The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-07-25
WHAT WILL THEP PRESIDENT DO?
my q A EnMARDs.l

| Otis for compelling them to send out lies
to the people of this country was bomb
| shell In the administration camp and II
has created more havoc than appears on
tho surface. The administration is badly
ratified and well 1t may be. This Is
yaritable solar plexus and they were not
| looking for It. 1t came when Mckinney
was resting easy, when he thought he
was about to get a respite from the con-
slant ding dong anent the Philippines and
when he was looking forward to an escape
from Alger and all that Alger stood for
in the administration Of the war depart
ment. It ia a hard knock and no mistake.
put II is lin to him and he must now either
fish or cut bait.
What will he do?
Either the correspondents have lied or
Otis has. am frank to say that VIII
take the word of any ordinary reputable
correspondent before will that OF man
who has the reputation of seeking notori-
ETY. and fame at the expense OF men OF
bigger brains. What Will Mckinley do
about It? II the newspaper men have not
lied then Otis has lied Internationally to
lne PRESIDENT anu lnt wal ucIsiiSAiS ~
that case there is only one thing to do
with him Remove him and courtmartlal
him forthwith. II the administration has
been cognizant Of all the facts that Otis
has refused to allow the newspaper men
TO cable to this country then the admins
tration Is to blame for keeping the facts
from the people, and it ought to be court
martialed and fred by the American peo-
pie as soon as they can get to the ballot
box.
Either Otis or the correspondents must
CO. If Otis goes then the administration
will acknowledge that it has kept an in
competent man at the head of affairs over
in the Philippines all this time over the
protests of people who knew his incom-
potency and advised the administration of
it; that it has kept a man there who has
dilly dallied and lost hundreds Of precious
lives. simply because he has no presi-
Dental aspirations, had no higher ambition
than to be considered military genius.
If the newspaper men are fred then they
will come back home and the president of
these United States will wish he were dead
before they are here ten days They will
come back loaded to the muzzle with the |
truth and no censor to use a blue pencil |
on their copy.
And the people will believe their story. |
They have nothing to gain by telling a |
lie on General Otis, or anybody else for |
that matter. They were sent over there /
to tell the truth and not lies. They have |
more to gain by telling the truth. They
know that unless they tell the truth they
Will lose their positions. Then, why should
they lie and lie in concert?
The fact of the business is that these
ultra optimistic reports have been COM
ing in here for months and the people
of this country do not know anything of
the conditions existing in the Philippines.
We do not know how many times we have
been licked over there By the F'ilipnos
We do not know how many men have been
killed or how many have died of the fever
and other diseases.
There are hundreds of parents In this
country today who are besieging the war
department for news OF their loved sons
in the Philippines. who can not get an
answer, and who are told that the war
department is under no obligations to give
them an answer because no order has ever :
been issued to, that effect
What do the American people think of
all this?
What is Mckinley going to do about it?
He is not going to do anything if he can
help it, with the hope that something will
turn up to make the people forget it. He
knows how prone to forget everything of
that nature are the people of this eoun-
try, and he is banking on it.
He can not afford to fire Otis. l was
told by man close to the White House
that II Otis were fred he would demand
a courtmartial and bring out all the facts
connected with this fasco. He will prove
that he sent the facts regularly to the
war department, and the president was
as fully posted on the real situation as
anybody could be and not be on the
ground. That certainly would not look
very well TO the people of this country and
Mr.. Mckinley is not going to do anything
that will hurt what he considers his won
derful popularity"
On the other hand unless Otis Is re-
called or superseded it will be success {
sion OF hard luck stories coming from
Manila by way of Hong Kong, and the
can not stand many more
Of them. ,
After all there may be something In the ]
story that has been going around this
town, that it was Mark Hanna's scheme t
TO keep the war going until next summer
Just about the time to open the campaign. r
ana then close 1t in blaze OF glory and (,
mus catch all the Historically patriotic
people for the republican marty NV. 7
story was told to me for the truth. a
lidnt believe 1t. l didn't believe there
was any man on the face OF the earth
. hardened, so callous as to throw away .
political advantage. 1t NAV be so how
aver Tor the republican leaders have come a
=. . tne conclusion that they are up against !,
!. ior the next campaign and they will :
s,esperateiy DO almost anything to retain
place and power. Let them try n and
men We will have some fun 7