The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-19
WILL TALKABOUT WOOD
HANNA TO BACK UP EFFORTS
 OF SCOTT.
Doctor General and His Absence from the Front at the Battle of La Guasimas in
 Cuba.
Advertiser Bureau.
 Colorado Building,

WaShtngton, Jan. R.
 Now that Your Great Uncle Marcus Alonzo Hanna has got back to Washing ton. if he does not settle the throbb'ng CT he win fish or cut bait, he will at least have something to say in the case of pr. Leonard Woods nomination to be Major General in the United States Army.
 The Committee has favorably reported on the nomination and is now waiting on the pleasure of Senator Hanna as to when he will be ready to have the fight out to a finish. Meanwhile the opposition to the advancement of this discredited chum of President Roosevelt, who never was known to figure at the head or In the lead of any command he held during any war or hostilities in which inc partici- pated over the heads of lifelong veterans and trained soldiers who have shed their blood at the front, goes on apace and does not hesitate to declaim his unworthineSs. The story of Gen.. James H. Wilson that he had conversation with Colonel Roosevelt in which remark was made of the fact that Wood kept in the rear. ore tensbly hunting for ammunition, at the Las Guasimas fight. in Cuba, has not been denied nor has that part of the story been denied in which the President told General Wilson not to "tell anybody about Woods conduct. Nobody Is quicker to deny what he knows is untrue than Mir. Roosevelt.
 Corroborative of the Wilson account is a report that Gen. Fitzhugh Lee in a per- sonal letter over his own signature, said that President Roosevelt told him Gen eral Lee) that if ever hensaw a ease of funk, it was Wood at Las Guasimas.
 Remark is also made that at the same fight Colonel McClernand, acting as Ad- jutanS General of General Shafter, asked where Wood was of Colonel Roosevelt and he replied that he did not know where he was. It was the Adjutant Gen. erals business to find the officer in com mand at Las Guaaimas. He could not find him.
 Besides having brutally smashed every sense of delicacy that is cherished in the ethics of educated soldiers and gentlemen by accepting the gifts and blandishments of Cuban gamblers. Wood, in the testi- mony before the Senate Committee which considered his nomination, was freely by reputable ana honored witnesses given the character of liar.
 Is it possible, the question has frequent ly been asked, that fellow can be put into line of promotion to be the head of the army of tho United States who has so forcibly in effect been denominated sponge, a liar and coward? That Is the effect of the charges by United States Senator Scott of West Virginia, and Mir. Scott, in taking that position, appears to be employing the evidence of witnesses.
 The question is freely asked, also, how in the name of honor and common sense. could an officer so seriously accused, take himself to the other side of the word when his good name in the capital of his own country was at stake. The usual custom of honorable men when accused of shameful acts is to face their accus- CTS. Wood certainly has friends here who have not hitherto failed to stand by him. Could he find stronger than President Roosevelt and Secretary Root, who has constituted himself the defender and coun- sel of the accused?
 Contrast the conduct of Wood with that of a subordinate officer who was charged with wanton cruelty to Filipino natives. The latter was Southerner. a native of Texas. and West Pointer, Major Robert l.. Howze, now of the Provisional Regi- ment of Porto Rico.
 An envious and jealous fellow officer, who was obliged to serve as a junior to Howze in the Filipino instruction, cir culated stories about the cruelty Of HowAe to prisoners which were circulated far and wide. Hearing of the charges after he had left the Philippines and had gone on duty in Porto Rico. Major Howze hast ened to Washington and demanded an Ill., vestigation. It was allowed and he went all the way to the Philippines and got the testimony of the men with whom he had served-officers and privates. They gave him a vindication as thorough and complete as the man most jealous of his honor could desire. Howze acted the brave honest man. and his conduct throughout has reflected the highest credit upon the army which Roosevelt made ashamed by his treatment of Miles and his shelter of Wood.
 Finally. it is doubtful if an officer in all the history of the United States Army, from George Washington to Adna Chaf- fee. has ever been so boldly and openly charged with perfidy and pusilanimity and has done so little to vindicate him. self as this same Doctor General, Leon- ard Wood