The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-17


ing the volunteers at the beginning OF
| the war as it has in mastering them
out since its close.
There is some idiot in authority"
! said the Tribune on the 2nd of May
( last year, and time has INDICATED that
! opinion. 1t went on to say: 1.-The man
/ in the war departm ent who engineered
the call for volunteers ought to have
his picture published as a curiosity, or.
at least, ought TO have his eyes tested
to see whether or not he is mentally
color blind" Then followed a list of
grievances against the idiot" and the
following conclusion:
Some man has obtained a high
place in the war department who ought
to attend course at a convenient kim
dergarten long enough to know at least
made for their own defense" That
same idiot is in authority yet
On the 18th of May, 1898, the Trib-
une said:
The administration doesn't seem to be
getting on very fast with the war. and
uctll 1t is able to make some use of the
making another call for volunteers seems
much out of place. The foe more
to be feared than the Spaniard is a policy
or catering to contractors planning for
bond issues. and wearing out the heart of
the country and of the troops by uncer-
taInty and bungling delays. And that
policy viii so wear away the numbers.
health and efficiency of the volunteers
that successive calls for the replenishment
of the ranks will be a necessity caused
by the policy of waste and destruction
Ffn.aV hon h i'll
situation itself. \ guiding hand seems
much needed.
How well those fears were founded
Mr.. Mckinley in power are considered
as we'll as the spirit of the element
which controls his administration, the
terrible conditions outlined by our
neighbor were inevitable.
on the 20th of the same month the
Tribune referred to the "unpardonable
incompetency" shown in the conduct
of the war. and said: There is some
one in a high place under our govern
ment who lacks deplorably in admins
trative ability
All this was in time of war, not with
naked savages, but with an European
power possessed of daily newspapers,
diplomats, modern arms and navy; a
power that might have taken advan-
tage of sentiments and conditions, while
it is absurd to think the islanders of
the China sea capable Of receiving
either aid or comfort from what the
of this country say or print.
And when the Atlantic coast patrol was
watching for the dreaded fleet of Spain
and the wires were bearing to Europe
everything that had a bearing on the
agement of our army:
That our country. with its regular army
and trained state guards, should be rGn
up and down between Chickamauga and
Tampa and kept from doing effective
work for weeks, is such a disappointment
as the people did not expect. 1t is not
keeping good faith with the people; it is
breaking faith with the world, for the
clearest justification urged for war was
that the reconcentrados of Cuba. so far
as possible. should be rescued.
One month and a half after Dewey's
and while the war was in its
most critical stage, the Tribune said:
I'VE do think the treatment which
the volunteers have received since en-
listment is convincing proof that the
war department of our country is IN
der such imbecile control that every
thing short of revolution would be jus
tifable to bring around a change"
The same imbeciles are yet in con-
troll. The same disregard of the rights
and wishes Of the volunteers is shown.
There has been no revolution, TO
change whatever, except that Eagan !
has been retired on full pay for dis
grazing his uniform and shaming
The regular army before the |
world. And the policy of the admins
-ration in the Philippines has been as
weak, as vascillating and as exasper-
Cubans at The outset. And our neigh |
1or said then of the presidents dec
aration of policy:
1t nowhere declares that Spain must get |
1ut of Cuba. that the island shall Da m |
dependent II asks congress to empower |
he president to make peace and 10 give I
cuba a stable government. But on what |
erms and what is that government 70 be2 |
He has been negotiating a peace for thir-
cen months while 10 900 men, women and |
title children have been dying monthly.
: il to be the same thing in the future
Except that the hungry ones shall be fed
through the bounty of the United States? J
Again viii not the further negotiations
,acked by no promise Of Independence
make the insurgents as much our enemies
Is the SDaniards are?
Does not that fit the case of the Fill
,inos with whom the president and his
agents, Consuls Pratt and Wildman,
rifed until they made the insurgents
is much our enemies as the Spaniards
yere?"
The only thing that prevented the
anne sort of complications in Cuba
hat we have had in the Philippines is
he fact that congress took the matter
ut of the hands of Mercenary Mark
nd his presidential puppet, just as
ur contemporary said it hoped would
e done.
These excerpts are given to show
ow people generally look upon the adj
in its conduct of the war,
nd how Republicans even, discussed
he matter in the enthusiasm of patriot
SIN before the prejudice of partisanship
ad warped their views.
General Thomas NJ. Anderson, who
d the first military detachment to the