The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-14
ALGER DID THE
BEST he COULD
Says Ha Worked Hard and Conscientious
" Throughout the WaF.
He REFUSED TO DISCUSS
Tho WaF Commissions Criticism Of Com
handing General Niles.
STORMS IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT
Came Up Naturally as in Private Con-
Germs, and Cannot Always be Pre-
venteo-Army Commissary at
Havana Discontinued.


| Alger, of the war department, who Is here
] for the Lincoln Day banquet at the Union
/! League club, Brooklyn, said today regard
: ing the report of the war board, that he
would rather not say anything about it I'M
| til she had read the full report. General
Alger said he had carried, on the work all
the way through the war to the best of his
ability. s.
During the, war; said the secretary,
when we had SO much to do, criticisms
began to appear In some of the papers.
When this began l gave orders that these
papers must not be sent to me as there
was no time TO waste. My duty was to
conduct the affairs of the department as
well as could.
General EAlger compared the department
with a large private business, saying that
many unhappy things happened in the de-
partment just as in private business.
Storms came up which could not be pre-
vented.
Came Up Naturally
/ Sometimes q manager of private bus
mess said the secretary, has looked
over the field and believes he has good and
faithful helpers Then he learns that he
has been incorrect and in his opinion that
some of his men have not proven true.
There are generally Unforeseen things
which will happen in any large private BUS
inass oo,..r, &C xvo1l as RI n government
- -, -. ~, -, 20 .i, IL
oep"i eiiieiie' ANoueH 'te "otA %
partment was difficult, carried 1t on as
was my duty to the best of my ability.
When asked the criticism by the war
oo,,,,,;..st,,, ~ c,anoro, nsiIae secretarv
= -.
Anger ashed 20 oe eAcuseo Aiohl ''liAts
about that. Secretary Alger SAID Ill con-
nection with the intended naming of COM
,nondino oelcer for the army thar he
+honaht res,ior arnov man would he
ran,ed IN rrsfsrnnce To \ volunteer al
th,,rt, a,i,a5r.s oo,,,d 40 &c n wiehed
100 s,,ob r,atta,,
Saaratar,, Ailarse attertion u,as called To
tho saliin9 Of snnniies in Havana at less
- -, ,,a,-. 80 ~ oonnoc
t .issi' an1 is - atd tot ,ho s,,n-
,l;as u,ena oil ar,,,, rat;ons The sacrefarv
said: colonel Bliss. who was in charge
of the collection of customs at Havana,
was asked to investigate this, when it was
learned that such sales were being made.
Observation-Disclosures r.ns;ness
:.
oon M Peisons a.,,a Ply tho,s
-. .N.ass - -, , IT, -
So'aai DE- $50 az, 80 ,n ,naro
1890 , nnI ~ $3.50 rat,ors e., ~
tran,1s ne ~ Ipha a at;o1s ~ $500 rona,,,aS
uera r,ora 49, tha,, oo,,a s,.a .rd 4, 10
eons,dsraa ,aait,roato 20 col, th.r, ass,n
n is a general otice in tho armv for
comnanies m sa,l tbeir surn,ue rations and
,1acs the s,,n,s racatyod 10 a. oradit ~ Az
comnarv,s funda 1base t,yo ,nan u,oro In
q wav GA arriving IN a lag,t,mate business
"Colonel Rljse found that thev had a
store house fu11 If aonr cosyee ana sor,a
other things and that thew wore able to
sell flour At 40 q barrel Iess Than nereons
who 1yero ,mnort,no eour ma na,,,no 5,,+v
IN n He told them after consnIting wash
ineton that tbev must either nav dutv on
the Goods or he would nrayant tben, from,
selling them This practicalIv stoned This
practice. orders were given to the com
n1issarv denartme to buv hack the extra
ratfons 81 that the soldiers wouId get as
much from the government az from out
s,ders and save the scandalous talk"
In speaking of the Philippine and sar-
tiago campaigns, Secretary Alger said:
aatsa as SANTA go and Manila
"General shafter and his expedition had
to land on a hostile island and do the at
lacking during the worst season there-the
hottest part of the rainy season. Gen
eral Otis had been at Manila for some time
and he was, prepared for the attack. In
sant ago General Shafter had to attack the
Spaniards. while in the Philippines. our
forces occ,nied the nosition the Standards
had in Santiago"
General Aleer said he wished tn make no
criticism of General Otis. who had done
hr;ll,ant vork IN Manila He said that he
two camnsions could hardly he compared
&c tbev ba Il been foueht at lifferent seasons
and froYn different nosItions The gen.
erai in each case, he declared. was entitled
to great credit.
Secretary AIger spoke generally of the
work now being done in Cuba. He said
Tn snite of Information to that effect. the
ra,,arols there xvere .uorlxipp In entire har-