The large number of troops remaining in Cuba and Porto Rico after the return of the main body of regulars and volunteers necessi tated the establishment of a regular line with weekly sailing dates. Advantage was taken of the regular steamship lines as far as possible for the larger movement of returning troops. The transportation to Spain of the Spanish prisoners was accomplished under contract, in accordance with stipulations under which the surrender of Santiago took place. More than 22,000 Spanish prisoners were thus returned from the eastern end of Cuba to Spain within 60 days of their surrender, in an economical and apparently satisfactory manner.
The outbreak of the insurrection in the Phil ippines made it necessary to hasten relief to the volunteer regiments still held in those islands, and the presence there of the old Spanish gar risons which, under the terms of the treaty of peace, were entitled to repatriation, made it desirable that they should be returned to Spain without delay. The transport service was strained to the utmost limit, but fulfilled its part in the most gratifying manner. During its first year of existence a total of 202,587 pas sengers were transported across the seas by army transports without responsibility for the loss of a single life.
The question of transportation of animals was one requiring much study and experiment, for there was little experience available to guide the department in a solution of the problem of landing cavalry horses in fit condition for serv ice after a voyage of 7,000 miles. Some dis couraging losses of mules occurred at a critical moment in the campaign against the insurgents, but gradually the system was perfected and the loss of animals actually reduced below the per centage of loss from injury and disease which should be expected in the herds on shore. Nearly 20,000 animals were transported during the year ending 30 June 1901.
At a time when every effort was being put forth to meet the requirements of the military situation Porto Rico was devastated by a hurri cane, and the transport service was called upon to distribute relief stores to the unfortunate inhabitants who, just released from the worries of war, found themselves threatened with fam ine and pestilence.
As conditions in the Philippines gradually settled down to a guerilla warfare the troops were distributed at about 400 stations, necessi tating an inter-island transport service. Just as everything was becoming adjusted to the new conditions which followed the dispersal of Aguinaldo's army the unfortunate °Boxer* outbreak took place in China. The experience already obtained enabled the department to handle the transportation question in such a way as to win the admiration of all the foreign contingent composing the Chinese relief expedi tion which finally entered the sacred city of Pekin.
Following the signing of the treaty of peace with Spain it was necessary to maintain a considerable force in Cuba during the period required to establish the new government of the island upon a reasonably stable basis. Spain had for many years garrisoned the island with a force several times as large as the entire United States army. Affairs grad ually assumed a normal condition and on 30 June 1901 the transport service between the United States and the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico was discontinued.
Under the American volunteer system the men were enlisted for the war with Spain under contracts calling for two years' service or during the war. With the signing of the treaty of peace it had been necessary for Con gress to authorize the enlistment of 35,000 vol unteers to assist the regular army in putting down the insurrection in the Philippines and permit of the discharge of those who had en listed for the war with Spain. In its refusal to increase the regular army and its substi tution of a force of volunteers whose enlist ments should not extend beyond 1 July 1901, Congress found itself confronted again with the necessity for keeping faith with the 35, 000 volunteers, and arrangements were made to transport them home before their enlist ments should expire.
The records show that more than 500,000 passengers had been safely transported across the seas, in some instances as much as 11,000 miles upon single voyages, without the loss of a passenger due to the transport service.
Following the discharge of the volunteers and a reorganization of the regular army in 1901, the number of transports was reduced by disposing of the least efficient in respect to carrying capacity and economy of operation. The vessels retained in service represented the finest types of transports then in the service of any nation. They contained all the im provements suggested by several years of ex tended experience and were of the tonnage deemed most economical for the peculiar service required. Untilvery recently when Congress authorized utilization of space for non-military freight from the congested ports of the Philippines, there was little cargo on the homeward run. The space was usually util ized for coal from Nagasaki where the cheap est fuel on the Pacific shores is available. The question of fuel supply for American ships in the Pacific is a very serious one and will not be solved until the coal fields of Alaska become available. Vessels of Ameri can register are handicapped in several ways in their competition with Japanese ships and cheaper fuel than heretofore available on our Pacific coast is a maritime necessity.