The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-05-19

The Philippines Expedition.
1t has been decided by the War De
partment that the military expedition
to be sent to the Philippines shall be
on a much larger scale than was or
iginally contemplated. The turbu-
lence of the population, the presence
in the islands of large body of Span
ish troops, numbering not less than
%, 900 men, and the urgent necessity
for speedy establishment of inter
national trade relations are conditions
which render it imperative to send to
Manila force large enough to insure
the garnering of the fruits of Admiral
Dewey's signal victory on May last.
Preparations for this expedition have
been delayed by reason of the tardi-
ness of enrolment of men for Federal
services, but the Western States have
substantially filled their quotas of
volunteers by this time, and troops
may now be sent to the Philippines
as readily as they can be equipped
and provisioned.
The advance guard of about 1900
California volunteers. together with
detachments of regulars from the
Fourteenth Infantry, Fifth Cavalry
and Third Artillery, now stationed on
the Pacific coast, will start on the
City of Picking this week. To this
small force will be intrusted the duty
of preserving order in Manila when
that city shall have surrendered I'M
der the menace of Admiral Dewey's
heavy guns. If bombardment should
be necessary-a not unlikely contin-
gency-the Federal troops would be
landed in a town in ruins, and their
operations would be confined to the
territory covered by the guns of our
fleet.
1t has been estimated by careful
observers in the Philippines that a
force of not less than $4,000 soldiers
would be required to maintain the
position of control which Admiral
Dewey now holds. This number of
men, and as many more as might be
necessary, should be provided by the
War Department with all possible
speed, lest the material advantages
and moral effects of the earlier demon
stration of our naval superiority beIm-
paired. In this invasion we have moth
ing to fear from the great European
Powers, whose mutual jealousy in the
East have thus far contributed to the
entire freedom of our operations
against the Philippines. Only in the
event of undue delay in renewing the
commercial relations of the islands
with the world would the situation
become complicated by the menance
of powerful foreign interference
AS has been noted in the organiza-
ton of volunteer troops in the East,
the Western quarterlnasters and com
missaries have found it a difficult
matter to secure the supplies and
subsistence necessary for even the
army of $4,000 men with which it is
proposed to invade the Philippines.
With all our profusion of food stuffs,
and our extraordinary resources for
rapid transportation, there has been
trouble from the outset in procuring
theequipmentsan and rations with which
troops bound on a long voyage must
be supplied. Our people have long
cherished the notion that America
feeds the world; but the simple mat
ter of providing subsistence for few
thousand troops seems now to be
regarded by the War Department Of
ficials as a somewhat difficult under
taking. The Commissary General of
Subsistence and the Quartermaster
General have ample funds at COM
mand, and the supply of rations and
equipments should be as prompt and
ample as has been the response of the
volunteers called into service.