The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-18
HARDSH|PS At MANILA
Stories of Sufferings Told by the
Montana Soldiers.
TROOPS DISCONT TENTED
Unnecessarily Exposed to the 1nclem-
ency of the Weather-No Cause
for Sickness If Proper Precau-
tons Had Been Taken.

For some time letters from Montana
soldiers at Manila. which have been re.
ceived by friends and relatives in Butte
have been telling Of the dissatisfaction
land sickness of the soldiers. Each now
mail from the Philippines brought in
> creasing complaints and stories of suf
fering, but in nearly every instance tie
soldiers requested that their complaints
he not made public, evidently fearing
trouble with their officers if their COM
plants came to their attention. The
later letters from the soldiers omit the
usual request for the suppression of
all reference to discomfort on the part
of the soldiers.
A letter received yesterday by Ernest
Hardcastle from his brother, viii
Hardcastle, a soldier in the Montana
regiment, gives an interesting account
of affairs relating to the regiment and
about the great amount of prevailing
sickness In the course of the letter,
which bears date of December ., ne
says
AT present I am an unwilling guest
J. at the division hospital. OF course,
was perfectly willing to take my
. chances with the other boys and have
done so up to now without mourning.
! must say now that had our regiment
been protected, which might have been
done without any officer losing a nights
sleep, half the boys who are in hos
pital wards here now would have been
doing duty to-day. You know the story
of the Pennsylvania; the fact that
since our arrival here we We're unneces-
sarily exposed to the inclemency of the
weather: the fact that on our arrival
in Manila the boys lay for a week on
the bare floor of an old warehouse,
when within a stones throw of cur
new home were more cots than We're
needed, and. indeed. these very same
cots We're issued to us subsequently.
There was very little occasion for sick
= ness in this vast army, provided it had
been properly looked after, and from
philosophical standpoint, I have come
to the conclusion that the government
has decided that it can save more filthy
lucre by interring its soldiers here than
by transporting them back to civiliza-
9 ton. After Mckinley and his cabinet
are Wondering in their grave. and the
dark leaf of history is read by future
d generations; when it is remembered
that 100000 soldiers. all true Americans
at that. left their bodies in the Philip
pines because Wall street saw a few
q more pieces of silver in sight: and
81 when even the living a year from now
g deplore the loss of their kinsfok, who
were either eaten up by the malarial
fevers, which are incident to this eli
mate. or branded forever with the
marks of disease and those who sur
NiVe these ills were slain while under
+ taking to civilize the half civilized mig
1 gers; indeed when the debit and credit
columns are compared, posterity will
: brand the foreign policy of Mckinley as
. unAmerlcan, unpatriotiC, and. if my
vision is correct. criminal. Where is
our boosted Monroe doctrine? From
the graves of the heroes of the eXpedi-
tiona army forces Of the Spanish Amer
Jean war, will be heard a voice, Sold
for 30 pieces of silver
1T is winter here now, as warm as
. Montana's hottest period of the year,
the time when sickness is supposed to
be unknown, paratively, and yet
out of the army of occupation we have
l0Oo soldiers Sroaning in the hospitals
and as many more sick in their quar-
tiers, in other words. one tenth of the
army unfit and incapab BILE of even lift
ing their hands in self-defense And
when the hot weather approaches and
the unhealthy season arrives, l dread
to imagine what our death rate will
be. Remember the Maine Well, we
have remembered the ship, and we all
think. with the exception of the Off
GERS. whose salaries are still intact.
that we should now have something
else to remember. Our work is accom-
plished, and if there is any other raa-
son why we should remain in service
other than as police officers tWithout
the remuneration Which should accom-
pany such an office, we are like all
dutiful children, willing, nay, anxious
to obey
In 6, letter dated at the hospital en-