The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-12-20
.'THE DEATH HOUSE NEVER
EMPTY

Philippines the American troops tner'
are in a deplorable condition and 1t |
small wonder that the officers and me-
are almost unanimous i'll their opposition
to retention of the islands and that mem
bers Of Congress are deluged with letters
from the families Of volunteers who ar
1T Manila.
The New York Herald correspondent
writes his paper as follows:
Manila. Oct. 2S, tvia San Francisco
Dee. 13.D-Ncarly a thousand soldiers are
! seriously i'll in the hospitals. while twice
that number are walking around unnt fol
/, active service.
about twenty patieI Is are III The
smallpox tents. These tents are any
thing but pleasant places for the suffer
erS. They stand in an open Square Il
the central part of the new city. "
shade protects them from the fierce hea'
of the midday sun. nor IS there any floor
ing to keep out the water when 1t rams
In Seque h heat IS we'll nlgi
unbcarablc and the atmosphere sitting
On a stormy day water run in and
overfows the ground, turning the dirt OF
the floors into n slushy bed Of mud two
llICHtS dCtp. III NhiNh ~ NCN' VI thN -
tientS stand.
\ Red Cross nurse. returned to Homo
lulu from Manila. declares that the hos
pitfalls are full Of sick soldiers with no
body but awkward boys to attend to
them, that officers ''%squahble over prcce-
dence in rank while the men are neglect
ed, that five cents 4 day for each pa
tent judiciously expended would save
hundreds of lives" and adds: the mum
Der of deaths are seven or eight per
day. The death house is never empty
This is not Il very encouraging out
look for the future of expansion in the
Philippines. Seven deaths per day means
300 soldiers graves every year. If the
death rate is seven per day when the
soldiers are all stationed at Manila.
where facilities for caring for them are
certainly better than elsewhere on the
islands. and when no collision with the
insurgents has occurred, it is safe to say
that the death rate will not be lower
when instructions begin or when our
forces are sea altered in smaller camps
with poorer advantages than 1T Manila.
That instructions are expected TO occur
is shown by the demand of officers now
at Manila for $4,000 troops and that they
are probable is shown by the defiant at
titude of Aguinaldo and his savage al
herents.
In his evidence before the HOUSE com
mittee General Corbin admitted that no
one can fotesee the time when less
than 25,OO0 men will be needed in the
Philippines. All authorities are agreed
that the islands are practically u%ninhabi-
table for Americans. and climate does not
yield ever to destiny" There is no
reason to expect that the Philippines will
ever reach the condition that obtains in
Hawaii. where the natives are controlled
by resident Americans.
We are called upon to face, therefore.
an indefinite ~prolongation of military rule
over the Filipinos in q climate where our
soldiers die off like flies. even when the
treacherous and murderous natives are
not in open revolt and when lives are
not being sacrificed in battles in the bush.
Meantime the pension rolls will be grow
ing and the military budget ~"expanding''
from year to year.
If our soldiers are to be sacrificed in
an indefinite attempt to enforce our rule
over Il people VINO do not want it and
who will give no return but blows for it,
let it he done openly and avoWedly in the
name of might and for the sake of con-
quest and not with any lypocritical cant
of duty and Humanity" on the lips.