The times., 1899-06-20
TuEspAY. JuNE %. 1sgg.
The rhiItnpine Issue Forced.

The position of the Administration to-
day is not a happy one. The cumulative
effects of all its invertebracy and criminal
negligence or active laundering in the
Philippines are visible to the country. and
something Will have to be done at one
unless it is intended to abandon sarious ef-
forts 10 suppress the mut;ny in Luzon.
Yesterdays news from Manila, while
unsatisfactory. was exactly what the coun-
try had reason to expect. Tie lighting in
the southern provinces" near linus, was
not OF a character to create enthus .ssm,
and il developed, also. that the War De-
partment seheme to re-enlist the vo-un-
teers now serving under Otis has proved
failure The suspicion is unavoidable that
otis has evened matters with the bomb
PROOF warriors in Washington who have
cooked his dispatches and reports, and
tried to make the public here think him
an idiot. The Manila censorship. evident
ly. has been lcosened TO let it be known
that tire volunteers resent the indifference
CT the Administration to their har1sEips,
and refuse to serve any longer under A.
geIian control. Even officers Ike Generals
Hale and Funston have had enough of war
under conditions where the home authori-
Ties are cheerfully willing that little
army CT devoted raen should fight hops-
lessly against superior numbers and a
tropical climate, and finally be killed OF
die OF disease, rather than send troops to
their relief at the expense OF political con
siderations connected with the Ohio cam
paign.
It may be possible that Otis viii soon
ask TO be relieved. He is in a most uncom-
Portable situation. He has not force
enough 10 accomplish anything decisive
al Manila, even if he fancies ne can hold
his own until the end Of the rainy seasoA.
And we are very much inclined to think
he has been notified by friends in tie
States that the Administration has deter
mined to make a scapegoat of him.
The Washington correspondence. refer
ring TO the Philippines. published in the
New York Herald yesterday. was ex-
tremely suggestive 1t represented the
war officials as declaring that General
ous can have just as many soldiers as he
chooses 10 ask for; and it places him
in the position of being responsible for
non-action in calling for volunteers. Now
Otis is not the man his old comrades take
him to be, if he will stand that sort Of
thing No one who knows him believes
that. OF his own motion or in any way di-
reetly. he has ever said that thirty thou
sand troops would be adequate to the sup
preston of the rebellion and the occu-
patton OF Luzon. II is not questioned that
the cable has been iuggled with to put
such statement in his mouth; but neith-
er is il doubted that he viii repudiate it
when he has the chance.
That will be bad for Otis. because the
War Office people badly need a seapegoat
and he is the only one in sight All ap-
pearanees point TO an early call for the
provisional army, accompanied by Ad-
ministration regrets that our commander
at the seat OF war should SO long conceal
the gravity of his situation. Nobody viii
indulge any Illusions based on that kind
OF subterfuge. DENLY. Schurman, and
Worcester will have TO come home. anc
soldiers VIII have to be landed at Ma
Mia as soon as that may be possible. oil
things we are not yet prepared TO discuss
may happen. and, II they should, George
Francis Train is as likely 10 be the mex
President of the United States as William
Mckinley.