The times., 1899-03-04

But the bottles of fate were yet 10 be
/ uncorked. The situation which had ap-
pealed in vain to patriotism and humanity
was to be supplemented by a catac ysm.
Dupuy de LONE was happy in his ability
/ to throw mud on the American President,
! the Spanish Captain General was safe in
| his ability to torture to death American
citizens. and supposed exponents of the
! press in the very capital of the nation felt
themselves free to take blood money 10 ex-
cuse or deny the devilisn operations of
Spain, when, on the fifteenth day OF Feb
ruary, 1885, the Maine was blown up in
Havana Harbor. through the treachery of
the Spanish authorities.
That event constitutes a point in his
tory comparable with which no other in
recent years has any Importance. At one
fell explosion it destroyed the lives of
number of American sailors. and, at the
same time, it wiped out the last vestige OF
! liberation for the interests of the trusts
! and monopolies that, heretofore, had dom
mated the policy of the country. From the
moment that the damnab,e affront in Ha-
vana Harbor was put upon us by Span,
| tne uOom Ol tHdt Stdte III lne w eSlSTn
Hemisphere, and wherever else American
arms could reach her, was sealed forever.
1t was in this connection that the Fifty
fifth Congress comparatively redeemed it,
self. Its first regular session had begun
in the December preceding. Its days had
been taken up with party wranglings 10
some extent, but already there had devel-
nDad strong sense NJ national -acpoDSi
bility for the conditions that existed in
Cuba, and a non-partisan wish to remedy
them. After the Maine episode there was
and could be bat little if any doubt that
war would ensue, and. outside of the Span
ish interest represented by the Speaker.
and, in the Senate. by a very few persons
like Hale, there was not the smallest in
dication of a wish TO avoid it,
Then the Congress gave the President
his emergency fund, and waited develop
ments which were not long in coming
Mr.. Mckinley was true to the trust con-
fided TO him. History will tell that never
before has navy been put in fighting trim
as rapidly as the American navy was be-
tween the twentieth of March and the twen-
ty-frst of April, 1898. We wish we could say
that the same remark would apply to the
army. Whether, on account of his abun-
dant good nature. or for his sins, William
Mckinley had been induced TO make a
Secretary of War out OF one of the prin-
cipal Western contributors to his cam
paign fund. We will do him the Justice
TO say that We do not believe wild horses
could have dragged him into giving that
position 10 Russell 4. Alger if he had
known that a war would come during the
term of his Administration On peace
footing the selection may be excused.
Alger was and is an able politician But
it struck the whole country and other
countries. as a sinister fact that upon the
opening of hostiIities with another nation,
Mr.. Mckinley could bring himself to place
the conduct of the war in the hands of
man reported to have resigned from the
military service of the United States under
charges Of cowardice in the face of the
enemy.
Yet, believing in the dominant character
and pure patriotism OF the President, the
Fifty-hfth Congress gave him its hearty
support and allowed him 10 fight the war
in his own way, and in doing this the
Democratic minority was loyal in his sup
port. And so the war went on; the Com
mander-in- Chief was backed in all things
he desired, and the second session of the
Fifty fifth Congress adjourned while yet
the issue. although probable was unde-
cided.
We have accorded to President Mckinley
the characteristics of personal bravery,
virtue, and patriotism. 1t were we'll for
him If he had selected advisers and official
subordinafes having the same qualities
Between the time that the second session
Of the Fifty-ifth Congress ended and its
third session convened the people around
him managed 10 make a record for ineffi-
cheney, disgrace. and infamy, the like of
which is not TO be found in the history of
any war. We need not particuIarize The
country knows how a Falstaffan favorite
was sent TO command at Santiago and if
it had not been for General Wheeler
would have retreated in the face of the
enemy. We know that the selection of
every solitary fever camp paid money into
the pockets of an army ring guilty of the
murder of hundreds of brave soldiers We
chase and charter of vessels TO be used
as army transports. We know that there
was felonious homicidal deal by which
spoiled and rotten meat was sent 10 feed
the troops at the front,
Such conditions obtained. with the full
knowledge OF the public, when the third
session of the Fifty fifth Congress con-
vened last December. What has it done
TO remedy them? The Alger Relief Com
mission, openly created to suppress the
truth Of army Outrages, was a standing
challenge TO Congress to attack an evil
and crime that will blacken the war record
OF this Administration for all time But
nothing has happened. At the tail end of
the Congress there were a few per-
functory objections to placing discredited
naval officer who ought TO be court-mar-
tailed over the head of a naval hero. lut
the point has never seemed to appeal
strongly to the men who ought to repre-
sent the angry feeling of the country in
Senate and House in this matter And
the nauseating offensiyeness of Algerism
and its included filth, Eaganism, has not
appeared to excite the Indignation in the
halls OF legislature that legislators will
find II has among the people when they 70
home to them.
Still we must count with the horror and
disgust that Algerism and Sampsonism are
responsible for in considering the positive
offence that has been committed, in the
session just closed, in Withholding from the