The record-union., 1899-05-03
For the Conduct Of His Office During the
Late Trouble With Spain.
Declares Him the Best Secretary
Of War the World Has Ever
Seen-Address of the Army Of
6cer at a Dinner Given by the
Michigan Society of the Sons or
the American Revolution.

LEI 1hd5 In
ciety, Sons of the American Revolution,
entertained the visiting delegates, Of
fcials of the order and distinguished
guests tonight by dinner unequaled
hitherto in Michigan by any similar
event in respect to elaborateness OF
menu and decorations or the distin-
tinguished character of guests of honor
of the evening.
The occasion was made notable by
the presence of Secretary Alger, Sena-
tor Chauncey NJ Depew,> General
Wheeler, Major General Wesley Mer-
rift, Major General Horatio King, In
spector General j. c. Breckenridge and
slnany others, who rendered distinguish
I'd services in the Spanish and Civil
WARS.
A feature which was of peculiar in
terest was a speech of General Wesley
Merritt, warmly defending Secretary
Alger. He declared Alger the best
Secretary of War the world has ever
seen. ls ALL
Secretary Alger began his speech
with a reference to the struggles of the
Pilgrim Forefathers to secure equal
rights and religious freedom to all,
and alluded to the heroic deeds of the
revolutionary patriots, ancestors of the
society which furnished to-night's en-
tertainment, but he soon turned the
attention of his auditors to the more
recent war with Spain.
The Secretary spoke at some length
of the trials of his department in
equipping the great army so hurfiedly,
and expressed his qualification that I'LL
timately battles were fought and vic
tories won without the loss of a gun
or color"
Continuing, he said: ''Supposing they
had a little beef spoiled, what of it?
If they had no beef at all they would
have had more than General Joe
Wheeler and had in the other war
The people of the United States are
an uIselfish people. They have never
sought territorial aecessions, except
to the benefit of the peoples that came
with it. The flag of this nation has
been hoisted over Cuba, Porto Rico
and the Philippines. in lands whose
people have for centuries been oppress-
ed by Spanish nisrule.. Whatever else
may be, We can be assured that as it
has been raised in Porto Rico and the
Philippines there it will remain. One
of these islands We hold in trust; the
others are ours
Major General Merritt was the next
speaker. Said he:
. When we went to the Philippines
there was only one course for us to
pursue, viz: the course that has been
taken up to the present. Our navy
had captured Manila Bay and the
army had 70 capture the city, and we
could not let go; and the prospects are
now that the American flag will con-
tinue to wave in the Far East.
The army in the East, as l testified
before the investigating commission in
Washington, had everything the War
Department could furnish. We lived
we'll and We did our duty, and we have
no apologies to make or recriminations
to Offer This most outrageously
abused administration has done more
for the army than any other admins
tration that ever existed If there
We're canned speeches here tonight,
they are better than some of the re
frigrated speeches that we have read.
If l had a canned speech to deliver on
this subject I assure you it would not
SMELL
General Merritt referred to the Sec
rotary Of War as the best Secretary of
War the world had ever seen. He
added:
No Secretary was ever more abused.
Secretary Stanton stood through his
abuse as the most fearless Secretary
that ever lived. We have now another
Secretary, who has made fewer mis-
takes and been more abused than any
of his predecessors. He has had the
confidence of all except a few malcon-
tents. Through him has been attacked
the President of the United States. He
is almost sick at heart at the weight
of unjust obloquy that has been heap
ed upon him, but with no promises to
make or platitudes to indulge in, he is
conducting an honest administration.
II was born Democrat don't
think I'll ever get over it, l am proud
of that political faith CA voice
You're d Republican, but don't know
I'll But / hope the time will come
when there will be no differences be-
tween Democrats and Republicans, at
least manifested against those who
rule the government / talk as sol
der, don't commit myself to any
complications that may lead to trou-
bic with Germany. but l hug myself
for being an American citizen
General Joe Wheeler talked along
similar lines. He reviewed the cir