Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1898 — ASKS MORE MEN. [ARTICLE]

ASKS MORE MEN.

Merritt Instate He Should Be Given 00,000. Secretary Alger received a cable dispatch from Gen. Merritt expressing keen anxiety on account of the situation ia the Philippines. Gen. Merritt asks for at least 50,000 soldiers, including the 12,000 now under him. The cause of concern exists principally in the threatening attitude of the insurgent forces under Aguinaldo. The rebels have moved up on all sides of Manila and it appears from the late advices received by the War Department that both the Spanish and the American forces are threatened. Gen. Merritt asks that his force be increased as promptly as possible, or it will, in his opinion, be impossible to successfully hold the capital after it is taken by the American army and navy. He urged even before he left Washington that the number of men in his command be. increased, and after he reached San Francisco the request was renewed. The response was the assignment of two more regiments of infantry regulars and some volunteers to the Philippine expedition. Since reaching Manila it appears from the dispatch of Gen. Merritt, his fears that his force was too > small for the safe conduct of the campaign have been confirmed.