The Daily Press.
Hongkong, September 15th, 1899.
CORRESPONDENCE.
[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.]
THE OVERCROWDING ON THE "TARTAR."
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS."
Dear Sir,
The discharged soldiers on the steamer Tartar are not surprised by statements made in the papers of this city by officials in authority in the U.S. Army trying to throw sand in the eyes of the public, joking with truth in such a manner as to excite the indignation of the men, and trying to put the blame on the victims while whitewashing their own mistakes. The sympathy of the European and especially of the British people with our sufferings, which sufferings the above-named officials try to belittle, will never be forgotten by us, nor by the American people when the facts are fully made known to them. We desire to place the truth before the public, and would not worry you with our grievances. We would consider it beneath the dignity of our manhood to answer, were it not for humanity's sake, the humanity for which we have bled, and suffered, fought, the humanity that is denied us to-day.
We enlisted for the war with Spain. Our term of enlistment expired when the President of the United States declared peace restored, which was on the 11th April, he himself declaring at the same time that we were entitled to our discharge. The new Army Bill passed by Congress ordered our immediate discharge, but it provided that if we desired to enlist for six months more we could do so. We were entitled to put in our application for discharge, but our application was not accepted by the officials in Manila. We were kept against our will, against the terms of our contract, against the law passed by Congress in the new Army Bill. When we did get our discharge we did not receive our full transportation money, not because, as General Funston states, Congress had taken it away from the Privates at the beginning of the war, but because General Otis induced the General Paymaster to issue an arbitrary order, which has not to this day received the sanction of the Controller of the U.S. Treasury and of which Congress as yet knows nothing officially. Full travel pay was paid up to the beginning of January of this year to every discharged soldier, both to those who were disabled, to those who were discharged by favour and had never seen a day of active field service, and to the soldiers whose time had expired. None of the last-named re-enlisted again. To force them to re-enlist this order was passed as above stated.
When we on the 15th August received our discharge at Manila we received no subsistence for three days and had to live on our own money. When we did get subsistence we in our weak state could not live on it, nor could we have done so had we been healthy men. And although our quarters were not required by the troops nor the bunks we had slept on needed elsewhere, we were ordered out, had to go into a place on the opposite side of the street, and there had to sleep on the bare floor, getting additional colds. Here the officials allowed a gambling hell to be run for two weeks every hour out of the twenty-four. The Manila Freedom at last published the facts. To say that the officers did not know would be an insult to their intelligence. It was a game to ruin the men and to get more to re-enlist after they had lost their all. A half-dozen re-enlisted and many more stayed behind. If a discharged man wanted to engage in business he was refused a licence. Re-enlist, work for the Government, or get out of the Island was the answer received.
We were seventeen days in Manila after our discharge before being assigned to the steamer "Tartar." We had no choice or say as to what steamer we would travel by, but were put on any steamer they thought fit. They assigned 450 to the Tartar, 300 to the Newport, and others had gone on the City of Para. General Funston says we could have gone on any steamer. As a matter of fact, we had to take the Tartar or nothing. We appealed, but could get no satisfaction. He says the Regulars are alone the kickers and that the Kansas Regiment is satisfied. He would not say so if he had heard the curses of the Kansas boys. For the Kansas boys to make a formal complaint, however, would involve a court-martial, because they are not yet mustered out. Furthermore, we Regulars have nothing to do with General Funston or the Kansas Regiment. Our transportation certificate is made out to the master of the steamer Tartar and our subsistence to the U.S.A. Quartermaster-in-charge.
Every day our little stock of money was getting smaller. Our hearts were set to see the old home and the friends who had been waiting and looking for months and half waited and looked in vain. We were all anxious to get away, for the discharged men are nearly all more or less sick and weak, their constitutions all but ruined, and they needed change of climate to get well. We were charged a dollar a day in the hospital, for which some of us hold receipts. To say that under the circumstances we were anxious to get home is a mild statement of the case, but to say that we were willing to ship on a plank, that we know and saw the condition of the Tartar, is untrue. We expected at least humane treatment, and a good deal more, but no horse that has been shipped from the United States to Manila, no mule that has gone the same way, has been treated or has suffered as we have on the Tartar. Three days in a storm under hatches would sweep half of us away. As to the food, many of us can hardly eat it without suffering for it afterwards, nearly every man having stomach troubles.
There may have been a few who in their over-anxiety to get away may have made some such remark as that referred to above, for at the time it seemed that our very existence was overlooked, nothing was done, and we were entitled to receive the first consideration; we received only the last.
Our Consul here, to whom we complained, said he could do nothing for us except to make them put the steamer in a sanitary condition. He has not even done that. We had to appeal to the Harbour Master to enforce the British shipping laws, and to the sympathy of the public, who declared it to be an outrage and a disgrace to those in authority to treat men in such a fashion. If we ever had confidence we have it to-day in the public of Hongkong and British law, to which we are forced to appeal (we say it with shame) because our Government has forsaken us. Our statements are the truth and nothing but the truth, and we submit them to the judgment of the public knowing that the public will judge aright.
Thanking you for making our case known.-- We are, yours faithfully and thankfully,
FRANK F. SHERMAN,
JACOB T.P. KOCH,
HARRY G. PETTICHARD,
S.A. SNYDER,
E.E. BOYLE,
JOHN L. DIMMICKS,
JESSE H. LOHR.
P.S. Did space permit all the passengers on the steamer Tartar would have signed their names to the above statements.
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