Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1899-02-15
THE SUN x RAYsMILEs.


 oi his unsoldierly spirit, 60 long ago as when he was in command at Porto Rico. He made the display simply because the great victories of the war had been won without his assist ance, anc, being a man of inordinate vanity, because be bad failed to at tract the popular applause which be desires most greedily. Even at that time, while hostilities were actually ln progress, he used a western news paper correspondent to publish the grievances of his sore spirit in viola tion of all military propriety. It was a supremely outrageous ofense against military discipline in time of war, in the presence of the enemy, and it rendered him liable to cash iering. It was conduct utterly un- becoming a soldier. eonuuct of which no man of the true soldierly type could have been guilty, unless while under alteration of mind; and the only possible excuse for the conduct Of Gen. Miles then and continuously since then Is that he is not mentally responsible for his actions.
 Throughout the operations of the war Gen. Miles rendered no assist ance or counsel as to its plan and pursuit which commanded or de- served respectful consideration. If his plan of campaign in Cuba had been followed many thousands more lives would have been lost, hundreds of lnillions more money would have been spent, and the war probably would be still continuing. More over, he neglected to inspect the camps established for the army in this country, did nothing for the protection ot the troops, and dis dainfully refused to obey orders so to do.
 Since the Santiago campaign he has allowed the deceived or disrep- utAble newspapers he has enlisted in his service to charge that General Shaftsr received the command against his advice, though that officer was selected for the purpose with his concurrence, and on the plains had been one of his most faithful subordinates. The com mittee engaged in the voluntary in- vestigaIion of the conduct of the war at the request of the president had pursued their task for months, had taken the testimony of multi tude of officers of both the line and the staf of the army, without bring ing out any evidence to suggest a foundation for the charges concern ing the meat supply which Gen. Miles finally threE out in testimony remarkable for the tone of pique and malice which pervaded it. Since that hearing, moreover, he has been outrAging military discipline by using industriously every means of publishing bis accusations through newspapers, and furnishing them with material with which to cast re- proach on the country, for obvi- ously 1t could not have been ob- tained by them except through his direct or indirect agency.
 Now, if there was or is any serious defect in the meat supplies furnished to the troops and to the sailors also, it ought, by all means, to be dis covered and exposed, and all the more because these supplies were obtained from the very sources which are supplying large part of the fresh meat and the principal part of the canned or timed meat consu med regularly by the people of this country and sent abroad in vast quantities for foreign peoples. It is a question of great gravity, of far reaching consequences sud it should be approached and investigated calmly, without prejudice, and in 6 strictly scientific spirit. Gen. Miles snd his coadjutors of the news papers are seeking to make it 8 means of infaming the public mind before any such investigation has taken place. Instead of reserving reports respecting the matter, so- licited by him and sent to him Of- 6eially by army officers, and sending them through the proper military channels, he has had them publish ed in newspapers for the malicious purpose of arousing ignorant popu- lar denunciation of army methods and practices. If he had been one of the vile breed which invented and now infests the disreputable journalism of this day, he could not nave pursued & more indecent course. No other officer in the army, greatly to the credit Of our militsr y servics, has descended to proceed ing so low and so disgraceful to the United States uniform. Gen. Miles stands alone in that degradation.
 And whyi If his accusations had any foundation justifying them he could have proved them in dis tinctly military investigation, and thus rendered service to his country by bringing about the remedy Of the evils. He was the guardian of ! the honor of the army, of the honor of the country, and if he had cared for either he would have confined himself to such an exhibition of any facts be might have obtained or supposed he had obtained. More over, all this occurs in time of war. and every patriotic citizen, most of
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