Even before the first insurgent attack on our troops, Aguinaldo was throwing up strong earthworks in sight of our lines Major General Anderson, commanding the first division, insisted that his troops were
 
 stop the Filipinos from building fortifica- tions.
 We will do nothing" said General Otis, unless the Filipinos commit some act of war''
 But they are entrenching themselves against us,' replied General Anderson and the moment a man puts a spade in the ground with hostile intent he has com mitted an act of war"
 l Andersan's arguments were useless. The l entreaties of other generals to be permit ted to pht an end to the belligerent work | of the Filipinos were of no avail. When l reached Manila a few days after the bloody outbreak the whole army was l lying in trenches, being fired at night and | day. while General Otis was absorbed in routine details that an army clerk could l have done as well. He refused to allow 1 the army to make any advance. So insist I 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 | soldier return to the United States. General Otis principal thought seemed | to be to prevent real facts being tele- SidphCd to luS Oulleu States, ana his | abuse of censorship has been almost in- credible.
 While the army in the field was anxious | ly awaiting orders dsrng the advance on | Malolos, he spent whole hour reading my | dispatch to the Journal, striking out names | of officers mentioned for gallantry. chang ing descriptive passages, erasing all men, ton of the part played by the navy, and even occupying five minutes in selecting a single 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-
 vfsing press dispatches, coloring them to suit his own views.
 News Completely Reversed On the night of the charge at Talihan river l went to General Otis palace, having | ridden in from the battlefield The general insisted on changing the dispatch I sub- mitted to him, and actually struck out the name of Colonel Funston whose regiment swan the river under fire that day. say- | ing:
 T propose to make all the heroes that | are made in this war;
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