Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-08-24

The Filipinos may be burned out and
driven away from spot. but for n
time they will gather like flies again so
soon as our army has passed on, and
they will fire from ambush on the first
peaceful white traveller who passes that
way. Our army has driven the rebels
every step Of the way since it started
in here-that, too, without difficulty
but for the peace of the country it will
be necessary to leave detachments Of sol
diers at frequent intervals.
81 don't like to fight these nggers,"
said an American soldier who has been
at the front ever since the fight with
the Filipnos has been on. "They have
not sense enough to stand up to
square scrap and quit when they are
licked. They hide in the thicliet in
front of you, and they sneak mp on you
from behind after You have whipped
them once, and there's no satisfaction
any way
The Filipinos know how to make
powder and cartridges. Among them
are men formerly in the employ of the
Spaniards at the arsenal. They have
travelling powder ard cartridge factory,
gathering up the rude implements they
use and taking the same with them as
they fly from pillar to post. Besides
that some Chinese in these islands who
take that way to pay off part of the
grudge they owe Americans follow
along in the track Of the fighting and
gather mp the empty American car
tridges and sell them to the insurgents
for IA consideration worth while to Il
gentleman with cue. Nothing comes
amss to Chinaman. These cartridges
the rebels fill and use again.
The newspaper liar has got in some
of his finest work in depicting the
horrors of the sickliness of Manila.
Frightful tales were told at home of
| the smallpox, the fever the malaria,
the snakes and the scorpions of these
| blessed islands. The actual truth is that
with average sanitary conditions Ma
Mia would he as healthful as Honolulu
or northern Mexico or Florida itself.
! The health of our soldiers who have
| been out on the line fighting since the
| 9th of last February ia this day excel
/ lent. l have from numerous soldiers
/ themselves the testimony that they
never felt better Their greatest need
| is that of thin cotton clothing. without
which no boy in blue should be sent
here. The blue should be retained, but
| it should be cotton instead of wool In
one day recently our troops marched >.
miles over rebel intrenchments and
through thickets, and very few of them
were knocked out till the end of the
| Journey. For march under a tropical
sun by boys from our northwestern
states this record is not bad. In No
vember in Honolulu l felt the heat
quite as much as / now do in April in
Manila
The testimony Of Americans who
have been here in business several
months is universally in favor of the
country. The longer they remain the
better they like it, White babies born
here certainly thrive admirably the
first four or five years of their lives
have this on the authority of Mr.. p. K.
A Meerkamp Van Embden, Dutch
consul in Manila many years. Three Of
his children were born here. | have
been told that the Spaniards who first
settled here set afoat and persistently
kept up the story of the unhealthful-
ness of the Philippines in order to keep
other white races out. Maybe it's true.
One of the oldest results of the Fill
Pine instruction has been the estab-
lishment of a real friendship between
the Americans and the Spanish here.
Before the outbreak the Spaniards hated