The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-13
STARVED BY RED
TAPE METHODS
British Soldiers Left Too
Weak For Action.
DEPRIVED OF FOOD
IN FACE OF PLENTY
Supplies Are Left to Rot on the
Sidings.

Correspondence of the Associated Press)
London, Aug. 4.-Mr. A. G.. Hale. rep
resentative in South Africa of the
Daily News. is the latest war CORE
spondent to attack the methods and
the red tape of the British war office.
He says:
Let me tell you how our army in
Africa is treated by the incompetent
people in the good city of London. I
pledge my word, as a man and a Jour
nalist, that every written word is true
will add nothing nor detract from
nor set down aught in malice. If nv
statements are proven false, then let
me be scourged with the tongue and
pen OF scorn from every decent Brit
on's home and hearth forever after.
for he who lies about his country AT
such an hour as this, is of all traitors
the vilest.
Trouble of General Rumble.
Il will deal now particularly with the
men who are acting under the com
mand of Lieutenant General Rumble.
Ihls good soldier oud courteous gen
tleman has to hold frontage line
from Winburg, via Senekal. almost to
the borders of Basutoland. His whole
front, extending nearly 100 miles. is
threatened constantly by an active.
dashlng, determined enemy, an enemy
VINO knows the country far better
than an English fox-hunting squire
knows the ground he hunts over season
after season.
ITO hold this vast line intact. Cen
eral Rumble has TO march from point
TO point, as his scouts warn him of
the movements of the tireless foe.
General Rundle's task is a colossal
one. and any sane man would think
that gigantic efforts would be made To
keep him amply supplied with food
for his soldiers. But such is not the
case
Soldiers Are Starving.
The men are absolutely starving
Many of the infantrymen are so weak
that they can barely stagger along IN
der the weight of their soldierly e0uip-
ment. They are worn to shadows and
move with weary. listless footsteps.
People high up in authority may denv
this. but he who denies it sullies the
truth.
This is what the soldiers get to eat.
what they have been getting to eat
for long time past. and what they are
likely to get for q long time to come
unless England rouses herself and
bites 10 the bone in regard to the peo-
pie who are responsible for it: One
pound of raw flour which the soldiers
have to cook after a hard days march
is served out to each man every alter
nate day The following day ne eats
one pound Of biscuits. In this country
there is no fuel excepting a little OK
dung dried by the sun. II a soldier is
lucky enough to pick up a little he
can go TO the nearest water. of which
there is plenty. mix his cake without
yeast or baking powder. and make
some sort Of a wretched mOuthfuI. He
gets one pound of raw fresh meat daily.
which nine times out OF ten he cannot
cook. and there his supplies end.
Supplies Lost on Sidings.
What has become of the rations of
rum. of sugar. of tea, Of cocoa. of gro
ceries generally? Ask at the snug little
railway sidings, where the goods are
stacked-and forgotten. Ask in the big
stores in Cape Town and other seaport
towns Ask in your own country
where countless thousands of pounds
of stun lie rotting in the ware
houses. bound uD and tied down with
red tape bandages. Ask-yes. ask; bur
don't stop at asking-damn somebody
high up IN power. Don't let some