faults and shortcomings
in its conduct"; but these excuses and counter-charges do not break the
force of the essential and officially admitted fact that our army landed
on the Cuban coast on June 24 in a high state of health and efficiency,
and in less than six weeks had not only lost seventy-five per cent. of
its effective strength, but had been reduced by disease to a condition
so low that, in the opinion of eight of its general officers, it "must
perish" unless immediately sent back to the United States. Secretary
Alger declares that management which produces these results "is war";
but I should rather describe it as incapacity for war. If we do not
learn a lesson from the Santiago campaign--if we continue to equip,
feed, and manage our armies in the field as we equipped, fed, and
managed the Fifth Army-Corps in Cuba--our newly acquired tropical
possessions will cost us more in pensions than they will ever produce in
revenue.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Referring to the ten thousand men spoken of in the secretary's
telegram of May 27.

[2] Report of General Miles ("Army and Navy Register," November 12, p.
311). General Shafter reported to the Secretary of War, September 13,
that he sailed from Tampa with 815 officers and 16,072 men. General
Miles is probably right.

[3] I spell this word as it is spelled by the officers of the
Spanish-American Iron Company, who say that "Baiquiri" is erroneous.

[4] I never heard this village called _El_ Caney by any Spaniard or any
resident of Santiago. Mr. Ramsden, British consul for many years at the
latter place, always refers to it in his diary as "Caney," without the
definite article, and this was the name given it by every one in
Santiago with whom I talked. The use of "El" in connection with Pozo
seems to be correct, as Mr. Ramsden invariably calls it, in English,
"_the_ Pozo."

[5]The point where the _Merrimac_ was sunk was not the point selected by
Lieutenant Hobson, who aimed to sink her farther out, and more nearly in
the position reached by the _Reina Mercedes_, but was prevented from
doing so, as described in his article in "The Century" for January,
1899.--EDITOR.

[6] I use the word "bastion" in a very loose, untechnical way to
designate projecting parts or semi-detached wings of the main building.
I doubt whether the castle contains anything that would be called a
bastion by a military engineer; but I cannot think of any other word to
describe the cubical masses of