Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1903-08-27
WHY WAS GENERAL MILES rNsULrEDl


From the New York World.
For what reason has General Miles re-
tirement from the command of the army,
to which he rendered such long and dis
tinguished services, been surrounded with
every discourtesy that it was in the power
of President Roosevelt to offer?
There have been, it is generally under
stood, three matters on which General
Miles differed, first with President McKin-
lev and later with President Roosevelt.
The generals utterances on these subjects,
taken together, constitute ''the head and
front of his offending"
/. The embalmed-beef charges in the
Spanish-American war.
2. His expression of opinion on the
Schley Sampson controversy.
3. His remarks on the cruelties COM
mitted by certain of our officers and men
in the Philippines.
1t is timely to refer to the records and
see exactly how General Miles alleged
offense touched each of these three
matters.
First, as to the embalmed- beef charges.
In December, 1898, General Miles charged,
in substance, that half million pounds of
beef came in one ship to Porto Rico alone
which was unfit for food, and which made
the soldiers of his army sick when they
ate it. He ordered an inquiry into the
matter and reported as follows =
I have no interests to serve but those
Of the army and the country
The report shows that the beef had been
embalmed and was otherwise unfit for
men or dogs. Nothing alive
could eat it. There was a pre-
tense that it was sent as an experiment,
etc., etc.
1t will be recalled that on the statement
in the last sentence above quoted General
Egan, the commissary general of the army,
under whose administration this embalmed
beef was sent out to the army in Cuba as
well as in Porto Rico in his testimony be-
fore the war investigating commission,
publicly declared General Miles to be "a
liar" For that disgraceful act General
Egan was court-martialed, found 'tguilty
of conduct unworthy an officer" and sus-
pended for six years by order of President
Mckinley. Moreover, though the COM
mission whitewashed Egan, as it was organ
lied to do, yet the sworn testimony of
scores of officers in the field fully con-
firmed every word of General Miles &C
cusation.
Is it then for uttering this protest
grounded on indisputable facts, against
the sacrifice of the health and the lives
of American soldiers in the field, by the
supply of food that was polluted and
poisonous, that President Roosevelt has
deemed it proper to insult General Miles
on his retirement
Second, as to General Miles utterance on
the Schley-Sampson controversy, what are
the facts ?
On December Is, 1901, Admiral Dewey
having just expressed the opinion that
Schley, having been on the spot at Santiago
while Sampson was not, was probably cor
rect in his version of what took place in
that naval battle. General Miles in an
interview at Cincinnati, said =
am willing to take the Judgment OF
Admiral Dewy in the matter He has
been commander of fleet, and as such
has known the anxieties and responsibilities
which rest on man under these circum-
stances. He was instrumental in the
destruction of one Spanish fleet and knows
and realizes the feelings that encompass an
officer under such conditions.
think Dewey has summed up the mat
ter in clear and concise manner, and
believe his conclusions will be endorsed by
the patriotic people of the United States /
have no sympathy with the efforts which
have been made to destroy the honor of an
officer under such circumstances
For this modest and moderate expression
OF opinion-of which, IN passing, it may be
said that it was and is the prevailing
oponion of the American people in general
General Miles was a few days later
officially and severely reprimanded by
Secretary Root, who said to him: You
had no right, holding the Office which you
did, to express any opinion" General
Miles protested that he had expressed only
his 'perso nal views, " and did so under the
impression that "there was no improperly
in expressing an opinion the same as any
other citizen upon matter of such public
interest,"
Now, even granting that President Roose-
welt was right in his ruling that, being in
command of the army, General Miles had
no right to express his own personal opinion
en- the chley-Sampson affair, was his
offense SO utterly objectionable as to justify
his being retired without even courteous
word in recognition of forty-two years of
splendid service to his country?
Third, as to General Miles charges that
certain cruelties were practised by some of
our troops in the Philippians what says the
record
Is it not now proved beyond all dispute
that there were cruelties, including bar
barous and revolving forms of torture,
practised upon the Filipinos by certain
of our soldiers acting under the orders of
certain of our officers Is there one word
in General Miles report of February 10
last, on his tour of the Philippines made
last year, which is not confirmed by the
sworn evidence of American officers and
men and the findings of American courts
martial Z?
Has not General Jacob H. Smith, "Hell-
Roaring jake been court-martialed and
retired from the army by President Roose-
welt himself for his famous order to sskill
and burn" and "make Samar a bowling
wilderness ?" Has not Major Glenn,
mentioned by General Miles in his report
been tried by court-martial and found
guilty of administering the watsr-cure to
natives, and punished therefor? Has not
President Roosevelt approved these and
many other sentences imposed by courts
martial on perpetrators Of the cruelties
charged by General Miles?
Are we then to understand that President
Roosevelt considers the fact that General
Miles called attention to these crimes, dis
honoring to the American army and people