The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-07-19
That Manila Round Robin.


the administrations attitude on public
questions, contained yesterday, in
reference to the round robin" of the
war correspondents at Manila, this
highly satisfactory paragraph: 'The
public may rest assured that the
charges will be most thoroughly sifted
II the allegations Of the newspaper
correspondents are sustained, and Cen
eral Otis is found to have misrepresented
the situation or caused misrepresen-
tations to be- sent through the press,
there is not the shadow Of doubt
of his removal and the substitution OF
another commanding officer whose tact
and discretion can be relied upon If,
however, full investigation shows the
charges of the correspondents to be
without foundation. they will be eX-
cluded from the Philippines under mill
tary law"
Fair-minded citizens can ask for
nothing more than this and they will
not be satisfied with anything less.
The sitting of the charges must, how
ever, proceed openly and fairly. The
public will not accept an inquiry pat
termed after the army beef inquiry, in
which the testimony went one way
ard the verdict another. Nor will it
permit the administration to dismiss
the matter as of no consequence. The
men whose names We're signed to the
Joint protest at Manila have, at this
time. the entire confidence of the news
paper fraternity. They were especially
chosen for their work from among
thousands of bright and trustworthy
reporters; they have exhibited in the
performance of that work a quality of
endurance, courage and fidelity equal
to any shown among our soldiers; and
II will require strong evidence of the
most unequivocal character to make
the newspaper men of the country be-
lieve that these correspondents would
enter knowingly into any plot, politi-
cal or otherwise, to embarrass their
government or misrepresent its respon-
sible agents.
There is nothing ineXplicable in the
circumstance, so strongly emphasized
at Washington, that discrepancy eX-
lists between the information comprised
in the newspaper mems round robin"
and that coming to the government
through official sources. This can be
accounted for without imputing in
territorial deceit either to the cores
pondents or to the government agents.
1t is possible to suppose a consider
able variation in the appearance of
things as observed in General Otis
headquarters and as seen at first hand
along the firing line, in the outlying
districts and among the soldiers and
natives. But if Otis has the weight
of official prestige on his side the war
correspondents have on their side the
advantage of a wider range of infor-
nation and quicker perception of con-
ditions. They told us, in a yelled way,
months ago that Otis army was not
big enough for the work in hand. 1t
is reported that for saying this some
of them were at the time expelled from
the island. Time, however, has es-
tablshed the accuracy of their pre-
diction and shown the fallacy of the
governor generals optimism. If Otis,
when the whole nation stood ready to
give him whatever he asked for. erred
in so important a matter as the esti-
mate of force needed to accomplish
the required results, it is easy to imag-
inc that he would not scruple to cover
up that error by resort to an unwar-
ranted censorship over news de-
spatches. AS for the assertion that if
the cable was censored the mails We're
kept open, this is more easily said
than proved But if true, no single
correspondent could hope to effect by
mail correspondence the result which
followed swiftly the joint protest by
cable. a protest be it remembered
which represents every important
newspaper interest and. in the con-
stituency of papers involved, reflects
every shade Of public opinion in the
United States.
While awaiting more light on this
issue, we deem it opportune to cal
attention TO the apparent insufficiency
of the service performed in the in
spection branch of the war depart
ment. The public remembers how al
the beginning of the campaign in Cuba
the force under the command of the
inspector general was broken VI
through assignments to the line. Ever
the inspector general himself left his
especial field of labor to become a ma
jor general of the volunteers. Later
when General Breckenridge had re
sumed his regular position and wal
going to work under orders from tn,
major general commanding to asccr
tain what there was in the embalmeC
beef charges, he was halted by tn
secretary of war, who seemed to re
gard the inspection bureau as some
thing which should not inspect an,
further than suited his fancy. Tn
result OF this cross play Of authorit,
and purposes appears to have beel
the virtual elimination of genuine in
spection work; and today, with tn
bulk of our regular army 5000 mile
from home the war department has II
Independent expert source of informa
tion as to its doings and management
One OF the most difficult things tina
President Lincoln had to arrange 70
during the Civil war was trustwoI
thy system of reports from imparti'
observers OF military operations at III
front. We ought ere this to have i'm
proved upon the standards of Lincoln