Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-08-24
OUR CAPITAL LETTER.
HOW THE ADMINISTRATION SHOWS
CONFIDENCE IN OTIS.

His Suggestions Regarding the Number
of Troops Required in the Philippines
Are Ignored-An Indiana Colonel FIX
presses His Opinion-Diseased Soldiers.
Washington, August %, 1899.
If the administration follows its pres
in General Otis to its logical conclusion,
there will be new commander in the
Philippines before the fighting cam
pagn opens. 1t began to show its
confidence in General Otis, who had
continually declared that 10000 men
were all he needed, by issuing the
necessary orders to make the full
strength of the army in the Philippines
4O,O 900 men; then it was decided to
make it $4,000, and the orders under
which the ten new regiments are being
recruited will raise the number to ca, 900.
To be logical the next order should
name a new commander for this large
army. The proceedings in connection
with the order to recruit these last ten
regiments which, by the way, will al
most bring the volunteer army up to
the limit set by congress, were an OBJ
ject lesson in the wibly-wably policy
which this administration has so often
adopted. At first it was positively de-
MED that the order would be issued at
all; then it was said that the regiments
would be raised, but would merely be
hnlH n
could no longer be hidden, it was ac-
knowledged that arrangements had
been made to land the last of them at
Manila about the first of December.
The sending of big army to the
Philippines is political play on the
part of the administration. This is
recognized by all close political obser-
vers. The opinion Of Colonel w. Il.
Mclean, of Indiana, who was deputy
commissioner of pensions under the
Cleveland administration, and who is
now in Washington, on his way TO the
G. A. r. encampment, to which he is
delegate-at-large, is that of thousands,
regardless of politics He said Zone
thing is'certain; if the Philippine war is
not ended before the presidential cam
paign comes on, it is goodbye to Presi-
dent Mckinley. The war over there is
fast growing in unpopularity. The
policy of expansion is opposed by Il
great many Western Republicans, and
the Democrats are nearly unit against
it," Speaking of politics in his own
state. Colonel Mclean says: THE
Indiana Democrat who is not for Bryan
aud the Chicago platform is II man
without party, and his position is so
lonesome that he almost feels as though
he had no country" The colonel
knows, as he was that sort of a Demo
crat himself in 1896.
/
There is paragraph in an official re-
port just received by Surgeon General
Sternberg from Major John r. IIoif,
chief surgeon of the military district Of
Porto Rico, which is not calculated to
make new shouters for imperialism
among the thoughtful. In considering
this very serious matter, it should not
be forgotten that Porto Rico is the
healthiest of our new island possessions.
The paragraph is too plain-spoken to be
quoted in the TRIBUNE. Suffice it to
say that in it Major Hotf speaks Of the
alarming prevalence of private diseases
among our soldiers over there and says
indications are that it will not be long
before large percentage of them will
be as thoroughly Infected as the native
population. He also points out the
danger of returning soldiers spreading
the contamination at their homes, q
danger which Great Britain has found
to be of the gravest proportions in her
experience with her tropical posses
sions. Something like this has been
said before, but it was hooted down as
the talk of an alarmist. 1t begins to
look as though the man who said, "the
more you know about the tropics the
less desire you have to live there" was
about right.
According to high Republican authori-
ty, Alger never was real candidate for
the senate and his announcement to
that effect was made after full under
standing with Mr.. Mckinley, solely for
the purpose of preparing reason for
| his resignation from the cabinet. This
may or may not be true, but the an
nouncement several days ago by Mr..
Alger that he was entirely ont of poll
tics, seems to bear out the story. There
has been so much Republican trickiness
in Washington that one is never sur
prised to discover something new in that
line. The Hanna Mckinley crowd seem
to prefer doing even the most simple
things in a mysterious way.
| G. A. X. Souvenir.