The age-herald., 1901-10-13
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 BY JULIUS CHAMBERS.

Washington. October 12-"The cat is put of the bag" Lieutenant Commander hodgson made clear the mystery of the loop' executed by the Brooklyn during The first half hour of the naval engage ment at Santiago. on July B. 1SeS A se- Pies of letters have appeared slmultane- ously with the giving of his testimony, that show determined effort to keep him in the equivocal position that he had assumed "for the good of the service,' Shortly after the engagement. On the witness stand, however the lieutenant commander told everything; and the evi- denee is so startling that complete re- Nulsicn of public opinion in the Schley Inquiry is likely to follow. Facts are stubborn things A desire to give friend, and a senior officer, the benefit of all doubts, has not resulted in an ob- scuration of the truth. Friend and foe must sympathize with Hodgson. Duty required that he should be In a position where he could hear the conversation be- tween Commodore Schley and Captain Cook, and his own responsibilities com pelied him to offer suggestions that were hardly short of protests. It was little less than cruel, therefore, that he should be icompelled to repeat these conversa- tions when they must lead to undylng enfnity between him and his superiors. Duty is one thing; a desire to avert blow from friends head Is another. In this instance the two impulses confiicted.
 Personally, I had hoped that the con troversy about ''the loop would be ai- lowed to drop out of the case. In the mind of every careful student of the re- cords, the grave point In the commodore's conduct has always been the abandon
 
 days and nights during which Cervera might have escaped and returned to Spain. The good fortune that attended Commodore Schiey in this instance Is so remarkable that he ought always to feel grateful for the strain of lethargy in the 1beffan blood. An American or English commander would have taken his fleet outt Why Cervera did not do so never will be understood by the Anglo-Saxon mind. Ship for ship, he was the equal of Sehley's squadronI Had Cervera been a Nelson or a Farragut-not wishing to make comparison with any living man he would have gone out of harbor on May 27 and offered battle His hope of victory would have been reasonable.
 This is fact that has been wholly lost to sight It Is defence and explana- tion for the retrograde movement Of Com modore Schley that has not and may not be advanced; but 1t is the best defense that Schley has,
 Years have passed, and we all forget the prestige with which Cervera's fleet ap- preached these shores. In one newspaper office that l know the opinion was gen eral that Cervera would appear on the New England coast and work destruction before the North Atlantic fleet could steam from the West Indies to meet him. Had he been free agent of Spain, Ger vera might have done so. Bar Harbor Newport Boston and Brooklyn might have been burned. in turn, before the decisive contest occurred. Then Cervera would have met defeat but he'd have re- mained an immortal memory in all naval history. Instead of that, we now know that he went to Santiago "because he be- lieved it had rail communication with Havanar' His geographical possession of Spain was so meagre that he commit ted the unpardonable folly of going to Santiago instead of Cienfuegos, where he would have found Schley inadequately prepared to meet his five ships-had the Spanish ships been in the condition they should have been.
 The flying squadron never could have won the battle of Santiago!
 That will be said by the historian of the future, and it may as well be said now I haven't met public man who had the courage to stand for this state rnent, but it is true. rs
 The abIest naval tacticians believed at Lie time that, properly fought, the Maria Teresa or the Viscaya were quite capable of coping with the Brooklyn. The tor pedo boats were an unknown quantity Two of the armored Spanish cruisers ought to have been able to take care Of the Iowa.
 If Commodore Schiey will plead as his defense for abandoning the blockade of Santiago that he did not think it wise to meet the Spanish squadron because com mon report declared 1t to be superior to his, he will have many defenders among his critics of today.