The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-02-04
THREE MONTHS OF ROOSEVELT
President in the Schley Affair
to Reflect Over.

There are two sides to most con-
troversies that come before the
American people. That there are two
sides TIC the controversy between the
president on one hand and the friends,
of Gen. Miles and Rear Admiral
Schley on the other is shown in.
Three Months of President Roose~
velt,' in the Atlantic Monthly for
February.
In this article, says the Chicago In,
ter Ocean, Henry Loomis Nelson cites
the rebuke administered to Gen. Miles
as an illustration of the presidents
attitude toward the army and navy,
of the strength of his determinatio
to compel discipline, and of his fear
lessness, in the discharge of his duty
Here is Mr.. Nelson's statement of the
case:
'The disastrous controversy in the navy
touching Admiral Schley had been aggra-
waited by failure on the part of the execu-
/ tive to suppress it by quick and decisive
action. 1t had lived mainly because the
right thing had not 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 partisan
had broken out, the claims finally made for
him could not have lived moment in the
face of the ridcule with which they would
| have been greeted.
But the Scandalous talk went on. y
! The events of the campaign faded out OF
the public memory; the real commander
In chief, suffering from the injustice Of
the country to himself and his loyal cap
tains, was forgotten, or, if remembered,
/ was made the victim of the coarsest in
suits that ingratitude would invent; the
whole naval service was in a state of In
tense evaporation. to the detriment of it's
discipline and to the threatened injury OF
the country. Finally, the admiral of the
navy, who had done so much and received
so much, threw oil upon the flames by fly
ing in the face of all 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 him the right
to be heard in his own defense
AT such moment, when the navy was
almost in a state of INSTRUMENTATION
against the admiral who had been SO un-
| just and so ungrateful, when passion was
at its hottest, Gen. Miles, forgetting his
| dutN OF subordination, careless of the obli-
cation that rested upon him to set an ex-
ample of discipline, Indifferent to the well
fare OF the two services, and to the neces-
slty of preserving active good will between
them, joined in the controversy
Here is criticism for Admiral Dewey.
for Rear Admiral Schley and for Gen.
Miles. The unpleasantness of the
statement is not all in it's language,
but in the suspicion that will be har-
bored by the friends of all the gentle
men named that it is true.
The president and the secretary of
war have been criticised for the sever
ity of their rebuke to Gen. Miles. The
critics forget the serious character OF
| the provocation and the tactics of Gen.
rifles. which forced the president to
disregard even his own personal fee2-
ing and do his duty.
Mr. Nelson considers Secretary
Longs Endorsement of the decision OF
the court of inquiry as severe Il re-
buke to Admiral Dewey as Secretary
Roots letter to Gen. Miles, and in this
censure he insists the president had
no thought but to do justice and to
teach lesson of discipline to the lieu
tenant general of the army, at the;
same time putting an end to disrupt
ing controversy in the navy, and he
adds:
''In doing this he invited storm of criti--
cism, faced an angry mob in and out OF
congress, but taught a needed lesson to the
two services, and, incidentally, to the
heroes who abuse their popularity to the
injury of the government whose welfare
they are bound to put above their own am
bitions.'
Here is another unpalatab1e state
ment. But who will say there is not
an element of truth in it? 1t raises a
question whether there is not to be a
reaction in public sentiment on contro--
versies of the present, as there was in
the case of the controversies of 1862
and 1868, in which ambitious men
sought to involve Gems. Grant and
Sherman to their disadvantage.
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.