The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-05-29
in THICK OF III.
c.rceau, Ernest G. Smith OF the
Seventeenth Regulars

c.rrcan, Ernest G. Smith OF the
Seventeenth, Regulars
WRITES FROM BL0cKHOUSE I
An the san Juan River, Near Manila.
,u,lc Time was lost by the Seven
,c,p,l In Getting Into the Phillip
,;,c "scrap."--inicrcsiinE Dcscrip-
,iou of the Tagaios-The Situation
M, SO Black us Painted by Some.
THE Ir,cl!!gencer this morning prints
.-,,bcr Interesting letter from Ser
IAN, Erres, G.. Smith Gate of Martins
r.rry). of the Seventeenth Regulars.
aha we're recently added to the Amerl-
an force in the Philippines, after a
,,-r yoyage from New York, Via the
sns- carai and the Indian ocean. After
,,cIr arrival il,tle time was lost In get
,ry the Seventeenth into the field. and
s.rcela; Smiths letter was written
,.,n g!ockaouse No. Z, on the San Juan
,iy.r in Luzon. His description OF the
7,-a,og, the native tribe that makes up
me- s,rennth Of the Instruction, Is most
!z.eres;!as.
FINN our Soldier correspondent.
NEAR BLOCKHOUSE NO. 7, ON
-uE SAN JUAN RIVER. P. l., April
$50 many apparently conflicting de-
.rrIp,Ions of the Philippines have been
flrren, In recent American literature,
mi one Is puzzled 10 know what to be-
iays o. them. TO gain anything like a
fair understanding Of the situation. the
rSaier must consider that q pertcc: de-
s.ript!or u pnc Island of the archipel-
ago roy be totally inarplicable to any
cher island Of the group. There are
aid 20 be more dialects IN use than
there are Islands In the well-dotted
China scn. the former indicative OF
nearly every degree OF civilization.
Road building has been al art either
vrkncwu to these Islanders or lost 10
their Spanish teachers. Dlmlnutive 1T
IL ;on!cs do q surprising amount OF
work In transporting light vehicles
even over the toughest country, while
10 the wide horned. patient, water bus-
.alo. Is LETT the task OF dragging heav-
,;r loads yo.ted to CLUMSY, two-whecl-
{! cart. -...-
Either lack OF transportation faclllt-
rs has mlnlm!zed inter-tribal exchange
and Intercourse or tendency to stay at
lone. Inherent in all the tribes, has
made road and ship building practically
Unnecessary. 4 line OF narrow guags
railroad. some sixty miles in, length,
aai the muddy Pasig. nav!gab!e for
light draucht vessels frcn Bay Lake
70 Manila barber, have heretofore serv-
ed 20 connect seaport markets with the
textile region north and east OF Luzon's
capital, '~l'-'
The Tagalo IL Clever.
I. Is with the Tagalo. the aboriginal
I1ha5.tan; Of this rich section OF the Is
land tina: Amcri ~ arms have TO deal
q, present; lie 1t was who never en-
;lrely submitted TO Spanish mlsrulc.
and to h!m alone can the burdens of
selt-g1vernment eventually be cntrust-
ed. Small In stature, his physical re-
:enbance to both the Japanese and the
i7iiln can readily be traced. After all
you have heard and read of him. you
are aurcrahly surprised at his look OF
Intelligence. and are somewhat aston
ished at the capacities for education. as
we'll a. the readiness with which he ac-
el!!es knowledge. Hampered on every
hind by Spanish restrictions, bull!ed bg
Spanish granny until you wonder that
Il has any national spirit left, this clev-
:! abCrgine has worked out q c!villZa-
ton all his own. 1t Is grave mistake,
however. 10 compare this civilization
WIKI that with which Americans are IA
milIl7. and doubtless much confusion is
'racsnble to the attempt ARulnallo
and his fellow Conspirators are highly
cytTatel wae,! judged fromsywesteri.
Standards Of c,erli.
bu; that the former Is leader who
thoroughly understands his people Is
not 10 be gainsaid. believe the presen;
unfortunate condition In the Philippines
Springs rather from the FiiIpino's false
Reasoning from experlene md analogy
talr trom any other source.
railing to discriminate between the
purposes OF n powerful Anglo-Saxon
:2don and the weak but hateful meth
obs OF degenerate romance people, he
csose rather TO trust the fortunes OF
war than rely on American promises
O. autonomy and Justice to all alike.
Whatever may have been the causes OF
NE instruction or whatever may be the
lagal0's reasons for continuing II. he
seems desperately IN earnest. Spa!a
ned up her hands long before she was
N9rnced halt so thoroughly as these te-
iiclous brown fellows have been and
before she had sustained half their
t'sses. The past month must have been
encouraging one 10 them and yet
I'och remains for the military man to
90 he'ore LuzOn can be turned over 10
We 'hcorlst and finally 10 the legislator.
Inc Sherman's" rather warlike cargo
arrived In time to take supporting
,aH IN the general aggressive move.
T"at which followed from the 18th to
We So'h OF March. and had It's ambitions
more than SratIned In being marched.
Nh- Eiuch talked OF firing line" be-
;'rs u was twcnty-four hours on terra
,sna, \ somewhat fcver!sh first night
~ Ihe trenches preceded n general en-
Elgrment OF weeks duration. which
MOVED almost the entire American
i NC and ended With the fall Of Caloocan,
;Gl.aHon and Malolos. three Importan:
Hsh7Fecto positions.
Praise for tho Volunteer.
10 The volunteer belongs the success
'o' conduct OF the war thrs far. Months
u service In the tropics nos given him
~ opportunity OF demonstrating the
,S'se o, our citizen soldIery and be ii