The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-09-02

truth. that had the treaty" been rat
fled by Congress without so much con-
troversy, this war with the Fillpinos
would have been averted and much in
nocent bloodshed on both sides pre-
vented. Yet. for every drop OF blood
shed for this cause 1t has been dupli-
Gated by another. from the disturbing
elements in our nation to-day.
Now, my American brother the
average volunteer soldier is quite as
familiar with his rights as you are,
and when he held up hts hand little
over year ago and swore to fight the
enemies of his country on sea and
land for the period OF two years un-
less sooner discharged" etc. II you
hnd anything in the oath that says.
During the war with Spain" or that
Spain is mentioned, then you Will have
discovered something more than we
could find. Why, when we took the
oath. ninety-nine out of every one hun
bred volunteers expected to have to re-
pei by force Of arms one or more Euro
pean powers than Spain.
There were volunteers who did enlist
''for the war with SPAIN" but these
were in the regular army, and when
the treaty was signed they were mus
tered out. Rll who desired, Besides.
l remember well that during our stay
in Des Molnes the question was fire.
quently discussed which We would
prefer, for two years or the war with
Spain, and all were unanimously of the
opinion that two years would prove
shorter period than the war with
Spain"
There is more testimony TO confound
the American Agulnaldists. and 1t
comes from Private j. c. Clarke, of
the Thirteenth Minnesota Volunteers,
who, after paying his respects to Bry-
an, Atkinson and others, who, he de-
clares have forfeited by their utter
ances the respect OF the American peo-
pie" has this to say about the conduct
OF the war in the Philippines:
III General Otis has erred in this
campaign it has been on the side of hui
manity. and the man who says other
wise knows not what he is talking
about.
Every consideration possible has
been shown the Filipino insurgents from
the beginning to the present time, and
Notwithstanding the fact that they
have resorted to every treachery their
fertile brains could suggest. Their
wounded have been tenderly and care
fully nursed and cared for; they have
been carried from the field by Old
Glory's soldiers with as much care as
though they had been comrades fighting
in the same cause. Many and many a
Filipino warrior has had his death
struggle lIghtened by the last drop of
water in an American soldiers canteen
and blscul; from his haversack, and
whole communities Of Filpinos have
been cared for at American expense.
The oft-repeated assertion that the
Americans have prosecuted the war on
cruel lines is lie Of the whole cloth;
and every man who has been on the
ground here knows 1t. On. the other
hand, we personally are aware of cases
of treachery and savagery committed
by the insurgents that are simply sick
ening in detail. We know, and so does
every one who has followed the cam
paign, Of many cases where American
dead have been most horribly mutilNt-
ed, where the Red Cross has been fired
upon, and that, too, while succoring the
rebel dead"
1t would be expecting too much to
hope to see any of these utterances
quoted in the organs of the anti-expan-
sionlsts, for they are not given to fair
ness In any form. but these letters
show the temper of the American SOL
der in the field. and he is, without
doubt, a more capable Judge of affairs
than the tea-drlnking auntIes and the
self-suacleat critics of the administra-
ton.