Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-05
SITTING IN SILENCE.

San Francisco Chronicles: The cease
less assaults upon General Otis by the
democratic and anti-expansion press are
as u~ngenerOus and cOwardly as they are
dlshonest. malignant and unpatriotic.
In the history of modern journalism no
parallel can be found to these persis-
tent, unWarranted and absolutely atroci-
Gus attacks upon the private and public
character of a distinguished officer in the
military service of the republic, who has
suffered no defeat in the field, who has
protected the national honor, who has
added to the glory of American arms and
who. in the estimation of all fair-minded
men, has cOnscientiously Ind ably per-
formed the many duties assigned to him
as commanding officer in the Philippines.
Had he hurled his battalipns upon the
rebels, with orders to necessarily fol-
low and mercilessly shoot and hew them
down wherever and whenever found in
arms, and without giving them time or
opportunity to listen to terms of surren-
der, he would have been denounced as
a cold-blooded savage and a disgrace to
civiiizatiOn; and because he adopted,
either through choice or necessity, the
more humane policy of Offering the olive
branch with the achievement of every
important victory, thereby somewhat
p~rolonging the conflict, he is charged
with military incompetency and his re-
moval is vociferously demanded.
We submit to the American people whose
instincts are just and whose general
judgment is law, that such ghoulish
treatment as has been for months past
AID is still being melted out to General
Otis by a bowling horde of anti-expan-
sion journals is criminally unjust, dis
tinctly infamous and a stain upon Am
erican journalism. The programme
| agreed upon by the combined anti-ad-
ministration factions is to make war up
on everything done in the Philippines,
whether right or wrong, with the view
Of eXaggerating the difficulties in the
way of pacifying and governing the peo-
Pile of the islands The Manila cores
pol.dents of the organs of these factions,
sent thither to assist in carrying out the
anti-eXpansion program, signed a round
robin denunciatory of General Otis be-
cause he very properly refused to per-
INIT them to use the wires under the con-
troll Of the government in cabling their
deceptive statements and malicious crit
icisms all over the civilized world. I'm
, stinted abuse is the penalty he has since
been paying for partially muzzling these
journalistic wolves in the Philippines.
The main purpose now Is to smirch the
administration by b~lackening the char
acter of General Otis. The rank injus-
tlce and deliberate barbarism of this per-
sonal assault upon a brave and unof-
Tending public servant will be better I'M
d utl SIoou f>A
developed-as it probably will-that the
general military course of General Otis.
in the Philippines was in obedience to
instructions from the president through
the war department, and that Whatever
o. seemingly unnecessary delay may be
charged to the conduct of the campaign
against Aguinaldo and his followers, was
due to a constant and commendable eff
fort by the president to give to the peac.
commissioners every favOring opportun-
ity, as the war progressed, to put an enc
to the revolt by amicable negotiation
! and settlement. This might be avoWad
to-day without a shade of discredit tt
the administration. and with it the fur
the admission that General Otis simply
obeyed orders. When all this transpires
some apology will be due to Genera
OTIS from his maligners. but they viii
lack the manhood to make it.. Mean
time, he sits in heroic silence and tn
people are not mistaking it's import.