The Press. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1899.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10450, 14 September 1899, Page 4

The Press. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1899.

THE "PARTY MACHINE" IN TIME OF WAR.

President McKinley 1 is fiot to be envied. All the glory and prestige of a successful war against an Old World monarchy is being forgotten in the incompeteney and dishonesty of Republican administration. The American soldier has been brave, and the officer fairl" , alert and enterprising, but 'wherever the Government has been tested it has failed. It cannot learn; what it did in Cuba it is repeating in the Philippines. Every one will remember the scandals of the Cuban campaign; the. wild confusion of vie camp and port of departure, the rotten beef, the Arctic clothing supplied' fcr the tropics, the landing without artillery, the absence of hospital, .transport, and medical comforts, and the threatened destruction of the force by dises.se. It was not till a round robin from the officers roused the American public that measures of relief were taken. All sorts, of wretched tmbs were sent out as hospital ships and as transports to bring the army home. Many died on the way, some being starved through inability to take the rough or rotten stuff supplied. Insanitary camps and foul water awaited the returning heroes, and more died in the home camps than at the scene Of war. These things roused the American public for a time, and a furious altercation took place between General Miles and Mr Altrer, Secretary for War. A Commission was appointed to investigate the conduct of the War Department, but, like the Commission appointed by the much-acquitted Mr Seddon, this one found that only irresponsible people were responsible. Mr Alger continued to run his political jobs, and the public went to sleep. The machine had won— only, alas, there was another war going on. The political machine was quite willing to sacrifice an army, apparently, rather Ahan sacrifice Mr Alger, and so admit that a mere political schemer could not manage a war. It appears now that Mr Alger was not the only political schemer concerned. General Otis, commanding in the Philippines, is also a politician, and the American public have had to be rudely awakened again. This time it was by a joint statement of all the Ameri-

1 can war correspondents stationed in Manila, to which we recently referred in our "Topics of the Day." Nothing since the Santiago round robin lias created such a sensation in America. T!:j» people are aghast to find ■that the party machine is working the cable, the General, and all. It was not military but political exigencies that edited the correspondents , telegrams. There was no possibility of any proposed movement of the forces being endangered jy the rebels obtaining information from the American papers. General Otis controlled the cable.Waat he thought of was the political effect that unflattering accounts of his doings might have. The discovery has dealt a cruel blow, to American Imperialism, and has seriously shaken Mr McKinley's position- It was hot surprising that in a time of peacepeace long continued —a War Secretary should be chosen who knew nothing of war. But that he should be retained to control the Philippine war after his monstrous failure in Cuba is what the people cannot forgive. Mr Alger has resigned, hoping, perhaps, to take the odium from i£be party machine. Nobody notices him, however; he was simply the nominee of the machine. Any one of scores of thousands was as muck fitted for the place. People ore looking past him to the President, who could have dismissed him a iyear ago and did* not. The easy-going Americans-are accustomed to jobs in the Post Office and in the Customs, and have learned to wink'and forgive. But a series of jobs in the army ;•.in';....tame, i".pf war—jobs which sell the lives «f volunteer soldiers by the thousand will not be readily borne. The public wrath against the President is therefore a cause of great concern to his party— especially as Silver is no longer the essential point in Bryanism. ;