Semi=weekly graphic., 1899-07-22
THE TR U7H AT LAST.

The "round robin oi the Ameri- can newspaper correspondents at Manila caused as much consterna tion in administration circles at Washington as though 12-inch shell had burst close to their ears. Like murder, the truth will come out, and very often it causes panic among those who have been sternu- ous in their efforts ito conceal it. We are told that the administration is alarmed and the statement is, no doubt, correct, because the fact that It has been persissently deceiving the American people respecting the situation in the Philippines, is at last laid bare. The charge made by the opponents of President McKin- ley's imperial policy, that the press dispatches from Manila have been suppressed, ga.bled and emasculated by the official censor, in order to keep this country in ignorance of what is going on in the Philippines, has been established.
 General Otis, It appears, refused 10 allow the signed statement of the correspondent to be telegraphed from Manila, so it was sent secretly
 
 to Hong KoAg and cabled from there to New York. In brief, the state m snt shows that the correspondents were not permitted to send out hos pital reports, giving lists of sick soldiers an0 those who died; that re- ports of fie,d operations that failed were suppressed, together with the number of heat prost.ations in the field; that naval operations were systematically minimized in order to give all credit to the army and all complete reports of the situation were suppressed.
 The American people, who, for some time have had good reason to believe that they were being iuggled with by the administration, now know that they have had doled out to them from time to time by the war department false ard doctored news, because, as General Otis in- formed the correspondents, the truth would alarm the people of the United States and "set them by the ears" The exposure of their deoep- tion and lies, it seems, has enfuriat- ed some of the army officers connect ed with the War Department, and they assert that General Otis should deport the correspondents from Manila in body, but as weak and apineless as President Mckinley is, l he is not upmindful of the fact that the country is growing thoroughly disgusted with his blundering lm perialism and to throttle the press in such a fashion would exhaust the popular patience and cause the downfall of his administration which is already badly discredited.
 A desperate effort is being made by the friends of the administration 1 to make the country believe that he is not responsible for and did not approve the Manila censorship, but this is the baldest kind of tommy rot. Not only has his attention been called to the suppresslou of press news from the Philippines, but it is a matter of record that he instructed General Gus to inform the correspondents at Manila that they must not send out any reports that did not meet with the approval of the military authorities, and if they did ''their usefulness to their papers would immediately cease. Mir. Mckinley is the head of the gov erment and is responsible for the actions of the officers under Tim, and it is useless for his frieads to at tempt to make General Gus or any one else his whipping-bv. He must answer to the people for the wrongs that have been done and the b.unders that have been committed. | New Orleans States.