The San Francisco call., 1899-10-29
GLOOMY OUTLOOK
IN PHILIPPINES
Months of War With
But Trifling Gain.
RESURRECTION Is GROWING
LITTLE TERRITORY CONQUERED
BY AMERICANS.
RESURRECTION Is GROWING
Special Dispatch 10 The Call.

CHICAGO. Oct. 2S.-The Tribune to-day
prints a summary of the situation in the
Philippine Islands from its special cor
respondent there, Richard H. Little. The
letter which is dated Manila, September
a. says:
Here are some figures, made seven
months and a half after our campaign
against the Filip!nos began. Say 1t is
hfty-one miles to Angeles, we hold pos
session OF the railroad up to that point.
we can fairly claim possession of the
land a half mile on each side of the track
we nave possession of the wagon road.
and. let US say, a half mile on each side
from San Fernando through Bacolor to
santa Rita, eight miles, with four miles
10 GuaSa We have a road from Malolos
TO Balauag, eleven miles northeast. We
can claim eleven square miles here.
we nave Manila out as far as the water
works, five miles away That gives u.s.
say, twenty-five miles around the city
1hen we have the road and a half mile
each side down eighteen miles 10 linus
Then we have Calamba and some other
points on the lake that General Lawton
captured before he was ordered back
Ihese Inc towns WINS are not approached by road.
but by boat across the Laguna de Bal
stand on
Adding up our total possessions, we find
we nave III square miles. The island OF
LuZon contains 1900 square miles
outside of Luzon the insurrection seems
70 be growing. The insurgents hold ports
IN Mindanao, the next largest island to
Luzon in the Philippines and said to be
incalculably rich in gold and silver mines.
IRON and copper ores, coal and other min
ef effaits, Is ngesIoes possessing wonderful forests
venture there as yet. as General Otis has
sent no troops to the island. Englishmen
and Germans are prowling about the ISL
and getting all the concessions they can.
II is said several prospecting parties are
at work.
General Otis reports conflicts between
robber bands and American soldiers in
Negros and Cebu. The Nineteenth, the
Eighteenth. the Sixth and one battalion of
the Twenty-third Infantry are now IN
bands who dig trenches and occupy
towns and make night attacks after the
fashion of the insurgents In Luzon. \
late report from Luzon is that some 2000
robbers" were menactng our forces and
a collision was imminent
The next campaign is going to be differ
ent from the last. We will get out Of the
fiat. open country into mountainous,
thickly wooded country. If we do not
end the war here we will have to carry 1t
into the high, rock-ribbed mountains Of
LuZOn. 1t Will be no violation of a state
secret to say that the first object Of the
next campaign will be to take the rest Of
the railroad from the hands Of the insur-
gents. The insurgents ought to be firmly
convinced by this time that we want the
Manila and Dagupan road, as we have
fought along that line seven months
IL,
know that we are going to get it, for they
are already tearing up the track, burning
the ties and burying the rails north of
Angeles.
The country east of the railroad, north
of Angeles to Dagupan, is much like it is
south TO Manila, except higher and more
broken. West of the railroad are high
mountains, that still offer the insurgents
better opportunity of retreat and escape
than they had in the low country. With
the taking Of the railroad we will have
fla - ~, ,l,,1.
gasinan, Tarlac and Panpanga, and Ba-
taan from the main part OF the island
and can lay claim 10 a good deal more
country than the precise amount of real
estate on which our army is now camp
ing.
From the railroad Aguinaldos army can
of the Rio Grande de Cagayary
The walled city" cannot understand
why the army has 50 much trouble with
the railroad. When the officers in the
field notify the walled city that the
rails have been torn up from the section
of track just captured and that the ties
have been burned and the grade de-
So after a few miles Of railroad are cap
tured the soldiers have to scatter up and
down the track and go mining for steel
rails. The insurgents bury the rails five
or six feet deep. They observed that
the Americans located the rails by sound
ing with a crowbar, so they resorted to
the eApeulenI OF putting q layer OIL Ties
over the rails. To replace the burned
ties the quartermaster's department was
forced TO use planks, two boards each
two inches wide being nailed together for
ties. The sidetrack, wherever possible all
the way back TO Manila, was jerked up,
carried north, and put down where the
rails could not be found.
Another great need Of the army Is light
draught steamboats, for use on the many
rivers and lakes of Luzon. There is
hardly a place in the world where an
army could use river steamers to greater
advantage The Rio Grande the Chico.
the Rio Grande Pampanga, the Agno, the
Bicol and the Pasig all flow through fer
tile and densely populated valleys and of
fer a means to the army Of bringing up
supplies and swiftly transporting large
bodies Of soldiers that would be inval-
liable were il utilized.
From what can be learned from the in
surgents they are well satisfied with the
present condition Of affairs. Their Con-
gress has Just returned a communication
to the American Peace Commission de-
claring that. while they would have ac-
copied autonomy from our Government If
they had been properly dealt with at first
they will now consider no proposition ex-
cept Independence. With almost AZ. 900
miles of territory from which to draw
supplies. and with those coming in with
out opposition from Hongkong, japan
and from Central and South America and
Australia, the insurgents are probably
doing. well as far as supplies are con-