Life, 1898-12-29 · page 8 of 21
Life — December 29, 1898 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 548: Spanish-American War Commentary This page contains two chapters from "Life's History of the War," focusing on the Spanish-American War. The text discusses General Merritt's command in the Philippines and efforts to secure Cuba's independence. The cartoons appear to satirize military bureaucracy and diplomatic incompetence. One illustration shows a supply wagon, captioned "A supply of Fifth Avenue stages had already been engaged"—mocking the use of civilian vehicles for military purposes. Another cartoon, "Come home to be kissed," depicts what appears to be a soldier or military figure, likely satirizing sentimental attitudes toward war. A third image captioned "A strong odor of garlic" references Spanish forces, using ethnic stereotype humor common to 1890s American satire about the Spanish-American conflict.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“A supply of Fifth Avenue stages had already been engaged.” Life's History of the War. Cuapter X. N our last chapter we mentioned the I fact that General Merritt, with a force of soldiers whose number was due to the generosity of the Herald, had been ordered to the Philippines, With commendable zeal, a supply of Fifth Avenue stages had already been engaged, and these, drawn by swift Arab steeds long inured to moun- tain climbing in the fastnesses of Fifth Avenue under McCartney tho first, were now hurried across the continent. There tho army rested from its labors. Steamers, whose owners had been wait- ing for years to have their machinery repaired, had yet to be hired by the govern- ment. Requisitions for provisions bad to bo made out, and signed and re-signed, and mailed from one place to another. Dewey needed an army, but it was much moro important to fulfill all clerical require- ments, Meanwhile, the army waited. We will leave them whore they are and turn to moro moving oventa, Cnarten XI. Conaness had declared that tho sdle object of the war was the Independence of Cuba. It was necessary, therefore, to let ill ft iN Cuba alone until all the other Spanish pos- sessions could be captured. Otherwise, the war might be over before the United States rose to the rank and dignity of a great power. At this time, the Board of Strategy, now Northeast trades, reported in the vicinity of Martinique a strong odor of garlic, which mude it a certainty that the Spanish fleet was approaching. A press censorship was at onco estab- lished. ‘This course was resolved upon in order to reduce the enormous expenses of some of our more prominent newspapers. The Board now allowed no news to go over tho wires except cable despatches to foreign papers. On this account all infor- mation about the progress of the war camo direct from Madrid. Cuarrer XII. Commopone ScuLey was at Fortress Monroe with his flying squadron. Tho news that ho had just sailed from that point had been published for weeks in every edition of every ‘paper. It was, therefore, known that he was still there, and likely to remain. In this emergency, the Board of Strategy “A strong odor o gartic,” universally recognized as the bulwark of the nation, made a discovery. A coal barge, sailing near the West Indies under the “Came home to be kissed.” resolved upon a coup d'état, Thoy sent him secret orders to join Sampson, aware that {t would not be known to the public, tho papers having made it impossible to discover the truth. Until Cervera’s entire fleet had been actually seen, they were unwilling to alarm the inhabitants of our coast towns, The Board was now a model of caution and circumspection, Teddy Roosevelt had long since resigned, It happened, however, that this caution was unnecessary, for before it was known to a certainty that Schley had sailed, Cer- vora’s floct bad been definitely located at every port in the Caribbean Sea by every rellable newspaper. Tho rest was easy. Commodore Schley, after much coaxing, was finally persuaded to go to Bantiago, where Cervera bad been for a week. Hero bo was joined by Ad- miral ‘Sampson. With its quarry inside,