The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-04-19

The anti-expansion press is quoting
freely from letters written by yolun-
teers serving in the Philippines to their
relatives and home friends and pub
lished In the local press AS a rule.
these letters are more or less boynbastfc
and ooastfuI-Just such letters as one
would expect TO be written by the
youthful volunteers who are expert
encing for the first time a taste OF
actual service in the field. Each writer
assures his correspondent that the par
ttcular regiment to which he is attach
ed held the most important position on
the field and bore the brunt OF battle
His officers are always the bravest OF
any. and incidents Of individual valor
are related such as would arouse par
donable envy In the bosom Of a dime
novelist. 1t Is singular to note how
alike these letters are in toae and
color. whether written by voIun-
teer from Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota.
Washington or California. Each writer
Is satisfied that his regiment is the very
best In the service, and this fact speaks
volumes. for the esprit de corps mani
Tested is as essential for the success %
an army as the weapons with which ii
Is armed.
Some Of these letters, however, con-
tain stories ( looting OF the shooting
of prisoners. and the desire OF the
writer's to kill all the niggers on the
island" and certain other bioodthirsty
language calculated to convey to the
reader the fact that the writer is real
~ devil Of q fellow. A member OF
the Fiftieth Iowa regiment, writing OF
the capture OF La Rogue. says: Talk
OF the natives plundering the towns, /
don't think they are in 1t with the Fiji
tieth Iowa" These expressions are
quoted by the anti-expansion papers,
and from them many a sermon is
preached and the inference drawn that
are carrying on a warfare a trifie more
bloodthirsty and cruel than the Apaches
ever INDUCED In.
The Associated Press dispatches tell
US that the villages around Manila
were burned by the insurgents, and
where they were left standing the
Americans were compelled To destroy
them in order that they might not shell
ter the eneny's sharpshooters. More or
less footing must have followed these
orders for the destruction OF the native
villages. 1t could not be otherwise.
But let the public remember that the
officers In command are mostly West
Point graduates. accustomed to disci-
pline themselves and demanding the
strictest discipline of their troops. Is IL
at all likely that indiscrimsnate loot
ing has been permitted? No one will
believe it, although TO its shame the
anti-expansion press pretends to do so.
The Filipinos fred upon surgeons
while attending the wounded and upon
members Of the Red Cross. utterly dis
regarding all rules OF civilized warfare.
Undoubtedly there were reprisals when
the guilty were taken in the act, but
no one other than the anti-expansion
press is guliibie enough to believe the
American troops are massacrlng their
prisoners. although occasionally san
culinary volunteer curdles his best girls
blood by writing her o. the mysterious
disappearance OF prisoners which
some OF his comrades had been ordered
10 take to the rear.
In warfare there Is always more ~
less footing. as there Is OF suffering and
the destruction OF property and lives
War is never humane. although there
are different degrees 81 cruelty. Ii Ia
impossible that the American troops
can be guilty OF unnecessary cruelty to-
wards their enemies or wautousy de
stractive Of property. They are Ameri-
can citizens. differed by American gen.
tleruen and animated hy the spirit Of
enlightened. progressive. iiher,y-loving
American citizenship. To believe other
wise IL requires the spirit which In
spiyed the Boston audience az anti-ex-
panSionists TO hiss the presidents policy
and applaud when AS1ilnaldo's name