Show BOMBARDMENT OF SAN JUAN The bombardment of San Juan de Porto Rice appears from aft the accounts ac-counts of it to have been a vcr strange proceeding to the ordinary unprofessional un-professional eve It looks likea senseless sense-less thing without object and without result An Associated Press dispatch dated on board the flagship Iowa quotes Admiral Sampson to this effect I am satisfied with the mornings work I could have taken San Juan but I have no force to hold it I only wanted to administer punishment This has been done I came for the Spanish fleet and not for San Juan It is almost Impossible to believe That Admiral Sampson ever said any such thing The remarks show anything but taciturnity in fact they indicate loquacity If Admiral Sampson is satisfied sat-isfied with his work at San Juan the people are not The fortifications were not reduced no military and naval stores were destroyed and the harbor was not cleared of mines The expense of the bombardment in ammunition alone could scarcely have bscii less than a quarter of a million dollars The big thirteeninch guns such as the Iowa carries are supposed to be good for about one hundred shots after that i they must be rebored or cast aside so that every shot fired from them becomes be-comes a serious matter Admiral Sampson is reported to have said that he could have taken San Juan but that he had no force with which to hold it If he could have taken it he should have done so for then he could have gone in and destroyed de-stroyed all military and naval stores including coal cleared the harbor of I mines and so deprived the Spanish fleet of a base of operations That would have been a great work and its effect would have been felt all through the war In war it is decisive worth wor-th t is wanted not merely 1 destructive work The question now arises If a bombardment bom-bardment lasting four or five hours failed to reduce and silence the forts arrun 1 all Juan how long will it take to reduce the fortifications at Havana Ha-vana They are understood to be very strong and to be equipped with high power guns equal to any anywhere The affair at San Juan will give great encouragement to the Spaniards at Havana Ha-vana and at home too as for that matter And what had the people at San Juan done that they deserved fepecial punishment pun-ishment Whatever r > lso Miles vnr nmv be It is not one of revenge The bombardment of San Juan judged frem the accounts of it was a false step bringing neither honor nor profit Some one has blundered either the beard of strategy or the admiral executing its plans All these criticisms are made under corection and it wculd be the greatest pleasure possible to know that the report of Admiral Sanip sons remarks and the account of the bombardment are incorrect Every American would be glad to hold Admiral Ad-miral Sampson in the same high esteem that Rear Admiral Dewey is hell in |