The evening times., 1899-07-18
OTIS SEVERELY CRITICISED.
He Is Said to Waste Valuable Time
TIpfnUa

He Is Said to Waste Valuable Time
| ON Petty Things.
! James Creelman, in cablegram to the
New York Journal" from London, has
this to say about General Otis and his
methods:
After having spent several months with
our troops in the Philippines / am firmly
convinced that unless General Otis is re-
moved and competent general put in
command the whole campaign will be a
| failure. / have been in the Cuban cam
paign as well as in the Philippines, and l
can say honestly without the slightest
prejudice that General Otis is much more
responsible for the disastrous, humiliating
condition of affairs in the East than Cen
eral Shafter was for the calamities in Cuba,
for the War Department furnished General
| Otis with a perfectly equipped, well-fed
army, and he had months OF dry weather
: in which to fight against an imperfectly
organized enemy.
ITO be perfectly plain, General Otis is
fussy old man, unaccustomed to any
thing but regimental command and satu-
rated with the ideas and methods of
routine clerk. He is man who has grown
| old serving in regiment, and his expert
ence and abilities do not go outside of regi-
mental lines. Now that he finds himself
in command of large army, entrusted
with the government of great archipela-
| go, 1t is no wonder that things are as they
I are.
1T was because of this knowledge that
Admiral Dewey, without consulting Cen
eral Otis, privately cabled to- President
Mckinley asking him to send to Manila a
small commission Of men skilled in states
manship and diplomacy. 1t was apparent
to him, as to others, that General Otis was
not competent to deal with the far-reach-
ing, intricate problems involved in a war
with the natives.
Again and again Admiral Dewey ex-
pressed at the beginning of the present
hostilities his dissatisfaction over the fail
ure to make any advance against the enc
my. When finally. in despair of any ac-
tion by Otis, Dewey began to take posses
sion of other islands, Otis wrote to the Ad-
miral bitter letter complaining that the
navy was forcing the campaign too fast.
Il was there then and l remember how
generals and other officers on the firing
| line bitterly denounced General Otis in
private for immersing himself in petty
details of municipal affairs, army contracts
and custom house cases, while our firing
line was stretched twenty-five measured
miles around Manila, lying idly before an
enemy growing stronger and more expert
in infantry fire every day, while week after
week OF dry weather slipped away and the
rainy season approached.
When l reached Manila few days af-
ter the bloody outbreak the whole army
was lying in trenches being fired at night
and day, while General Otis was absorbed
in routine details that an army clerk could
have done as well. He refused to allow
the army to make any advance; So insist
ent was General Anderson that the only
way to destroy the enemy was to fight
them that General Otis treated him with
open hostility and ;naily had tiIis splendid
soldier return to- he United States.
General Otis principal thought seemed
10 be to prevent real facts from being
telegraphed 10 the United States, and his
abuse of censorship has been almost in
credible. While the army in the field was
anSiously awaiting orders during the ad-
vance on Maloios, he spent a whole hour
reading my despatch, striking out names
OF officers mentioned for galiautry, chang
ing descriptive passages, erasing all men
tion of the part played by the navy and
even occupying five minutes in selecting d
single word
This is the same experience which
other correspondents have had during the
war. General Otis has wasted hours OF
valuable time during the most critical
days in revising press dispatches, coloring
them to suit his own views.
''On the night of the charge at Talihan
River / went to General Otis palace, hav-
ing ridden in from the battlefield. The
general insisted on changing the despatch
submitted to him, and actually struck
out the name of Colonel Funston whose
regiment swan the river under fire that
day, saying i propose to make all the
heroes that are made in this war
Colonel Thompson, the press censor,
refused TO allow me to mention regiments
distinguishing themselves in battle, say
ing he was ordered to do so by General
Otis During General Wheaton's advance
to Pasig and beyond with the Flying Bri-
gade Otis ordered all press dispatches
stopped unless they described the enemy
fighting furiously and said enormous loss
es were inflicted by our troops. AS mat
ter of fact, on this occasion the insur-
gents were contemplate in numbers and
ran away except in cases OF one or two
small bands, and their losses were very
slight.
When it was announced that Lawton
was on his way to the Philippines to COM
mand all the troops in the field as corps
commander every member of the little
clique surrounding Otis was busy belittling
Lawton. When Lawton arrived, Otis re-
fused to assign him to any command for
five days, although there was heavy fight
ing. Lawton begged permission to take
part in it, offering even to carry a musket
if necessary.
Il asked Otis wnat Lawton's status was
and why he was not assigned.
General Lawton is merely an officer
reporting to me for orders, he replied,
and when l get ready to give him orders
he'll know what his status is
Otis jealousy of Lawton was SO plain
as to be childish. For several weeks Otis
never consulted him, nor gave him the
slightest information regarding the plans
of the campaign.
The truth Of thn situation is that Cen
eral Otis is regarded by practically the
whole army, officers and privates alike, as
an incompetent officer who sacrifices ev-
erything TO serve his own vanity and jeal-
ousy. l do not speak with the slightest
feeling against General Otis, whom | be-
lieve to be painstaking. Industrious, and.
according TO his own light, patriotic"