The times., 1899-06-29
The preaident yields.

We are extremely glad to know that
President Mckinley has signalized his re-
turn to Washington by conceding the de-
mand of the press and public. in the mat
! ter of calling the provisional army into
existence, in order to re-enforce General
Otis. The manner of the action might have
been franker, and, thus, more satisfactory,
but the principal point has been gained in
the oyerruling of the influences that have
prevented the Commander-in-C Chief from
DONG his full duty in the premises, and
which are largely responsible for the past
blunders of the Administration in the Phil
| ippines.
1t was quite natural for Mr.. Mckinley
to smoothe the way for the advisers he
has been compelled to discredit by arrang-
ing to raise" thirty-five thousand men,
under cover of definite orders for the en-
listment of much smaller number 1t
will not surprise anybody to hear that
Otis is to have only maximum of forty
thousand troops. all told, and that he
| still regards thirty thousand as amply suf-
fcient. The country understands the little
shifts and prevarications of the Admins
tration too well to worry about such mat
tiers, which are so transparent as to be
harmless. General Miles, General Law
| ton, General Miller, and all ether com
petent American military authorities are
solidly OF the opinion that it will take
sixty thousand soldiers, at the very least.
to accomplish our task in Luzon. and some
CT them think seventy-fve or one hundred
thousand may be required. But we should
not be hard upon Mr.. Mckinley. His War
Minister acknowledges that, after the forty
thousand limit has been reached, recruiting
will go on just the same. so that the Ad-
ministraticn may be equipped to meet all
emergencies.
congratulating the President upon his
concession to public opinion, we must re-
mind him that great deal too much val
liable time has been lost already. and that
every possible effort should now be nut
forth to get cut the new forces and land
them at Manila. At best this will take
three or four months
1t IS unnecessary TO inform the White
House that change in the head of the
War Department is demanded and expectad
by the country. If Mr. Mckinley viii at
tend to that without delay. he will find
himself in much more comfortable rela-
tionship to the mass of his fellow citizens
than has been the case for many months
When the country comes to believe that
he is vigorously preparing to crush the
Philippine insurrection, and means 10 do
it without further display of hesitation
or inclination 10 be influenced BIZ peopIe
who want the campaign to be a failure. he
will speedily see that he has all the popular
backing he could ask, and that combined
with patience and consideration.
But, in this connection. it is proper to
remark that he would do well to caution
his subordinates regarding mistakes liable
to occur in the e1purgation, emendation
and initiation Of war bulletins. To meet the
public view, such editorial work should
be done much more skillfully than has
been the custom of late. The blending of
little news with a good deal of editorial
policy seldom produces illusions, while il
requires master hand to usefuIly essay
straightout fabrication. We do not recog
nize the necessity for any strict press
censorship at Manila, but. admitting that
1t might be proper under certain circum
stances, it should always be a matter of
principle with the authorities in deprfy-
ing the country OF reliable news, not to
furnish it with anything else