Omaha daily bee., 1899-04-07

work Of eu1,duing It would be very simple |
and soon accomplished without doubt. But |
in the island Of Luzon alone well equipped |
army OF 1900 men has only succeeded IN |
clearing the country within radius OF five |
miles from Manila so far, and no one knows
with any degree OF certainty what is ahead. |
II is certain. however that the further they
penetrate into the wlds of the interior the
greater will be the disadvantage to the white
troops, since swamp and jungle fighting are
the strong points OF the natives. 1t Is also
certain that what is to be done must be ac-
.>omplished before the rainy season, because
80 from the consideration OF the health Of
troops mcst of the country is absolutely
- passable from May to October.
Force of Enemy Unknown.
Among the uncertainties to be faced Is
that Of the force to be encountered. SO far
as can be ascertained the rebel army whicn
hemmed tho Manilans within the confines
of the city for so long consisted of 10000
men one third of whom were armed. Most
of these were Of course the Tagacs, who
are the manstay of the rebellion. If, as
claimed there are 100000 of these yet to
meet, under climatic and territorial disad
vantagcs, the problem which confronted
Kitchener at Khartoum was a simple one
compared with that with which Lawton has
to face on his arrival.
OF course there are tribes, such as the
Ilocancs whose hatred for the Tagalos might
render them useful allies; but the question
arises to whether 1t would be safe to trust
them with the arms necessary for the pur
pose. The lesson taught by Aguinaldo is one
that is not likely to be forgotten in
hurry and there is great danger in such ex-
| perments at this stage Of the proceedings.
There is an off chance that in the event Of
the serious setback Aguinaldo's forces may
| show the white feather in such numbers
| to render further resistance useless; but It
| must be conceded that the rebels have not
shown any such disposition far. They
bolted at the first sight of advance 1t is true,
but partly because they were ignorant of the
strength of their own position and partly
| because their first instinct is to fly from
cover to cover when attacked In this con-
nection 1t must be borne in mind that their
only education in the art of warfare was
received in the Spanish school, and the
Spaniards, like themselves, always fought
! from cover when possible. The few brushes
which our troops have had with the enemy
! to date have proved conclusively that the
! latter will not stand flank attack but they
are quick to learn and once they realize thar
! boiling across the open is suicidal under the
circumstances they will probably adopt the
wiser course OF fighting it out.
They Have SmOkeiess Powder Now.
Another feature of the natives is the
number of arms which the rebels possess.
| That they are being supplied at frequent
| intervals from some unknown source
scarcely admits of a doubt, but in what
quantities cannot even be conjectured. I'M
til few days ago there every indica-
ton that the rebels along our whole front
| were using home made ammunition but
! now smokeleSs powder is again being used,
and, judging from the enormous quantity
of ammunition expended every twenty-four
hours, their supply must be unlimited. Al
every vantage so far thousands of rounds
of Mauser cartridges have been seized, but
still there is no appreciable difference IN
the amount expended from day to day.
II must also be remembered that hitherto
tue army has been acting in conjunction
with the navy and that Dewey's ships have
materially assisted in routing the enemy
along the shores of Manila bay. While there
is disposition on the part of many SOL
dierS to belittle the work done by the other
branch of the service, there can be no ques
tion to the effect of the Monadnock's s
and Chaclestons shells upon the rebel
trenches both at Malate and Caloocan.
This help can no longer be counted upon
now that the army advances from the coast,
and the rebels are alive to that fact.
Unless all signs fail, the enemy may be
depended upon to make a better showing
from this point on, in which case those I'M
agning that the campaign will be a walk
over for the invaders will probably find
that they underestimated the native valor.
If their foolhardy and hardy leaders would
only see that there can be only one out
como to the struggle with such a patton as
the United States all would be we'll, but
unfortunately the Tagaos shut their eyes
to the truth and those who know them say
that nothing short of determination will
insure peace in the Philippines. In some
respects perhaps, this would be a good
thing for the other millions who inhabit the
archipelago, inhuman though the very sug-
! gestion may seem.
BerbRrism of the Tribes.
That they are the sole instigators of the
, rebellion there can be no doubt and their
methods show that the instinct of the saw
age still predominates. For instance de-
spite their boasted intelligence and humani-
tarianism the Tagalos have frequently
, been seen to drive their scared allies into
half constructed earthworks at the point.
, of their bayonets knowing full well that
they would be shelled out again by tn,
American artillery Immediately. Again
one of their favorite means OF decoyne
their foes into the open is that of showing
white flag.
, Worse still, they have been guilty re-
peatedly of the barbarism of shooting vol
leys at hospital ambuances. both in The
open and while returning from the front
a Mutilation of the enemys dead is another
evidence of their boasted civilization. /
our troops retire for strategic purposes
!, glorious victory is heralded all over tht
= country, and, according TO the stories re
lated by the natives, more Americans arr
:, beili killed every day than have yet beer
. landed on the islands.
= In the matter of exaggeratng the en-
emy's loss however, they are not alone, TO
our own troops are very prone to fall int
tle same error-in fact, TO hear the mel
:, relating the execution they had done dur
d ing the day at supper time, one might be LEI
: to believe that the country was strewi
: with dead Fiipinos. Yet, with the excep
d tion of the two big fights, the largest mum
s Der of killed in one day has been 49, mos
@ of whom were mown down by the gatling
n on the river gunboat Laguna de Bay, nea
S San Pedro Macati.
e As matter of fact, in nine cases on
= of ten when brushes occur our men hav
d no opportunity to hunt for the enemy
e dead and the loss is purely matter of con
n lecture.