The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-04-04

| the State pTescribes shall be collected.
II they have power to vacate the fee,
orr remit any portion of it, then the
State law is devoid of vigor and is as
sounding brass. 1t is amazing thar
any one should have the courage to ad-
wise the Trustees to 1agrantly violate
the law which they have taken oaths
| to support and enforce.
WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IT?
We place very little or no faith in any
dispatches by Creelman the VIGOROUSLY
unreliable sensational correspondent, as
rule, but occasionally he hits the
mark He says he went out with some
officers under a flag Of truce the other
| day and met officers and soldiers of
lAguinaldo's forces. In the presence OF
the group the members of which are
called upon to verify the story, the first
question asked by the insurgent COM
manding officer was if the Commits
sioners sent out from Washington had
arrived, and if SO when they would
open negotiations with the insurgents?
The officer secuted the reply that the
Commissioners had not come to treat
with them, and that they must deal
with General Otis and the army and
they alone. They answered that they
we'll knew that they, the insurgents,
had powerful friends in the United
States who were making their case for
them This is probably true, as has
been held all along, that the Luzon in
surgents are buoyed up by the belief
that there is a large and powerful
party in this country opposing the war
against the rebels and that such party
will win and the United States troops
be withdrawn from the Philippines.
The sentimentalists who have whined
SO much over the woes of the insur-
gents, may comfort themselves with the
reflection that they have been mater
tally aiding in protracting the war and
thus caused some hundreds of Amer
lean soldiers to suffer death; that in
deed there would probably have been
no war with these misguided people had
not the opposition to the treaty Of
peace developed in Congress, and had
not Agoncillo and his staff been given
cause to report to Aguinaldo that he
was having the support of an opposi-
ton party in this country that would
compel the Administration to change
its policy and yield to the insurgents.
General H. G. Otis of California. now
on his way back from the Philippines,
says, according to latest dispatches,
that in his opinion the backbone of the
rebellion in Luzon is broken, and that
the so-called government of Aguinaldo
is on its last legs, its army demoralized
and discouraged, and that the resist
ance to our authority will now sink to
those who are habitual dsturbers. Gen
eral Otis, of the regular army, confirms
this view in an official report to Wash
ington, and in which he expresses the
belief that the insurgents are already
whipped and that the end is very near
This thought has further confirmation
in the statements of all the correspond
ents by cable, that the Filipinos are re-
and that as they are uniformly received
with kindness, they send word for their
fellows to hasten in. Indeed there IS
strong probability that the reports are
orf Of I1sc
men now in arms have been driven by
the harsh methods of that chieftain to
do battle much to their dislike. De-
serters and prisoners all tell the same
story, that they fought either under
nisap prehension of American purpose,
or under duress. There are other late
dispatches all declaring that the COM
mon people of Luzon are not DESTROYS
anxious to take protection under the
American flag, and are content, even
glad to have this country found and
build up a stable government in the
Negros where the more intelligent, and
certainly the better appearing Filipinos
reside, the people are all for us and
are welcoming our officers and men
cordially rendering them efficient aid
in establishing civil government All
in all it looks very much as if Aguinal-
dos reign is nearly closed, and that at
the most he can continue but a desul-
tory and guerrilla warfare for a short
time.