The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-07-27

/ woke another outburst Of abuse against
the military estab lishment. The detract-
| crs of the army have been bowling for
sacrifice, and it has been offered up 70
them As for General Smith, history viii
measure him by his acts. The words for
which he has been so severely punished.
whatever judgment may be passed upon
Them, viii soon be lost in the silence Of
forgetfuIness."
Army officers who have known General
Smith for many years sag he is the sort
Of man who never can express his senti-
ments in moderate language. He is ad-
dicted to explosives. explosives and excla =
nations. His vocabulary breathes the
spirit of the camp and the plains. II is
altogether a matter both Of temperament
and of habit for him TO say such things
as he said to Major Waller. To save him
he could NOT say to a subordinate, Go
cut and defeat the enemy" He would
exclaim, Eat EN- up alive, Give 'em
nell," It would be impossible for him 10
say, Garry on a vigorous campaign.
from his lips il would be. XIII and burn;
the more you kill the better I'll like it.
Hence his cognomen of Hell Roaring
Jake" Every one in the army under
stands him. It is always understood that
he is not 10 be taken literally. In this
instance 1t is not claimed by any one that
Major Waller or any one else followed his
somewhat bloodthirsty Injunction. In his
defense Major Waller does not attempt TO
justify himself on the ground that Cen
eral Smith had told him TO kill and burn.
What Waller did was not done as a part
Of the kill and burn" order at all, and It
las not been claimed that it was. The
kill and burn" conversation came out
quite incidentally.
Officers who have known General Smith
All his life say he is actually humane
md generous soldier. He is violent and
savage only with his tongue, and never
means more than half ne says. IN this
case he was unfortunate enough TO utter
some Of his picturesque rhetoric at a tine
when there was a political crusade
agaInst the army. The commander in
chief was anxious to show the country
that he viii not cOuntenance cruelty or
torture. and hence the mild verdict of the
court that General Smith be "admonish
Cd has turned into the crushing rebuke
of dismissal from the active list of the
army
The secretary Of war says he has never
heard that General Leonard Wood was to
be assigned to duty as president OF the
Panama canal commission. When he yis-
tied the president at Oyster Bay last
week the secretary submitted some cnsi-
neer corps data which the president had
asked for with a view to canal plans, bit
not one word was said about assigning
General Wood TO the job of building The
canal General Wood says nc himself has
no ambition TO serve On that commission.
and all he knows about It he has read in
the newspapers. His desire is 10 remain
in the line of the army ard TO de vote his
energies to military affairs. So there is
little probability that General Wood viii
be at the head OF the Panama canal
Incidentally it may De rcass:,,ed that
the engineer corps of the array is capable
OF giving the president as many first class
men as he may want for the aia. pro
ject. The war depa rtment is the greatest
employer of engineers IN the world
WALTER NELLAIAN