The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1903-09-18
CHAMBERLAIN ON TVIAL

There is a cabinet crisis in England
and Joseph Chamberlain's future as a
.+otesman and marty leader is in the
balance. The author of the Boer war
&c mt only called upon to answer for
the blunders committed in the
African campafgn. but his fiscal policy
must he more satisfactorily explained
than II has been. Already two cabinet
designations are in sight and a third Is
nrospecye while the laborng classes OF
England are loudly protesting against
the f~orsaking of Cobden's free trade.
Chamberlain's mistake in believing
that the psychological moment had
arrived for a change from free trade
to protection. having in view the MAX
Ing of reciprocity treaties. came at
an inopportune moment. for, stimuli
~taneously with his announcement, the
royal commission on the war in South
Africa made public its report, a sum-
mary of which is here given:
The state of unpreparedness for the
South African war, or, indeed, for
any war whatever, revealed by the re
port can only be described as appall-
ing. 1t was true we had a certain mum
Der of men with the colors and in the
reserve. and a mobilization scheme
which worked satisfactorily when fin
ally put into operation. But every
thing else was lacking. Though it
had been known for years that khaki
uniforms would be required for active
service. there was no reserve Of any
thing but scarlet and blue and
some 10000 suits Of drill too thin for
the South African climate. After the
war broke out it wa discovered that
the Lee-Enfield rifles, the manufacture
of which had been going on for years,
were wrongly sighted. The Mark "
bullet of which &C. 0 90 rounds were
in stock. was suddenly discovered TO
strip in the rife and dis able the men
who fired with II.
1.-The boots were bad. ard the situa-
ton was saved only by dra wing on the
stores of the Indian army There was
practically no reserve of saddlery, very
few horseshoes. no mule shoes what
ever The cavalry sword was the very
worst that could possibly be used,
according to Sir J. French. and there
were only eighty of these precious in
struments in reserve The two army
corps for foreign service had neither
transport nor transport animals and
though it is impossible to maintain a
complete supply of transport for every
country and climate in which an army
may be called TO wage war, not a pen
ny of expenditure on the most essen
tial preparations was sanctioned. IL
spite of the imminence of war. TIL
September %. three weeks before tn,
Boer ultimatum. With regard to re
mounts, there was no sytem of obtain
ing In time of peace information al
to horse supplies in foreign countries
for the contingency of a serious war
Similarly. there was no preparation
for a state of war on the financial side
"our system of accounts, like on
army system all through, was-and
based on the supposition of perma
nent peace. There was-and is-n
provision for a sufficient supply OF OF
fcers after mobilization. There was
and is-no scheme for organizing tn
services OF the colonial home volur
teers. The information which the II
telligence department managed to co
lect, though terribly handicapped b
lack Of money. was for all praetie;