The Yale expositor., 1899-08-11
MCKINLEY-VS-ALGER.

At the recent receipt ton rendered to
Secretary of War Alger, by the people
of Detroit and the State, irrespective of
party or factions, Governor Pingree
followed his usual course of undertak
ing to make political capital out of the
situation and to create a prejudice
against the president. He succeeded
in thoroughly disgusting nine-tenths of
his hearers and in convincing them
that Pingree has become tin pan poll
tician of very common type, willing
TO arouse prejudices and create dis
turbance in order to further his politi-
cal interests. But his canned speech"
fell flat and he received a merited re-
buke in General Alger's dignified reply
in which he said: that during all of
the veXations and trials in connection
with the Cuban war the president had
rendered him all the aid he could"
And now that excitement has sub
sided the people of the State are begin
ming to realize that, after all, so level
headed a man as President Mckinley
has done nothing rashly or unadvised-
ly, and the average citizen feels that
he has pursued what he believes to be
a conservative and wise course. They
well remember how conservative and
careful he was when the Maine was
sunk and when all were clamoring for
war. There can be no doubt that Pres
ident Mckinley had what appeared to
him to be good reasons for accepting
the resignation of General Alger, just
as he had good reasons for accepting
the resignation of John Sherman, his
Secretary of State. John Sherman
could fill his position before the war
broke out. But after that time the
president needed younger and more
energetic and brainy men to aid him
in solving the perpleXing problems of
the day.
And the reading public are coming
to realize that the most complex and
intricate problems are now confronting
the War Department-proble per-
tanning to the extension of our laws
over conquered territory; the different
questions concerning the duties of the
army in Cuba; the serious question as
TO the settlement of the PHILIPPINE
question. All these and many others
unknown to the public are confronting
the administration and they must be
intelligently solved. And Alger's best
friends, now that excitement is past,
may well ask themselves if, after all,
he was we'll fitted to properly aid the
President in the solution of these puZ-
Zling questions.
Albert Shaw, editor of The Review
of Reviews, and probably the ablest
and fairest writer on public events in
the country, has the following to say
regarding Alger's retirement
Concerning Mr.. Alger's administra-
tion of the War Department, it is to be
borne in mind that at the time when
the Spanish War broke out the Secre-
tary had for many weeks been i'll. He
was not in physical condition for the
work that Immediately devolved upon
the War Department, and advantage
was taken of this by the staff officers at
WashingtOn-nOt only General Eagen,
put several Others-to take matters
into their own hands in way which
would not have been possible if man
of such extraordinary health, vigor,
executive ability and talent for hard
work as Theodore Roosefelt had been
Secretary of War;" 4
"Mr. Alger is man of amiable
temperament and many winning and
popular qualities, but he was not strong
enough or masterful enough to keep
the bureaucrats of the military ring at
Washington in their places and to dom
mate the situation himself"
"His fault lay in not exercising far |
greater and more direct authority in |
all that affected his department"
1t may be that the action of General |
Alger i'll forming political alliance
with Governor Pingree had something |
to do with fastening the Presidents |
action, for Pingree has taken many |
occasions to heap abuse upon the ad. |
ministration concerning matters in |
which conservative people have be-
lieved the president to be right. 1t |
could not be expected that Mckinley |
would countenance the open alliance |
of one of his official family and ccnh- |
dental advisers with political oppon-
ent like Pingree who was undertaking
by speeches and interviews TO bring
the administration into disrepute be- |
fore the nation. 1t was possibly anoth-
er element of weakness on the part of
Alger-a lack of foresight led
him into such course.