The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-17

laria and the stomach troubles and the
funerals had been caused by rfotous
living.
But criminal Indifference and muir
der by neglect will out. 1t will not
do for administration heelers to con-
tend longer that the awful conditions
existing in the pest camps, or COM
planned of by the armies of invasion in
the West Indies were the creations of
the men themselves. The horrible
story is coming out.
1t was worse than cruel to charge
that the men whose mothers and wives
have spent months winning them back
to health in their several homes
brought their illness upon themselves.
Hundreds of them were sent away from
the camps laden with the germs of dis
ease and starved for the want Of
proper nourishment. Scores of men
were forced to eat naggots in Cuba
and Porto Rico or statve. 1t is a sick
ening story. but one that the Amer
lean people ought to hear.
1t is needless now to conjecture what
might have been and a gruesome task
to analyze exactly what led to these
conditions, but every man who has
read the investigation knows that the
army suffered more from the damnable
ignorance and cupidity of the war de-
partment than from the climate of the
tropics, the contagion of yellow fever
or the opposition of the Spaniards.
But is the war department alone to
blame? Who is responsible for Alger?
William Mckinley. With whom did
Alger consult in his mismanagement
of the war? With William Mckinley
This is Senator Fanna's own state
ment. Asked about fixing the re-
sponsibility, Hanna said:
why, 1 was there nearly the whole
time, and I know that Alger, consulted
the president two or three times a
day.
Then Mckinley is to blame for the
mistreatment Of the soldiers, not alone
indirectly because of his appointment
of Alger, nor yet because he does not
remove him, but for the reason that
Mckinley and Alger ran the war to-
gether and were in constant consulta-
ton.
President Mckinley appointed Alger
to the position of secretary of war.
President Mckinley is responsible for
Alger But this is not all. President
Mckinley set his subordinate, Alger,
the example Of appointing incompetent,
inexperienced civilians to military posi-
tons. The scandal was noted and COM
mented on when it occurred. The re-
suits We're shown in starved soldiers
and peStilential army camps. The
criminality is shown by the revela-
tions of the investigation now in prog
ress.
The president has persistently re-
fused to remove Alger, in spite of the
development in spite of the scandals
which have disgraced this administra-
ton.
But the matter has gone too far al
ready for the people of this country
to remain satisfied, even if Alger is
discharged from his post at this late
day BY keeping him in the cabinet
the president has fixed the RESPONSE
bility upon his party. 1t will not do
now for the commander-in-chief to
make a scapegoat of Alger. The crime
committed against humanity must be
charged to the administration. The
Republican party is guilty through
placing politicians and not statesmen
in positions of authority, and heelers
rather than military men in posts of
grave responsibility in the army.
When Simon Cameron proved unfit
for the place of secretary of war at
period in the republic when the war
department was all important, Abra-
ham Lincoln turned him out. When
congress called attention to the cor
ruption Of a secretary of war who had
descended to vulgar traffic in post
sutlership, Grant set him adrift. But
Alger has a hold which cannot be
shaken off, it seems.
The responsibility for the shameful
conditions of the armies at the camps
and in Cuba and Porto Rico rests upon
the present Republican administra-