The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-03-10
An IMPOSING ARRAY OF Pa
TRIOTS.

4h1O4Ss
According to the lists submitted by
'Inspector-General Roloff," the Gu
ban army was composed of 80, 900 men,
of whom $4,000 were commissioned
officers. Such a remarkable ratio of
privates to officers was never known
before. After the civil war there was
a surprising number of colonies and
brigadier-generals in the South where
every man physically capable of bear
ing arms either volunteered or was i'm
pressed into service. There were,
however, still a few privates for every
commissioned officer; while in Cuba,
during the insurrection against Spain,
every private seems to have been such
"a host in himself" that he required
the attention of an officer of rank.
Under these conditions it is difficult to
conceive what President Mckinley ex-
poets to accomplish with the So, 900. 900
he will use in paying off the Cuban
army. The Cuban officers appear to
have been principally colonies and
generals, who enlisted with the ex-
pectation and assurance of tgilt-
edged"pay as soon as Spain was driven
from the island. The, United States
gives it's major-generals $500 a year,
and the Cuban generals will hardly
be satisfied with less. Assuming,
however, that the average remunera-
ton of the Cuban officers shall amount
to the pay of colonel in the regular
army of the United States, $500 a
year, the Presidents paltry $4,000, 900
will not be drop in the bucket. To
reimburse these Cuban officers for
their patriotic exertions for only one
year would require $751;, $780, 900, while
the privates, at $15 a month each,
might fairly expect 81, SOC, 900. At this
rate it would take the entire revenues
of the sand for ten years to pay off
the Cuban army for the last year in
which it was engaged in guerrilla war
fare against the Spainards. In addi-
ton, the Cuban Junta and the diplo-
matte representatives of the revolu-
tionists in Washington may possibly
demand few million dollars for
maintaining the agitation in this
country which finally resulted in the
forcible interposItinn of the United
States.
Among those who are now opposed
to the payment of the Cuban army
are some of the agitators in Congress
who two years ago were painting
Gomez and his men in the most allur-
ing colors. The American people
were told that the Revolutionists num-
bered at least 100, 900 men, heroes all,
their officers the pink of chivalry and
accomplished soldiers. The exploits
performed by these gallant fellows
were represented to be almost super
natural. Scarcely a day passed that
a Spanish army was not annihilated.
Gomez, according to the yellow journ-
al chroniclers of 1897, rode about the
island at the head of his conquering
hosts, performing deeds of valor which
would have made Richard the Lion.
Hearted turn green with envy. 1.-THE
Cuban army wants to prove that it
was one Of the greatest aggregation of
fighters the world has ever seen, abun-
daut evidence can be found in the
pages of the Congressional Record
and the yellow journals, and it seems
rather ungracious, to say the least,
that the pro-Cuban orators in the
Senate and House and the directors of
the yellow journals should now be dis
posed to sneer at and depreciate the
men whom Il scant two years ago they
were extrolling to the skies. If one
half that has been printed in lauda-
ton of the Cuban army we're true, it
would be entitled to Il billion dollars
instead of the $3,000,000 which the
President offers the patriots in con-
sideration of the disarmament of their
army. In the light of recent develop
ments, however, we know that the
Cuban army on paper and the Cuban
army as it really existed were two
widely different organizations. One