, 1902-02-03
MAY Be TWO SIDES.
IN THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN
PRESIDENT AND FRIENDS
OF SCHLEY.
henry LOOMS Nelson's Article. Three
Months Of President Roosevelt"
Commented Upon BY Editor Of
Chicago's Leading Newspaper
Bold and Fearless Position Assum.
ed BY the President Wins Admir-.
alton.

George Wheeler Human. editor of
the Chicago Inter Ocean. thus speaks
out clearly upon a matter of present
day moment:
There are two sides to most contrO-
v~ersies that come before the American
people. That there are two sides to
the controversy between the president
on one hand and the friends OF General
Miles and Rear Admiral Schley on the
other is Shown in Three Months of
President Roosevelt" in the Atlantic
Monthly for February.
In this article Henry Loomis Nelson
cites the rebuke administered to Cen
cral Miles as an illustration of the pres
dents attitude toward the army and
navy. of the strength of his determina-
ton to compel discipline. and of his
~foarlessness in the discharge OF his
duty. Here is Mr.. Nelson's statemen,
of the case:
The disastrous controversy in the
navy touching Admiral Schley had
been aggravated by failure on the part
of the executive to suppress it by
quick and decisive action. It had lived
rot been done at the right time. If the
judgment that was rendered by the
court of inquiry had been rendered
by the executive as soon as the parti-
san and sectional campaign in Schley's
behalf had broken out. the claims fin.
ally made for him could not have lived
Il moment i'll the face of the ridicule
with which they would have been
greeted.
But the Scandalous talk went on.
" = " = The event of the campaign
real commander-in-chief. suffering
from the injustice of the country to
himself and bis loyal captains, was
forgotten, or, if remembered. was made
the victim Of the coarsest insults that
irgratitude could invent; the whole
naval service was in a state of intense
evaporation, to the detriment of its
discipline and to the threatened injury
o. the country. Finally, the admiral of
the navy, who had done so much and
received so much. threw oil Upon the
facts: by denying the decision of the
court, by doing his best to take from
Admiral Sampson the honors that We're
his, after denying hi" the right to be
heard in his own defense.
AT such Il moment, when the navy
was almost in a state of insubordina-
ton against the admiral who had been
so unjust and so ungrateful, when pas
sion was at its hottest. General Miles,
forgetting his duty of subordination,
careless of the obligation that rested
pine. Indifferent to the welfare of the
two services. and to the necessity of
preserving active good will between
them, joined in the controversy"
Here is criticism for Admiral Dewey.
for Rear Admiral Schley. and for Gen
eral Miles. The unpleasantness of the
statement is not all in its language,
but in the suspicion that will be mar.
bored by the friends of all the gentle
men named that it is true.
The president and the secretary of
wal have been criticised for the Sc
verify of their rebuke to General
Miles. The critics forget the seriou
character of the p~rovocation and the
tactics of General Miles. which forced
the president to disregard ever mis-
own personal feeling and do his duty.
Mr.. Nelson considers Secretary
the court of inquiry as severe Il rebuke
to Admiral Dewey as Secretary Roots
letter to General Miles. and in this
Censurc he insists the president had
no thought but to do justice and to
teach a lesson of discipline to the lieu
tenant general of the army. at the
same time putting an end to a disrupt
ing controversy in the navy. and he
adds:
In doing this he invited a storm Vi
criticism. but taught a needed lesson
to the two services, and, incidentally.
to the heroes who abuse their popular
ity to the injury of the government
whose welfare they are bound to put
above their W ambitions
Here is another unpalatab.c state,
ment. But who will say there is not an
| element of truth in it? 1t raises n
question whether there is not TO be a
reaction in public sentiment on con
t~roversies of 1862 and 1868. in which
ambitious men sought to involve Gen.
erals Grant and Sherman to their dis
advantage.
There was then great bitterness
against these two officers. But in the
end the people took up the cause of
the man who said nothing, who bore in
patience unjust criticism, and who
lived to speak generously of all the
men who had striven to destroy his
Reputation.