New-York tribune., 1916-07-02
So Said an Army Cham
biOn When, in a Bout
srith a Third-R Rate Grill
ian PneiHst, He COL
Iabsed Without Being
Hf-The .4rmy Ration
Is No Different To-day
From What 1t Vas in
the Spanish W0r.
Bv ". O. MCCLELLAN.

States is again forced to 'mprOvlSe an
.-n,v There is the same feverish haste
that was necessary when the country
rang with the cry. Remember the
Maine" when half trained boys equip
ned with obsolete rifles, commanded by
earnest but incompetent officers, fed
with refuse canned goods and uniformed
in sboddv blue shirts. were thrown into
Cuba and the Philippines or herded into
lever camps to die.
II is idle now to repeat that the
emergency which now exists could have
baen foreseen for three years and thst
while there was some excuse for the I'M
nrerarodness of 1893 there is none for
tbe urpreparedness of 1916 The boys
in The olive drab are on their way to the
border. They are marching out with
their eyes to the front. prepared IN
spirit at any rate, for whatever they
may have TO do.
They are marching with the swing OF
tho volunteers of 1898 to face the enemy
al the front and all unmindful Of the
enemy that may lurk in the rear. That
enemy. made up Of the forces of graft
and incompetence. struck the hardes,
blow at the Minute Men Of 1898. More
soldiers we're stricken down by fever
and slain by poisonous food than were
killed by Spanish or Filipino bullets.
Counting the cost. the unnecessary cost,
in priceless young lives should have
checked any triumph over the Spanish
war victory and established a lesso1
that should have lasted until now. But
apparently it did not.
The new army which must be sent to
augment the pitifully inadequate mo-
bile army of the United States must be
hurried into the field as poorly pre-
pared comparatively as were the men
in blue shirts and khaki when Presl-
dent Mckinley issued the call for volun-
teers. There will be the same rush in
getting them their field rations. There
must be no repetition of the crimes If
1898. The toll in life which will be
taken by the enemy in front will be high
enough. The enemy in the rear must
be guarded against.
Always there are patriots at home
who are willing TO sell spoiled canned
beef and mouldy biscuit for the use Of
the army. They love the country so
much that they are willing to furnish
these supplies on rush orders at a very
slight profit. say about 100 per cent.
They existed during the Spanish-Amer-
lean War and they waxed prosperous
while the men in the field broke down
and died.
It may seem far-fetched to anticipate
recurrence Of the scandals, or, to be
plain. the wholesale murders of 1898,
but when one has been with men who
were willing to give to the utmost only
70 be betrayed and poisoned one is in
clmed to sound the alarm even before
here is evidence of the menace. 1t
seemed incredible at the start of the
>panish-American War that there could
he men who would seek to profit at the
expense of the lives of the men at the
'front.'. But such things did happen.
The War Department declares that
me American soldier of to-day is better
led than any other soldier IN the world.
Nis true that there is more money spent
on the American army ration than Is
spent by any other country. but it is not
rue that the American soldier is the
oeSt fed soldier in the world. The money
Is appropriated and spent, but the 5 IL
oler does not get the benefit of it. This
IS due partly to the national backward