Indianapolis Journal, Volume 48, Number 245, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 September 1898 — Page 4

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THE DAILY JOURNAL FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1898. Wrihiegfon Office—lso3 Pennsylvania Avenue gr"—■■ ■ -■ Telephone Call*. business Office 238 | Editorial Rooms 88 TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. DAILY BY MAIL. Daily only, one month 8 .70 Dally only, three months 2.00 Dally only, one year 8.00 Dally, including Sunday, one year 10.00 Sunday only, one year 2.00 WHEN FURNISHED BY AGENTS. Dally, per week, by carrier IS cts Sunday, etngle copy 5 cts Daily and Sunday, per week, by carrier.... 20 cts WEEKLY. Per year SI.OO Reduced Rate* to Clnh*. Subscribe with any of our numerous agents or •end subscriptions to the JOURNAL NEWSPAPER COMPANY, Indianapolis, Ind. Persons sending the Journal through the malls In the United States should put on an eight-page paper a ONE-CENT postage stamp; on a twelve or sixteen-page paper a TWO-CENT postage stamp. Foreign postage Is usually double these gates. All conunnnlcatloqs intended for publication In this paper must. In order to receive attention, be accompanied by the name and address of the Writer. THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL. Can be found at the following places;* HEW YORK—Astor House. CHICAGO—PaImer House, P. O. News Cos., 217 Dearborn street. Great Northern Hotel and Grand Pacific Hotel. Cincinnati—j. r. Hawley & Cos., 154 vine street. IOUISVILLE—C. T. Deerlng, northwest corner of Third and Jefferson streets, and Louisville Book Cos,, 2Ti6 Fourth avenue. CT. LOUlS—Union News Company, Union Depot. [Washington, and. cV-niggs House, Ebbitt House and Willard's Hotel. That Democratic papers are trying to Snake the “sick soldier” an issue is confession that 16 to 1 is dead. Wfth the exception of the controller the' regime Is made up of expansionists w-not of domain but of public expenditure. ! In the present general chorus of complaints against the army management it is pleasant to encounter a regular. Whatever he may think be always talks like a veteran. ! The Bishop of Santiago, who applied to federal authorities in that city for Ijls fcalary, was made to realize that things have changed in Cuba. The veteran of the war for the Union Yeads the reports and the gossip and compares them with his experience. His conclusions are not complimentary to the present howlers. The 16-to-l paper in Lincoln, Neb., owned by Colonel Bryan’s private secretary, is no longer issued because of “the persistent tendency of receipts to fall below the expenditures.” It is the best sort of a reason. The Taggart strategy board is cudgeling Its brains to devise some scheme of increasing city expenditure $300,000 next year without increasing the levy beyond 70 cents. It will fall back upon its old scheme of borrowing. There are no military conscripts in this Country. Our so-called regular army is composed of volunteers, the only difference being that the regulars are mostly disciplined and seasoned troops. Perhaps that is the reason they take military life as it comes and do not complain. It seems to be the purpose of a number Df newspapers to lead the country to forget the unparalleled victories its navy and army have achieved by an attempt to make the people believe that there has been a conspiracy to starve soldiers and leave the sick A to die of neglect. The zeal of these editors Will ruin their scheme. The deaths at Camp Thomas to Aug. 22 Were 198. Considering that, since April 30, there have been 75,000 men there a large part of the time, equivalent to about seventy regiments, the death rate has been very light—less than three to a regiment. Many ihave be°n sick and are now sick, but most tof them will recover if care is exercised. The two companies of colored men who ft the city yesterday made a good appearance as they marched to the train. They ©re a sturdy-looking lot of men, and with training will make good soldiers. If 'they go to Cuba on garrison duty, as they Imuy, they should remember that they, as much as ary other troops, are custodians of the Nation's honor, and should conduct themselves accordingly. Canada has two tariffs, in one of which the duties are 20 per cent, lower than in the other. Great Britain has now the exclusive advantage of the 16wer rate. It is proposed to the commission now in session to reduce our tariff about 25 per cent, so far as Canada is concerned if Canada will give Us its lower rate. That has the feature of reciprocity if it applies to all of the schedules. The Dreyfus case will not stay down In France. Like all great crimes and wrongs It returns to plague the inventor. The civilized world was shocked by the farcical trial of Emile Zola and the outrageous decision by which the French government sought to confirm Captain Dreyfus’s conviction and bury him and his case out of sight forever. Now the whole scandal it reopened by the confession and suicide 0? the government's main witness, and the infamy of 3>rcyfus's conviction is more apparent than ever. In view of the latest development the case seems to be beyond government control. The London Saturday Review, always uu friendly to the United States, quite overdoes the thing in its latest attack on the country and people. It admits that there are “many worthy private persons in the United States,” but says: “Socially it is sordid to the last degree; its courts of law and all Its civil institutions are corrupt; it has contributed nothing to the self-respect of humanity.” No intelligent Englishman will indorse such blackguard abuse of a country which has given at least as many evidences of political health and social advancement as has Great Britain. A country which has sent shiploads of food to starving British subjects in Ireland and India, free of charge, and sent home at its own expense A whole army of Spanish prisoners has contributed as much to the self-respect of humanity as any other. After becoming accustomed to camp life, it is remarkable that so many men in Indiana regiments prefer muster out as soon as possible to a few months' or a year’s service in Cuba, Porto Rico or the Philippines. Having been educated, so to speak, to camp Mfe, the service in either of these localities will be agreeable, having enough of actual duty to furnish occupation. But the great advantage of such service lies in the fact ifeat it will furnish men who may be looking

to future occupation an opportunity to seek employment and business in these islands. Such service may not be devoid of excitement, since it Is quite probable that the military power must be exercised before all the people in those islands can be made to understand what good government is. It may be safely predicted that after a furlough of thirty days men who have signed petitions asking immediate muster out will be anxious to serve in the acquired territory. GEN. BOYNTON'S REPORT. The report of General H. V. Boynton, who was directed to Inspect the hospitals and camps at Camp Thomas, published yesterday morning, should have weight with candid people. General Boynton is a man of high character, noted for his independence. If he had found filthy hospitals, lack of attention and food he would have so declared. He found the hospitals in excellent condition, the medical service faithful and efficient, and the food for patients of excellent quality and abundant. It is probable that the massing of so large an army at Chtckamauga for so long a period has been detrimental to the health of the troops. While the troops were spread over a space much greater than that occupied by cities of much larger population, the sanitary conditions are not so favorable. It would be quite Impossible to so dispose of the camp debris and offal that it would not be liable to engender disease, so that a camp that would be healthy during two months would be a most unhealthy location during a third month. While regiments would be healthy when located on the higher slopes of a tract of land, those encamped near the foot of the hills would suffer from the wash of those above. The filth of .1 camp might be harmless when drained into a river which filled its banks, and yet be most harmful when the flow of water should be shrunken with drought. But, when everything else has been done, the sanitary condition of a camp depends largely upon brigade and regimental commanders. If they are careless about policing camp grounds there will be sickness during any season ol' the year. General Boynton cited a New York regiment whose losses have attracted attention. It had the filthiest camp he had ever seen. So far as attending camp duties was concerned its officers were inefficient. They were doubtless free-and-easy officers who preferred most of all to be on good terms with their men rather than to keeping a camp carefully policed, since camp cleaning is very disagreeable work. It was the inefficiency of the regimental officers and the carelessness of brigade and division officers of the day that filled the camp of that regiment with deadly pestilence. Recently a regiment in a New England State was sent home with nearly one-fourth of the men in hospital care. When the colonel reached his State he wrote a letter to the newspapers declaring that the camp of h*s regiment at Camp Thomas was a pesthole, because of the drainage of the camps above him. If this was the case why did he not, when he made the discovery, make a protest to his brigade commander? There is no intimation in his letter that he made any representation to his superior officer regarding the character of his location, but waited until he was in his native State to publish his own incompetency. “There were tidy regiments and nasty regiments,” said an officer in this city who commanded a brigade or division nearly three years in the field, “and the difference was due largely to the officers.” When all the facts appear, the first of which General Boynton has given, it will be shown that the outbreak of typhoid fever in camps is due more to the inefficiency of brigade and regimental officers than to any other agency. The Journal does not entertain the highest opinion of the qualifications of the secretary of war and of some of the heads of bureaus, but it maintains that they cannot be held responsible for the short-com-ings of officers in command of camps. THE WAR ON THE ADMINISTRATION. No political party in the United States has ever succeeded by opposing a war or attacking the conduct of a war which has been carried to a successful conclusion. The Democratic party has tried both and has failed. It is trying one of these plans now. The present attack on the administration, based on false or exaggerated charges of mismanagement of the men and neglect and mistreatment of the soldiers, is being engineered by Democratic managers for political effect. Democratic newspapers and correspondents are doing their utmost to keep it going. By distortion, exaggeration and downright falsehood they are trying to make it appear that the inevitable sufferings and hardships of war, especially under a system that requires the hasty mobilization of volunteer armies, are due to the incompetence of the administration and its agents, or their deliberate and brutal neglect of the soldiers. This is being done in the hope of making political capital for a party which, in the lack of any legitimate issue, seeks to make one by raising a popular clamor against the conduct of a war which has resulted gloriously for the national arms and the national honor. The Democratic state convention of Wisconsin voiced this feeling on Wednesday as follows: We condemn in unstinted measure the War Department for the blunders and crimes committed against the brave boys in oiue in camp and on foreign battlefields by selfish contractors, incompetent surgeons and vain, heartless army officers, appointed tor political purposes, and we hereby pledge to our brave sailors and soldiers who survive this war, our earnest and loyal support 10 secure the punishment of the guilty pduties. Condemnation of the War Department is condemnation of President McKinley and his administration. Thus the American people are asked to believe that the man who a few weeks ago, the whole country and the whole world were praising for his patriotism, his wisdom, his statesmanship, his resistless energy in war and his unparalleled magnanimity in peace—that this man, William McKinley, is the conscious creator and willing head of a ring of incompetent agents who have knowingly or recklessly prostituted their power to starve and murder the soldiers. That is the present position and role of the Democratic party and the kind of a foundation it is trying to lay for the next political campaign. It is a contemptible and unpatriotic line of conduct. The Mexican war was a Democratic war, begun and successfully ended by a Democratic administration. The Democratic national convention which met in 1848, pending a negotiation for peace, declared as follows: Resolved. That we would be rejoiced at the assurance of peace with Mexico, founded on the just principles of indemnity for the past and security for the future; but that while the ratification of the treaty offered to Mexico remains in doubt. It is the duty of the country to sustain the administration in every measure necessary to provide for the vigorous prosecution of th# war, should that treaty be rejected. The same doctrine should apply now when a negotiation for peace with Spain is

THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1898.

priding. Instead of attacking the admir istration and the conduct of the war and belittling the national army and its achievements in the eyes of other powers Democrats should unite with Republicans “to sustain the administration and the country in every measure necessary to provide for a vigorous prosecution of the war, should the treaty be rejected.” Their present policy of attacking the government is unpatriotic and in the end will prove bad politics, for no party in this country ever succeeded by opposing the conduct of a successful war. COMPLAINTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. Complaints of sickness, suffering and neglect of soldiers are no new thing in this country. They have occurred in all our wars and always will, partly because our volunteer soldiers are never seasoned to war at first, and partly because the country itself is not. With no standing army to speak of, very infrequent wars, volunteer armies to be mobilized on short notice, and the people as unaccustomed to war as the troops themselves, such complaints are inevitable. Sickness and suffering are themselves inevitable accompaniments of war, and they are bad enough without being exaggerated for a purpose. There was much of the same kind of talk early In the civil war, but it died out before the end. In December, 1862, Congress adopted the following: Whereas, It is reported that many abuses exist in connection with the administration ol' "Camp Convalescent,” near Alexandria, and until they are corrected the health and lives of our thousands of brave soldiers there stationed will continue to be endangered; therefore, be it Resolved, That the joint committee on the conduct of the war be directed to inquire and report upon the foregoing, with such recommendations as they may deem requisite. This investigation was ordered on the strength of popular clamor and newspaper statements. The evidence taken by the committee showed that the camp was organized in August, 1862, for the purpose of collecting and detaining convalescent officers or enlisted men, stragglers, recruits and paroled prisoners until such time as they could rejoin their regiments. The camp was judiciously located and was under the command of Colonel Belknap, of the Eighty-fifth New York Volunteers. The consolidated report showed that from August, 1862, to January, 1863, inclusive, there were received in this camp 82,088 men, of whom 71,746 were sent to Join their regiments. During the period named there was no day when there were less than 2,500 men in thq camp unfit for duty, and some days it exceeded 11,000. It averaged about 6,000 a day. For several months the number of men in the camp unfit for duty greatly exceeded those who were fit. There was sickness and suffering. A medical inspector reported “Bad police, uncleanliness, bad ventilation and demoralization resulting from the promiscuous herding together, upon a limited area, of herds of idle, undisciplined men.” Yet the soldiers did not complain as much as their friends and visitors to the camp. In January, 1862, United States Senator Harlan visited the camp. He found a good deal of confusion and sickness and some suffering, but no more than was due to a condition of war. In a speech in the Senate describing his visit he said: it is the recitation of these extreme cases which, 1 think, does the service a great damage in the country. Benevolent gentlemen and ladies, without a knowledge of all the facts and circumstances, shed tears over the sufferings of our soldiers and recite them to the neighbors, and create impressions which do great injustice to the officers in charge. It is said that there has been much suffering in that encampment. 1 have no doubt there has been; but it has been of an exceptional character. * • * Very frequently these cases of suffering arise on account of the prodigality of the soldiers themselves. It is much more pleasant to praise our brave troops in the field than to speak of their faults; but we find men in civil life that have faults, and some of these men, unfortunately, find their way into the army. * * * There are bad and incompetent officers, doubtless, at many of tnese hospitals, but 1 believe a large majority of them do the very best it Is possible for Christian, humane gentlemen to do under the circumstances by which they are surrounded. The physicians in charge of the hospitals connected with the armies in the field, of course, are not always able to procure the necessaries for the sick and wounded men, nor are the commissaries always able to do so for the well men. The casualties of war produce these difficulties, and I suppose that the troops, when they enter the service, do it with a tolerable comprehension of the hardships which they may be called upon occasionally to suffer. They expect it, and endure it without a murmur when they know it cannot be remedied. I have reason to believe, and do believe, that there is far less complaining among the soldiers themselves in the field than by friends at home. These words, spoken thirty-five years ago, fit the present situation exactly. They describe the defects Inherent in our volunteer system. What happened in 1861-62 has happened now, on a smaller scale, and under the worse conditions of a southern or tropical climate. We should have expected it at the beginning, and should thank God it is no worse. If General Shafter had delayed the attack on Santiago a few weeks, requiring more troops to be sent to Cuba, the situation would be far worse. Our army is an army of heroes, and their friends who were not in the army should stop blubbering. Capt. D. F. Allen, who came home from Col. Harry B. Smith’s regiment to attend the funeral of ex-Governor Matthews, talks cheerfully regarding that command, it seems to be one of the “happy regiments” which has been cared for by its officers. Captain Allen learned to be a soldier years ago. Assistant Surgeon General Senn is probably very much of a physician, but the publishing of a report of the conditions at Mnntauk in a medical paper instead of sending it to his superior is not strictly in accordance with military usage. Veteran, Marion, Ind.: The pay of private soldiers was increased from sl3 to sl6 by act of the Thirty-eighth Congress, which met in December, 1863. It was done in order to offset the depreciation of paper currency. In the statement of the losses of one-year regiments from this State in the war of the rebellion the One-hundred-and-flfty-first was given a loss of sixty-six by battle. It should have been by disease. Uncle Sam will disappoint the Cuban insurgents whose romantic ideas have led them to ask him to furnish funds with which to liquidate their demand for months of back pay. ABOUT PEOPLE AND THINGS. Joseph Jefferson not long ago wrote a check for $2 upon a piece of birch bark in the mountains because he had no paper with him. The bank which cashed the check no a’ has It framed and hanging on the wall. “There was never yet a family with an old maid belonging to it,” observed the Rev. Anna Shaw in a recent address, “that didn’t rely upon that old makl to help it out of all financial difficulty—past, present and future.” Eldress Dorothy Durgin, whose death is announced from Concord, N. H., was probably the most widely-known Shaker among the eighteen societies in America. She came to the Shakers at Canterbury when she was only eight years old. There is a mule working in the mines near Blossburg, Ala., that ought to travel with a circus. For ten years he has been pulling six cars to the top without a murmur. but if a seventh is put on he can’t he made to budge. He always rides down *n the empty train. Not long ago as he wi

half way up, a train of empty cars at the top got iocse and threatened destruction, but he simply jumped on the first as it approached ard coasted merrily to the bottom with the whole train. The Beckwith baby born at Mt. Pleasant, la., Monday, is the first great-grandchild of President Lincoln. The stern heart of Robert Lincoln is expected to soften towards his granddaughter. He has never forgiven his daughter for marrying without paternal permission. A traveled who has just returned from Athens says that the Greeks, who, net so long ago. were shouting their favorite cry of ''Down with the King! Out with his right eye!” have now returned to the most extravagant loyalty, and King George has never enjoyed so much popularity since he came to the throne. C. Godfrey Gumpel, an English scientist, has spent twenty-seven years in studying the effects of salt upon thfe body, and is about to publish a book which he thinks will be revolutionary. He attributes diphtheria, apoplexy and various other diseases to a deficiency of common salt in the system. This will be a serious set-back to the anti-salt diet reformers. A Rockland, Me., mgn went blueberrying recently, and as the sun was rather too strong for his eyes he donned a pair of green goggles. He reached the patch and started in. working, rapidly and steadily until he had filled his ten-quart pail. He then walked home in triumph, but alas! upon removing his glasses he found that he had filled his pail with green berries and never knew the difference. Discussion as to whether Mrs. Curzon will have the most distinguished part ever taken in English society by an American woman has recalled the three granddaughters of Charles Carroll, the “signer.” One of them was the wife of an Irish viceroy, the Marquis Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington's elder brother. The other two were respectively the Duchess of Leeds end Lady Stafford. An Anglo-American ulliance is nothing new. Sir Edwin Arnold relates a good story Illustrative of the Prince of Wales’s appreciation of the persistent spirit of the press. “Once, when I was attending an important function at Marlborough house,” says the narrator, "Sir Francis Knollys came up to the prince and remarked: 'Some gentlemen of the press wish admission, you Royal Highness.’ ‘Oh,’ said the prince, ‘show them in. If they don't come in at the door they’ll come in at the ventilator.’ ” Oh, what a charm Hangs o’er the farm. With its broad fields sloping down! And how sweet to lie Beneath the sky. Far away from the smoky town! Ah, what poetic fancies lurk In the sloping fields and yellow For the man who dreams while the heavy work Is done by some other fellow! —Cleveland Leader. < BUBBLES IN THE AIR. Mind. “I understand that you married a woman with a mind.” “Yes, she has. Also, she doesn’t.” The Cornfed Philosopher. “As to the self-made man,” said the Cornfed Philosopher, “I take notice that the self-madeness also extends to his grammar. That is, usually.” The Cheerful Idiot. “Why,” asked the youngest boarder, "do they measure the speed of a ship in knots?” “I think,” said the Cheerful Idiot, “that it has something to do with the tied.” Ilia Last Words. As the doomed ship burned fiercely the baseball person swam feebly about. “Little did I think,” said he to the attending sharks, "that I would be thus caught on a hot liner.” Then he went to his long home plat©. DR. SENN STILL TALKING, And It 1b the Talk of Sensationalism, Not of Science. Chicago Post. Before Col. Dr. Nicholas Senn had been in Camp WikaffX half an hour he unlimbered his typewriter and began talking at it. Having been e<?rked up for two or three days, he was fairly -.bursting with predictions, “I told you sos” and technical verbosity. This is the fashion in whkh he started out: “Unless the camp is broken up within six weeks I predict that instead of being a ‘recuperative camp’ it will be a 'horror camp’ worthy to rank with the infamous pestholes of the civii war.” This is the language of moderation and scientific investigation. It is simply the utterance of a sensation monger who knows that if he only predicts enough horrors and tribulations some of them will come true and he will reap the cheap fame of a true “prophet of evil.” Having indulged in this piece of sensationalism, well calculated to cause consternation in thousands of American homes, Dr. Senn proceeded to advertise the fact that he will shortly Ventilate his views “over my signature” in a medical journal. This he thinks will eo.il forth an inquiry from the government, and he will be given all the space he craves for the publicity of what he thinks about the medical mismanagement of the war. But before closing his typewriter Dr. Senn hedged in his woeful forebodings in regard to Montauk Point in this wise: “In justice to the camp, I want to say that almost none of the sickness among the soldiers up to the present time and none of the deaths have been due to the conditions which now prevail here or have prevailed in the past. Sickness Las been almost entirely limited to fevers contracted in the south, and the death rate would have been mvieh more than now had the men remained in the south instead of being brought here. The change of climato lessened the effects of the fevers and improved the condition of the men.” Dr. Senn thinks Camp Wtkoff healthy now, but says that in a few weeks the sinks and cesspools of the camp will permeate the earth and contaminate the water supply. This is sheer sen(n)ility. The water supply can be proteted from such contamination just as the water supply of British garrisons in infected regions in India is protected, so that soldiers are healthy where the native dies. The trouble with Dr. Senn is that surgery, not sanitation, is his forte. Dr. Reilly, of the Chicago health department, would undertake to protect Camp Wikoff from all the germs in Dr. Senn’s pharmacopoeia of horrors. Nails a Lie. Kansas City Journal. The yellow journals had a story the other day about the terrible suffering on board the hospital ship Relief, en route from Santiago to New York. Here is a letter written by Charley Mallory, of the regulars, to his mother at Paola, which nails that lie: “Dear Mama—l arrived in New York today on the steamer Relief. My back is getting better, and I will go to Sister Lucy in the city just as soon as I get a chance. I never saw anything finer than this ship is. There is everything we want. The eating is fine. They also furnish chewing gum and cigars. For drinkables they have soda water, seltzer water, pop and lemonade. There is also a library where we can read whenever we want to' There is a Catholic priest and a Presbyterian minister on board. We had early mass Sunday morning which about twenty of us attended. Each of us has a big spring bed with nice white pillows and spreads.” Pertinent Question. Boston Transcript. “Have you ever had to rule a State?” Mendelssohn once suddenly asked Berthold Auerbach, who had been indulging in criticism of the German government. The question would apply to many faultfinders of the present hour. The Aniericun Soldier’s Stomach. Chicago Timea-Herald There seems to be an Impression that the American soldier should have a stomach like an ostrich. The volunteers appear to have suffered more from eating food that should have been denied them than from any deprivation. Unpleasant Anticipation. New York Press. One of the dreariest things to contemplate 4n connection with the coming oyster season is the queer dishes made from the shellfish we will be compelled to eat when we go to “chafing dish parties.” A Lesson of the War. Detroit Free Press. One of the lessons of the war is that battle ships should be made fireproof. If Spain had built noncombustible boats some of them would still be in the service—in the United States navy. Willing to Overlook Them. Washington Post. Mr. McKinley's noble disregard of Col. Hay’s early poems shows him to be a chivalrous gentleman.

SHAFTER WAS STUPID ♦ SAYS COL. NENN, V. S. V., CHIEF OPERATING SI'RGEOX, Regular Army and Volunteer Snrscom Compared from Data Gathered In Cuba. CHICAGO, Sept. I.—The Journal of the American Medical Association, edited by Dr. John E. Hamilton, will print to-morrow an article by Lieut. Col. Nicholas Senn, U. S. V., chief of the operating: stafT with the army in the field, entitled. “The Qualificaand Duties of the Military Suigeon.” Colonel Senn says: "Nearly five months of continuous service with the army in the camp and field has ailorded me an excellent opportunity to make a practical study of this subject. This spent in Camp Tanner, Springfield, 111., Camp George H. Thomas, Chickatnauga, Ga„ and in the Cuban campaign, the lime being about equally divided in the different places. The first four weeks were occupied in Camp Tanner, where I assisted m tne capacity of surgeon general of the State in the organization of the State troops. This service brought me into closer contact with the National Guard of our State than at any time before. A physical and professional examination in which I took part brought out the shady as well as the sunny side of their qualifications. "Ine result of my experience here convinced me that the average National Guard surgeon is a faithful doctor, with more than average professional ability, but, with few exceptions, racking the necessary military training in performing satisfactorily his administrative duties. This is a part of his education that has been sadly neglected in the past and should receive more attention in the future. Very few States make provision for physical examination of trie medical officers, consequently some of them have entered the service totally disqualified for participating in an active campaign. "The four weeks’ service at Camp Georje H. Thomas as chief surgeon of the Sixth Army Corps opened up a wide field for extended observation in making comparisons between the work done by the surgeons of the regular army and of the National Guard, the surgeons of the United States armore all men of superior education, splendid physical development, and those who have been in the service for several years are well versed in the routine work of the medical department. However, in all mattters pertaining to medicine and surgery ihe average National Guard surgeon more than holds his own. NATIONAL GUARD SURGEONS. “This superiority of tne National Guard surgeon over his colleague of the regular army is no reflection on the latter; it is the natural outcome of circumstances, which make such a difference inevitably. The young army surgeon has to spend many years at small and often out-of-the-way posts, where the opportunities for clinical experience and intercourse with professional colleagues are necessarily limited. He naturally soon falls Into the monotonous and routine work of the post life, with little or no inducement to continue his post graduate, scientific and medical studies. When the time comes to pass an examination he wakes up from his lethargy sufficiently to go through the different compends to prepare himself for the coming ordeal. He breathee easy after he has reached the major’s rank, as this promotion' forever closes the door of the much dreaded green room. From now on he is in the line of slow promotion, without any extra exertions on his part. He receives his salary and looks confidently for assignments to posts where he can spend the rest of his life in ease and luxury. He has reached a time in life when he feels that he can avail himself of the work of his subordinates without interfering with his emoluments or his position in social and military life. Fie is conscious of the fact that he has reached a rank and a station in life where it is proper for him to look to his assistants to do the drudgery which he had become accustomed to in the past and begin to enjoy the life before him. "It is different with the military surgeon taken from civil ;:fe. Fie emerges from the turmoils of family practice. From the day of his graduation he has tasted the bitter fruit of active competition. The average American practitioner is a hustler. He is willing to work night and dav to gain a lucrative practice and the social position which goes with it. With few exceptions he knows that what he has learned in college is but the entering wedge to a comprehensive knowledge of the practice of medicine and surgery. He mingles freely with the members of his profession, always ready to absorb and digest new ideas. He makes frequent pilgrimages to his alma mater or seme post graduate school to familiarize himself with the most recent advances in medicine and surgery. This is the kind of material cur National Guard surgeon is made of. No wonder he outweighs the professional military surgeon in practical knowledge required in the treatment of injuries and disease. ARMY LIFE IS NO PICNIC. “The exacting and often onerous duties of the military surgeon in times of war require special qualifications to prepare and fit him for his work. He is not only expected to be well versed in theoretical and practical knowledge of everything pertaining to the practice of medicine and surgery, but he must be endowed with qualities both of mind and body upon which he can rely when engaged under the most trying circumstances. The man who enters the medical department of the army under the impression that he is only expected to treat wounds, set broken bones and prescribe for the ordinary camp ailments makes a serious mistake, and will be surely a disappointment both to himself and to those he is expected to serve. "The physical condition of the mililtary surgeon must be as nearly perfect as possible. A physical examination as thorough and as painstaking as in the case of a private can only decide upon the necessary physical qualifications of candidates for commission in the medical service. For good reasons this rule is followed in the selection of medical officers for the regular army, and there is no reason why the same requirement should not be exacted in the National Guard. During my service at Chickamauga and in the Cuban campaign, 1 saw more than one volunteer surgeon who ought to have been excluded from the service for physical disability. “During a campaign the loss of a single medical officer may prove a great disaster. Os all commissioned officers the surgeon is the most indispensable. The vacant place of a line officer can be tilled at a moment s notice without any serious loss to the service; not so with the surgeon. His position is one requiring special training and one that cannot be filled without crippling the medical service at some other point. For this, if for no other reason, the medical officer must be in sound health and abie to cope successfully with the hardships of a campaign. "In battle and during the prevalence of an endemic or epidemic disease, the medical officer is the one above all others whose strength and endurance are taxed to their utmost extent. His services are required by day and by night. He has no rest ana unless in possession of an iron constitution his strength tails him and be becomes, if not a lit subject lor the hospital, at least a physical wreck, who, if he persists in continuing his work, will often do more harm than good. A number of such instances came to my personal notice during the Cuban campaign. "A proper and adequate preliminary education is exacted of every suigeon in the regular army; without it he is not permitted to pass the medical examination. Statistics show that a large percentage of the candidates are dropped at this stage of the examination. This is a reflection on the system ot medical education which continues to prevail in our country. About the oniy evidence of proficiency the National Guard surgeon in most of our States is required to show is his diploma. It makes but little difference when the diploma was obtained. Evidences of a satisfactory preliminary education are not required. In consequence of such an easy entrance into the medical service of our state troops many of the men who receive commissions' are illiterate. By hard post-graduate work they often become good physicians, but they seldom, if ever, make up for the early defects of their education, which seriously interferes with a successful military career. Is it to be wondered at that when such shortcomings are discovered by their colleagues and officers of the line they do not command the respect their commissions should entitle them to? The elevation of the standard of medical education by most of the medical schools throughout the country will gradually wipe out this blemish, but it will take many years before all of the diplomas can be accepted as sufficient proof that their possessors are entitled to recognition by the medical department of the different States. LACK OF MILITARY SPIRIT. “Any one who enters the medical service of the army as a life vocation will be disappointed unless he does so imbued with a proper military spirit. The military surgeon must be a military man and an integral part of tfie army if he wants to do justice

to his calling and the department he represents. I fear it is a lack of the proper military spirit in some of the medical officers in the regular army that Is responsible for a well recognizable cleft between them and the officers of the line and field. If this is

true in the regular army, It is only too obvious in the National Guard. The rank of the medical officers and their standing in military and social circles suffers when they are regarded and treated as an ordinary doctor. The medical officer is entitled to recognition as a military man, and if this is not accorded to him voluntarily he must resort to measures that will entorce it. The lack of military dignity on the part of the medical staff is due largely to a lack of the proper military spirit in the members which compose it and to too great familiarity between the surgeons and the officers and men. "The men that accomplish the most are always ready and on time. The medical officers must be made to understand that a due regard for punctuality in performing their duties, in meeting appointments and in mapping out and forwarding reports is one of the most essential features of a suecessiul military career. "To the credit of the medical officers of this and other wars it must be said that they showed no fear, either in facing the enemy, or, what is vastly worse, disease. When yellow fever made its appearance among the troops around Santiago every man remained at his post and faced the danger without flinching. Men from tne North who had never seen the disease accepted the detail for duty in the fever hos- . pitals without a word of complaint. “The first and most important duty of the military surgeon is tc prevent disease. This can otten be done more effectively by example than by precept. He must become a permanent object lesson in inculcating the importance of cleanliness in person and in dress. His tent should be the cleanest and most orderly in camp. Temperance in eating. and drinking can be taught more successfully by action than by words. A military surgeon under the influence of liquor will do more harm in encouraging the vice of intemperance than can be undone by weeks of lecturing. Profanity is prevalent in every camp, ami, while it Is not the duty of the surgeon to supplant the chaplain in suppressing it, it should receive no encouragement by nis example. Overwork and a disordered digestion are poor excuses for treating a subordinate in an undignified, ungentle-manly manner. "The military surgeon must be known in camp as a gentleman, not only by the officers, but by every man under his charge, if he expects to be respected and to do justice to his high calling and responsible pcsition. “The first and most important duty of the military suigeon during active warfare is to prevent disease and unnecessary suffering by giving early advice and resorting to timely precautions. The location of camps, policing of the same, the water supply, food and clothing are subjects which must receive his early and earnest attention. In this work he should receive the hearty co-operaion of the officers in command, and if this is not the case he has the moral and military authority to demand it. , , “It was not the medical department, but the arrogance or stupidity of the commanding general of the invading army that is responsible for the extensive outbreak of yellow fever during the_ Cuban campaign. This experience is sufficient to teach comma r ding generals that it is unsafe in the future to follow such an example, as an imprudence of this kind, giving rise to inexcusable slaughter and Indescribable suffering. will meet with universal indignation. CURRENCY QUESTION IN CU3A. Santiugo Merchants Not Pleased with American Rulings. Correspondence New York Commercial Advertiser. Santiago commercial circles have had much to talk of since Monday, when there issued from the palace a culing concerning the values of Spanish money and rates of exchange. Since the American occupation the retail dealers have overcharged everybody by demanding payment in gold, where before they had accepted silver. The siege and scarcity of food also served as excuses for exorbitant prices. A local paper took up the matter, and called loudly for an adjustment of the values of gold and silver money. At the palace conference on Monday it was announced that the Spanish gold piece of 25 pesetas, a centen, as it is called, would be accepted at the custom house as $5 gold, and that Spanish silver was w-orth half its face value in gold. A table was issued in which the new values on the several gold coins in circulation were set forth. In so far as those values applied to customs duties, there was little objection. The loss to the merchant, who paid duties on imports, could be regained by obtaining a higher price from the consumer. But when it was learned that the values applied also to commercial and all other transactions between the inhabitants of Cuba, much feeling was expressed against the new ruling. The case is this: Spain is on a silver basis of circulation; Cuba has tried to maintain a gold standard. When the gold centen was sent from Spain to Cuba its gold value was increased 6 per cent, to keep the gold In the island. That is to say, the centen in Cuba has been worth $5.30 in gold. The Cuban carrying back Spanish gold to spiend In Spain has always lost 0 per cent.; for the value In Spain was an even $5. Now that the United States has said it would accept the centen at $5 in payment of customs duties, the effect of the ruling is to declare the circulation of gold in Cuba to be worth 6 per cent, less than the amount Cuban legislation had fixed. Six per cent, on fifteen or twenty million dollars in gold—the estimated amount in circulation —is, the Santiago merchants contend, a serious reduction in the country's capital, a reduction all the more serious in that it comes after years of great commercial depression. They ask how It can be justified. Two other points are connected vitally with the measure: The first is the fact that the gold and the silver coins are likely to be sent from the island in large quantities; the second is *he contention that the United States, not having annexed the island of Cuba or the provinces and city of Santiago, is not entitled, unaer international law. to modify in any manner the civil legislation of the occupied territory. Silver was at 40 per cent, discount formerly in Cuba: to-day it has been put at 50 per cent. On July 26 last silver in Spain was at 25 per cent, discount. If, therefore, one buys here for a hundred dollars in gold the sum of two hundred Spanish dollars in silver, sending the latter to Spain at a cost for transportation and insurance, of I*4 per cent., and exchanges the silver there for gold, receiving one hundred and fifty dollars, there is a profit after deducting charges of freight, brokerage and insurance, of forty-eight dollars gold on a hun-dred-dollar gold investment. Truly a lucrative business. .Already many are accumulating silver to send to Spain by the first vessel that will carry it. The result will be that the silver currency of Cuba will rapidly leave the island. As to the right of the United States to reverse civil legislative rulings, the contrary is clearly said to be the case in Flore’s “Derecho Internacional Codlficado.” Volume 2. Chapter IV., entitled “Dp la Ocupacion Militar y de sus eonsecuencias Juridicas.” Articles 1,076 to 1,103. Tne book is a translation from the rtalian. and the statements in the chapter cited are being carefully considered by the best lawyers and leading merchants of Santiago. There is some talk of making a test case as to the legality of the measure taken by the United States. But it is doubtful that this will be done. Many of the merchants seem inclined to accept the 6 per cent, loss as the fortune of war. Defense of the Bureaucrat*. Washington Special. In defense of the bureaucrats of the War Department and of the officers of the regular army it is urged that they have been educated to a strict construction of the rules and regulations of the department and of the army and trained to fear to take unusual responsibilities, particularly where money is involved. They have a horror of getting their accounts mixed, and the history of the department is full of stories of how an unsettled or involved account of possibly only a few dollars will pursue an officer to his grave, and perhaps becloud his reputation entirely. This horror is prominent even in times of war, and officers cannot shake off the habits of a lifetime. Hence their prejudice against departing from routine methods. It is also urged in their behalf that the men in charge of the military establishments in times of peace are naturally as much at sea when it comes to creating and providing for an army of 300.000 men in war times as it would be for the manager of a small country store to be transferred without notice to the management of an immense department store. Dr. Senn’* Childish Talk. Chicago Post. "Unless this camp is broken up within six weeks,” says Dr. Senn. referring to Camp Wikoff. "I predict that, instead of a recuperation camp, it will be a horror camp, worthy to rank with the infamous pestholes of the civil war.” At the same time the doctor admits that he has made no such report to the government he represents at Montauk Point, because his ’’protests !n regard to other camps have passed unheeded.” This is the first time we ever heard the claim seriously made that a man is relieved from the necessity of doing his duty because others have failed to do their*. A Pity. New York Mall and Express. Admiral Dewey is needed at Washington to advise the government with regard to the situation in the Philippines, and he is also needed at Manila to keep things straight in that territory. It is a very areai pity that Dewey isn't twins.

BIDS FOR BATTLE SHIPS VERY SATISFACTORY OFFERS FOR EIGHTEEN-KNOT FIGHTERS. Four Companies Compete and Promise to Turn Out the War Vessels In Thirty-Two Month*. WASHINGTON. Sept. 1.-Four firms offered bids for the three new battle ships authorized by the last Congress. The lowest bid of each for any type of the vessel follows: Newport News Ship Building Company, Newport News, Va., $2,580,000; Cramps, Philadelphia, 12,650,000: Union iron works, San Francisco, $2,674,000; Dialogue & Cos., $2,840,000. Many details of construction will figure in the awards. The result of the bidding for the construction of the three big battle ships authorized by Congress is eminently satisfactory to the Navy Department. From the face of the bids it is clfar that the government is going to secure very much more in the matter of power and speed than was expected; that the cost is going to be less than was paid proportionately for the Illinois class; and finally that the department will be able to distribute the work among the three big building concerns, a method of construction that always redounds to the advantage of the government. The bids were made In three classes, the first being under the plans prepared by the Navy Department calling for ships of about eleven thousand tons with a speed of sixteen knots. The other classes were under plans prepared by the bidders themselves, in some cases on additional plans prepared by the engineering bureau, but not included in the original specifications sent out to bidders. The bids were opened in the following order: J. H. Dialogue & Cos., of Camden, N. J.— One ship in thirty-three months, under Class 1, for the sum of $2,840,000. Newport News Ship Building CompanyOne ship under Class 1. in thirty-one months, for the sum of $2,560,000; one ship under Class 2. with a speed of seventeen knots, in thirty-two months. $2,680,000; one ship cf about 12.550 tons, wrvh a speed of eighteen knots, in thirty-two months, for the sum of $2,850,000. William Cramp Ship Building CompanyOne ship. Class 1. in twenty-nine months, for $2,650,000; two ships, of the same class, for $2,625,000 each: one ship, under Class 2, with a speed of seventeen knots, in thirtytwo months, with a tonnage of 11.500. for $2,725,000. or two of the seme for $2,700,000 each; one ship of 12.150 tons, and a speed of eighteen knots, in thirty-two months, for $2,885,000, or two of the same for $2,870,000 each. Union Iron Works, San Francisco—One ship, under Class 1, for $2,674,000, in thirteen months; one ship under Class 2. with a speed of seventeen knots, for $2,725,000, in thirty-nine months; one twelve thousand ton, eighteen-knot ship, in thirty-three months, for $2,880,000. A careful examination of these bids shows that the prices asked for the vessels planned on the department designs average slightly less than the price to be paid for the Illinois class, although these ships are improved In some respects. But it also appears that the bids are within the limit of cost fixed hy Congress even where th? bidders propose to make them of eighteen-knots speed, much better ships than called for by the department. It is expected that the only bids considered, therefore, will be for the eighteenknot ships. THE MOSQUITO FLEET. Many of the Brave Little Cruiser* Will Be Sold Outright. NEWPORT NEWS. Va., Sept. I.—lt is learned from a trustworthy source that a number of the war ships at anchor in Hampton Roads off the Chamberlin and Hygeia hotels will become the objects of unfavorable reports by the board of survey which began Its work of Inspection last week. The condition of not a few of the best-known vessels of the mosquito fleet is said to be such as to render them useless for either the purpose of peace or war until extensive and costly repairs have been made. Since coming to Old Point Comfort Capt. Ftigginson, Captain Taylor, Lieutenant Brunson and Chief Engineer Stivers, comprising the board of survey, have been actively engaged in making a careful examination of all the vessels of the auxiliary fleet and it is expected they will conclude their work the latter part of the week. In more than one-half of the vessels already examined it Is said the machinery has been found by the im-pec ting board to be so badly damaged that new engines and boilers will have to be supplied before they will be In proper condition for the pursuits In which they were formerly engag'd while in merchant service. Others, it is akl. have sustained serious injuries to tfceir decks ard hulls, not being strong enough to stand tho strain caused by the discharge of the guns with vvhie.i they are equipped. In audition to this, the little war ships .vere severely tried by the rough usage incident to blockade duty in which many of .hen figured prominently before Havana nnd at other points on the Cuban coast. As the men from whom these now disabled vessels were bought in good condition will hardly be willing to take them back, it is likely that some bargains In marine property will be offered at an early date. Ships that went through the war without damage will probably be bought by their original owners in the event the government is desirous of disposing of them, but of course at a price far below that which they were sold to Uncle Sam. The auxiliary cruiser Dixie, for instance, will probably be eagerly sought by the Morgan line of steamers, which disposed of four of its splendid ships to the government. It is not probable, however, that the Dixie will leave the naval service, and it is understood Captain Fligginson, as president of the board of inspection, will recommend that this ship be retained by the government. The Dixie carries ten six-inch guns, the heaviest armament placed on an auxiliary cruiser, and the fact that she stood the test so well reflects great credit upon her builder. The board made a thorough examination of this ship and found her to be as stanch as when she set sail on her mission of war. It is learned semi-ofllcially that of the ships inspected by the hoard at Old Point Comfort the following will probably be recommended for sale unless retained in the government service as navy yard tugs: The Apache, the Eagle, the Hawk, the Hornet, tha Leyden, the Niagara, the Oneida, the Osceola, the Peoria, the Ptseataqua. the Stranger, the Siren, the Suwanee, the Teoumseh, the Vixen, the Wasp, the Wampatuck and the Yankton. It is believed that the colliers will be disposed of, but It Is possible that the board will make no recommendation further than stating the condition of these vessels, of which nine are at Old Point. The Boston Squadron. PROVINCETOWN, Mass., Sept. I.—The nine vessels of the United States navy which were ordered to rendezvous here today preparatory to proceeding to Boston in squadron formation to-morrow reached port to-day, and during the afternoon were put in condition for to-morrow’s event. It was scarcely broad daylight this morning when the battle ship Massachusetts, only one of her class In the squadron, was reported from Highland light, and she had reached this port and was riding at anchor by sunrise. About five hours later the eight other vessels of the squadron were sighted, and Just before noon the gunboat Bancroft, the last of the line, had come to anchor inside the harbor. The smaller vessels came In the following order: Machias, Wilmlngton, Helena. Detroit, Marietta. Castine, Topeka and Bancroft. It was expected that visitors would be allowed on board the vessels to-day, but they were not, as the crew's were very busy In putting the shlDs to rights, scrubbing, painting and cleaning all parts of their respective crafts. Mosquito Fleet Flagship. FORT MONROE, Va., Sept. I.—The United States steamer Lancaster, late flag* ship of Commodore Remey, chief of the mosquito fleet, sailed at 9 o’clock this morning for Portsmouth. N. H.. where it is said she will be fitted out as a gunner’s training ship after undergoing a thorough overhauling. The Fern arrived at 9:30 o’clock and cast anchor with the few vessels of th* fleet remaining in Hampton Roads. Four Llaera to Be Restored. WASHINGTON, Sept. I.— As the result of a short interview at the Navy Department to-day between acting Secretary Allen and President Grlscom, of the International