The record-union., 1899-07-12
THE PHILIPPINE WAR.
WHAT THE RAINY SEASON IN
LUZoN MEANS.
War Will be Ended Quickly When
the Dry Season
Sets In.

To the Editor: have just returned
from the Philippines after being there
eight months, and / read with salts
faction your editorial in the issue OF
June Goth, headed 1.-The Competence OF
Otis" From that article I Judge that
you believe him fully competent be-
cause "he has not lost a single battle
or failed in his efforts to capture
single town." What more could be de-
| manded?
AS a matter of fact, the whipping Oh
! the Filipino is a very easy job, taklnS
past events as a standard, but finding
the Filipino to whip has been the
greatest difficulty During the dry sea-
son even this was successfully done.
but now that the rainy season has come
| on (and Americans here don't know
the meaning of rainy season in the
| Philippines) the Americans can 90
nothing but wait until that season Is
over, and then quench the Pickering
spark the Americans seem to thlnk
such grand cOnfagration. Actually
the war is over, and the rebels thor
oughly understand that they are WHIP
ped. 1t was said of Grant that he was
successful because he did not know
when he was licked. My own opinion
is that he did not acknowledge it be-
cause he knew that the other fellow
was in the same plight and he waited
for him to do the acknowledging.
| With the Filipino is is different Their
Grant must win or die, and, knowing
this, he perfers to draw the thing out
as much as possible, preferring this to
the suicide of surrender, for if he ever
reaches the surrender mood hundred
willing, friendly, deluded macheteros
will obviate the necessity of suicide.
The war is as much over as our late
! Civil War was after the surrender,
even though the Quantrell gentry were
slow in finding it out, and the same
condition will likely prevail in the
Philippines for some time.
Even assuming that Otis is not a
grand success, is it not a doubtful ex.
pertinent to swap horses now? Will not
Lawton, Wheaton or Macarthur either
have to continue the Otis plan or try
something totally improved? War with
the Filipinos is not such a complicated
affair. After the hard fighting is done
it is practically all done, and Otis has
not allowed much shirking.
Suppose you take Lawton or
Wheaton, or Macarthur, to fill Otis
place, how do you know how their
their places will be filled. Each and
all of them are most efficient as at
present placed. Take Lawton, for in
stance With a small body of LOU
men he takes desperate chances in
marching in unknown territory; hnds
the enemy intrenched and never fails
to drub him we'll, and is on the march
again He always goes ahead. never
backward, and I believe his score at
/ one time was thirty odd fights in four
weeks. AS a free lance he cannot be
beaten, so why take him from his vo-
cation and put him where he has never
been tried?
| On the other hand, a man to fill Otis
place must not only know all about
field tactics, but must also be master
of policy. He must stand the g1bes
of people who have interests at stake,
and who for that reason are prejudiced
and unable to judge fairly. He must
offend schemer at times by turning
down his scheme, because he is re-
| sponsible for the result and is bet
ter judge of the chances of success
than the schemer, and knows that to
favor the schemer he gains the enmity
of ten or twenty leaders among the
enemy, whose enmity means the lives
of more soldiers probably. In the
Philippines, as everywhere else, private
| interests cut very large figure in
war, and the head of the American
| forces must at least be careful not to
| lend himself to any scheme that would
| indicate to leading Filipinos that his
business there is purely to advance
American interests to the detriment OF
| Individual Filipino interests. This has
been one of the most fruitful causes
of dissatisfaction among American pl-
oneer rustlers They honestly thought
they should have been favored. when
! to favor them meant an Endorsement
Of themselves and their schemes, with
the risk of their future conduct and
methods not being what they should
be. Filipinos are too used to the
Spanish article of Captain General, and
if Otis allows anything doubtful to
crop up in Manila, where his power is
absolute the Filipino is perfectly sat-
isfied that he makes a rake off a la
Weyler & Co. Otis has steered clear OF
all this, and has gotten the worst OF
it among the unthinking, while among
the Filipinos it has been strong care
and will be acknowledged when they
dare.
The newspaper men also are dissatis-
fed at times because the censor, like
| themselves. is there to obey orders.
Their difficulty arises principally from
the fact that they are bright, deductive
reasoners and inclined to anticipate