The silver blade. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1895-1903, 1899-02-25
GENERAL NILES.

vi WHdt dOCS 1CICIdl MHCS
stand accused that he is now be-
fore court of inquiry, where he
will no doubt be Inundated and
perhaps forever disgraced ? His
ofense is this: As commanding
general Of the army, reports have
been made to him by large num-
Der of regimental and other officers
that certain food, particularly beef,
issued to the troops under their
command was unwholesome and
unfit for use. With these reports
before him, the commanding gen.
eral has asked that the contractors
who furnished the bad supplies be
called to account.
When the war department man
Tested no disposition to consider
these abuses in a virile manner,
General Miles adopted other, and
perhaps, from strictly military
standpoint, irregular methods to
get an inkling Of the facts before
the people through interviews and
his testimony before the late
alleged investigating commission.
For this offense, for thus coming
to the defense of the common SOL
der, General Miles is menaced
with courtmartial, while General
Eagan, for being outrageously
abusive and indecent against Gen
eral Miles and in behalf of the per-
lection of the beef which the SOL
diers rejected, has been sentenced
(?) to the grave punishment of a
vacation for six years with full pay
SIS, 500 per year! Under such
circumstances prosecution of Gen
eral Miles cannot be read but as
petty and spiteful persecution, in
spired by the head of the war de-
partment and consented to by the
president, and its effects will be to
put the administration on the side
of the contractors as against the in
terests of the nations defenders.
General Miles, it will be under
stood, is the first commanding
general of our army that ever rose
from the ranks to the highest mill
tary position. He has drank from
the canteen and eaten the hardtack
that sustains the common soldier,
and knows what the army life Of
the private is. He first won a
commission by conspicuous brav-
cry, and, step by step, whether in
the civil war or when conducting
difficult campaigns against the In.
dams, he has fought his way up,
ward. His military career is alb
solutely unblemished, and his per.
sonal character is of the highest.
At the beginning Of the war he
was commanding general, and
might properly have expected to
take large part in conducting it:
operations. Yet the secretary O.
war set to work deliberately to
snub and ignore him. 1t was moi
because General Miles was ineffi
cient or incapable; it was because
Secretary Alger had a personal
spite against him. His sugges-
tons were overridden and his ad.
vice contemptuously received. 1,
was not until the president sent
him to Santiago that he began to
take any real part in the war, and
then to undermine him the secre-
tary sent a secret message to Shat
ter saying in effect that he need
not obey Miles. Leaving Shafter
in full possession of what glory he
had won, General Miles with ;, 900
troops, invaded Porto Rico and, in
the judgment of experts, carried on
brief campaign which showed a
clear head and a master mind.
Then he returned to Washington
and, as he looked more and more
into the conduct of the war, his
heart burned with indignation
within him. What followed is