The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-09-27
And, According to the Interviewer,
the Admiral Told the General He
Was Overburdening Himself.
NATIVES ARE SUSPICIOUS
BECAUSE OF THEIR LONG OPPRES-
SION AND ABUSE BY sPANIARDs,
But with Fair Treatment They May.
he Won over by Amerfcans-Dewey
Not Posing for the Presidency.

NEW YORK. Sept. &-The Evening Post
prints the following interview with Admiral
Dewey:
They are a splendid lot" the admiral
said. speaking of his men. THE very pick,
the finest in our navy. and that means the
best in the world. Before ] got to Manila
the archbishop. with whom / afterward be-
came very intimate. said the American sail
ors were the scum of the earth. a blood
thirsty lot of cutthroats. who would de-
stroy everything in their path.
Later on, when / did get there" said
the admiral. with a knowing smile, the
archbishop came on board one day while I
had a battalion at drill. the very same bat
talon that will parade in New York. The
archbishop went on the bridge and watched
them closely. knew he~,Eas admiring
them, and / said to him:
"'Well. what do you think OF our Amer
lean ~sailors?'
They are splendid he said. i have
seen the men OF most navies. but never
anything like these. They are magnificent.
1 cannot understand it-such splendid young
fellows. How does 1t happen
well / replied. we look for the best
men, we come closer to our men. we treat
them better than other countries do. and
we pay them better
Then / called a man and said to him.
How much do you get a month"; He sa-
luted and said. Eighty dollars. sir h
archbishop was astonished. You know $50
would pay a whole shipload of spaniards.
After that the archbishop had a greater re-
spect for us and became very friendly.
Here / have a picture OF General Luna,
which was given TO me by the archbishop"
Tho aHrniraI fhan o,< o., -xl~~t- g. a..
picture of the Philippine general. who was
murdered by order of Aguinaldo," as he
said. The picture was that OF a negro in
a sort of military uniform. On the back
was an inscription In Spanish to the arch-
bishop of Manila, FIR Bernardino Nesalado.
1t was signed by una
THE KILLING OF LUNA.
Admiral Dewey then said that Luna was
the best man the Filipinos had. 1T was a
plot" he said. ito a~ssassInate him. A
crack swordsman was placed as sentry, and
when Luna appeared he simply stabbed
him. But these fellows ALL" said the adj
miral. "are a queer lot. They were simply
servants and stablemen. and Aguinaldo was
a junior clerk in the navy yard. He is a
pretty smart fellow I know him pretty
well. In fact. we were great friends. and
are, for the matter Of fact, but be has nor
the brains. There are people behind him.
some of them lawyers and able fellows.
who make a tool Of Aguinaldo. Here, by the
way, is a cane which he presented to me-
and the admiral produced a thick. black
stick. carved and resembling Irish bog oak
more than anything else.
81 thought" said the admiral. that this
thing In the Philippines would be over long
before this. as II should have been. I can't
imagine how they have stood out until
now. OF course. there was the rainy sea-
son. and / suppose little was done. One
great trouble out there has been that Gem
eral Otis has tried TO do too much. / told
him so. He wants to be general. COVER
nor. judge and everything else-to have
hold of all the irons. No man can do this.
This is the great trouble. 1t is enough for
a man TO do one thing. TO be one hin
but when a man tries to do everything and
TO be everything IL is easy TO imagine thu
result.
WAR SHOULD BE EASILY ENDED.
"The light in the Philippines should be
easily ended. The people had been so badly
treated for such a length OF time by the
Spaniards that they are distrustful. This 10
the great difficulty in dealing with them.
Where we have met them and they have
been IN such contact with us as 10 learn
thai We mean TO treat them we'll, where
they have seen that we mean what we say.
there is no trouble. They stand by Us all
the time. All Of them will learn this In
time. They will get from under the iniu-
ence of Aguinaldo, or. rather. those people
who are behind Aguinaldo. who. as 1 said
before, Is a mere tool.
do / think the Fihpinos are ht for self
government? Well, no; not just now. They
probably will be In a little time. They are
a queer people-a very queer mixture. Many
OF them are quite civilized and good people.
but I do not think they are mt for s~eif-gov-
ernment just yet. But when / say that I
must add at the same time that il l. my
candid opinion that they are more fitted for
1t than the Cubans; that they are a better
people than the cubans IN every way. ! do
wish. however. that the whole business was
settled and / think that after a little the
F1lipinos will take kindly TO Us"
1t was suggested TO the admiral that the
Democratic slate had been settled with A.