The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-07-20
OTIS CRITICISED.
NeWspaperCOrrespOndent James
Creelman's Charges.
Not Competent to Deal With
Philippine Situation.
STRUCK OUT FUNSTON.
Refused to Cable Compliment
airy Notice of the Kansan.
Declared That He Would Make
the Heroes of the War.
LEV James Creelman.l

London, July 20.-UnIess General Otis
is removed and a competent general put
in command the whole Philippine cam
paign will be a failure. Gen. Otis is
much more responsible for the disas-
trOus, humiliating condition of affairs
in the east than Gen. Shafter was for
the calamities in Cuba. for the war de-
partment furnished Gen. Otis With a
perfectly-equipped, weIl-fed army, and
he had months of dry weather in which
to fight against an imperfectly organic
ed enemy.
OTIS A PUSSY OLD MAN
To be perfectly plain, Gen. Otis is a
fussy old man, unaccustOmed to any
thing but regimentaI- command and sat
urated with the ideas and methods of a
routine clerk. He is a man who has
grown old serving in a regiment, and
his experience and abilities do not go
outside of regimental lines. Now that
he finds himself in command of a large
army intrusted with the government of
a great archipelago it is no wonder that
things are as they are.
It was because of this knowledge that
Admiral Dewey, without consulting
Gen. Otis, privately cabled to President
Mckinley asking him to send to Manila
a small commission of men skilled in
craftsmanship and diplomacy. 1t was
apparent to him, as to others, that
Gen. Otis was not competent to deal
with the far-reaching, intricate prob
lens involved in a war with the ma
tives.
DEWEY LONG DISSATISFIED.
Again and again Admiral Dewey ex-
pressed at the beginning of the present
hOstilities his dissatisfaction over the
failure to make any advance against
the enemy. When finally, in despair of
any action by Otis, Dewey began to
take possession of other islands, Otis
wrote to the admiral a bitter letter
complaining that the navy was forcing
the campaign too fast. 1t is known
that generals and other officers on the
firing line bitterly denounced Gen. Otis
in private for immersing himself in
petty details of municipal affairs, army
contracts and custom house cases, while
the firing line was stretched % meas
ured miles around Manila, lying idle
before an enemy growing stronger and
more expert in infantry fire every day,
while week after week of dry weather
slipped away and the rainy season ap-
preached.
Even before the first insurgent attack
on our troops Aguinaldo was throwing
up strong earthwOrks in sight of our
lines. Major General Anderson, COM
handing the First division, insisted
that his troops were being endangered
and asked permission to stop the Fill
pinos from building Qualifications.
OTIS REFUSES TO ACT.
1--WE will do nothing" said Gen. Otis,
unless the Filipinos commit some act
of war"
But they are intrenching themselves
against u.s. replied Anderson, land
the moment a man puts a spade in the
ground with hostile intent he has COM
mitted an act of war"
STRIKES FUNSTON FROM DIS
PATCH
While the army in the field was anx-
iOuSly awaiting orders during the ad-
vance on MalOlOs he spent hours read
ing dispatches, striking out names OF
officers mentioned for gallantry, chang
ing descriptive passages, erasing all
mention of the part played by the navy,
and even occupying five minutes in Sc
lecting a single word.
On the night of the charge at Talihan
river went to Gen. Otis palace. The
general insisted on changing the dis
patch I submitted to him, and actually
struck out the name of Col Funston,
whose regiment swan the river under
fire that day, saying: I propose to
make all the heroes that are made in
this war"
Col. Thompson, the press censor, has
refused to allow mention to be made of
regiments distinguishing themselves in
battle, saying he was ordered to do SO
by Gen. Otis.
ALWAYS FAR FROM FRONT.
Up to the time I left Manila, which
was after the capture of Malolos by
Macarthur and Santa Cruz by Lawton,
Gen. Otis had never been at the front.
PLAINLY JEALOUS OF LAWTON.
When it was announced that LaWtOn
was on his way to the Philippines to
command all the troops in the field as
corps commander every member of the
be1ittling LaWtOn. When LawtOn ar
rived Otis refused to assign him to any
command for five days, although there
was heavy fighting. LaWton begged
permission to take part in it, Offering
even to carry musket if necessary.
1 asked Otis what LawtOn'S status
was and why he was not assigned.
"Gen. Lawton is merely an officer re-
porting to me for orders" he replied,
land when I get ready to give him or
ders he'll know what his status is.
do not speak with the slightest feel
ing against Gen. Otis, whom I believe
to be painstaking, industrious, and, ac-
cOrding to his own light, patriotic He
has accomplished a great deal in regu-
lating the municipal affairs of Manila,
but his conduct or rather nOn-cOnduct
of the military campaign has been
series of blunders
SAYS PUBLIC SHALL NOT KNOW.
When complaint was made to Gen.
Otis that he was striking out of my
dispatches things 1 had witnessed with
my own eyes, and which the American
people had a right to know. he said:
I don't propose to allow the Ameri-
can public to know anything about this
campaign that will agitate or excite it.
So long as I am in command here the
people of the United States will know
only such facts as 1 deem advisable to
allow to be known. Any man who
writes anything about this campaign
contrary to my wishes will be expelled
from the Philippines. We are not go
ing to have any public agita tons about
this campaign if I can prevent it