The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-09-30
AGUINALD0 A PUZZLE.
His Tactics Make the Work of Ameri-
Il Troops Difficult Task.

MANILA, Aug. H.-Aguinaldo is get
ting the best of it. lie is putting up a
stiff resistance to the advance Of Ameri-
can troops from San Francisco Pam
panga) toward the rebel capital, Tarlac,
and while the Americans are indeed
making some little headway in that d.
rection. it is slow and painful, costly
and eXhausting.
No Filipino corpses remain on the field
10 ItU'uiH1 rifles are captured. There
is no,i.a. TO show that the geographical
advance is a practical advance. Tn
American outposts occupy a different dot
on the map, that is all.
In the meantime the intervening terri
tory. the whole stretch Of country Dor
dering the railroad which Is held by the
Americans from Manila to San Fernando,
Is growing more precarious to the Anne
ricans daily. Aguinaldo's men attack
first here and then there along the rail-
road with the persistency of mosquitoes
and with a similar impunity.
What can the heavily clad, heavily
armed Americans. depending on a colos-
sal commissariat system. and differed
by slow men under the supreme COM
mand Of a well-intentioned snail-what
can such a force do against nimble ma
lives as light and fleet of foot as mouse
deer and as mischievous as monkeys?
In military tactics one of the most po-
tent factors of all is speed, and in this
the advantage is all with Aguinaldo.
The French I'm Tonkin found in 1888
tina white : troops could not possibly
compete with natives in the matter tof
mobility, and as France could not dhen
hire Tonkinese she borrowed a body OF
Filipinos from Spain. These very Fill
pinos are now playing the same old
600 80. A. A-..H..w. Capna % A nrai
naldO's present officers served in Ton
kin, and defeated Chinese and Tonkinese
horees who had beaten Frenchmen. The
British have tried hundreds of times the
experiment which the Americans are
trying in the Philippines, each time only
TO confirm the theory that 1t is a mis-
take 10 set white troops chasing natives
i'm tropical swamps and woods. Ger
many has tried IL too. in the Cameroons,
I'm East Africa, and in New Guinea. and
Germany also has found it a mistake.
Aguinaldo obtained a lot Of money re-
Gently from somewhere, and has been
using II diligently and judiciously In Ma
Mia to bring about a repetition Of the out
breaks of last February. / learn on good
authority that General Otis has instructed
the police to call in all the passes hat
have been issued, whether for crossing the
line Of outposts or for going about the
streets at night. and that he is contemplat-
ing the ACCESSIBILITY Of ordering every
house closed and every street cleared at 7
p. NJ. instead Of $50 p. NJ, as 1t is the
system now. This Is because a repetition
of the February outbreak IS feared.
The majority of the country people are
eager for peace. and don't care much how
Il comes about. SO long as Aguinaldo
promised that he would wipe out the
Americans they sided with him; when he
was driven back they s'dea with the win
ners. Now Aguinaldo's men are in the
villages again. and Americans are not
there. and the docile p%easantry swim with
the insurgent tide. II q man with a re-
yolver catches me at a time when II
without a revolver ] VIII probably do what
he tells me. Then II another man. with
another revolver. tells ne 70 do quite an
other thing ] VIII probably do that also
New York World.