The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1899-11-01
SLOW PROGRESS IN LUzoN.
AN INTERESTING SUMMARY.

o Inc ChlCag0 Tribune prints n sun
, mary OF the situation in the Philippir
islands from it's special corresponds,
: Richard 81. Little. The letter, whic
<. Is dated Manila, September IA, saws
J.. mere are some figures, made seve
I against the Filipinos began. Saw IL
t five miles to Angeles-we hold posse
. sloa. of the railroad up to that DO n
, We can fairly claim poss esslon OF th
land half mile on each side of th
, track. We have possession of the w,
/ gon road, and let us say, o half mil
on each side from San Fernand
through Bacoloor to Santa Rita, eiph
miles, with four miles to Guagua. w
have road from Mololos to Bahama
III miles northeast. We can claim
square miles here.
We have Manila, out as far as th
water works, five miles away. Tha
gives US, say, 20 miles around the CITY
Then we have the road and hal
mile each side down IS miles to Inns
Then we have Calam ba and some othe
points on the lake that General Lswto,
captured before he was ordered back
These towns are not approached b,
road, but by boat across the Laguna d.
Bay, and we only control the land the,
stand on.
Adding up our total possessions We
lind we have lit square miles.
The island Of Luzon contains az. .OO(
square miles.
Outside of Luzon the i1surrectior
seems to be growing. The insurgents
hold ports In Mindanao, the largest is.
land to Luzon in the Philippines, and
said to be intellectually rich in gold and
silver mines, iron and copper ores. and
| m Ia
derful forests of hardwood. No Amer.
| leans have dared venture there as vet,
as General Otis has sent no troops to
! the island. Englishmen and Germans
are prowltng about the island getting
all the concessions they can. 1t is said
several prospecting parties are at work.
General Otis reports conflicts be.
tween the robber bands and Amer.
lean soldiers in Negros and Cebua. The
Nineteenth, the Eighteenth and the
Sixth, and one battalion of the Twenty
third infantry are now in these islands
lighting the robber band, who dig
trenches and occupy towns and make
night attacks after the fashion of the
insurgents in Luzon.
I" A late report from Cebua Is that
some 1000 robbers were menacing
our forces and a collision was immi,
neut.
The next campaign Is goiLg to be
different from the last. We will get
out OF the Hat, open country into noun
famous, thickly wooded country. If
we co not end the war here we will
have to carry it into the high, rocky
ribbed mountains of Luzon.
1T will be no violation OF a state se-
cret to say that the first object of the
next campaign will be to get the rest
OF the railroad from the hands of the
insurgents. The insurgents ought to
be firmly convinced by this time that
we want the Manila ard Dagupan rail
road, as we nave fought along that line
seven months. They know we want it,
and they also know that we are going
to get 1t, for they are already tearing
up the track, burning the ties, and
burying the rails north Of Angeles.
The country cast of the railroad
north OF Angeles to Dagupan, is much
like 1T is south OF Manila, except high
err and broken. West of the railroad
are high mountains that will offer the
Insurgents better opportunity to re-
treat and escape than they had in the
low country. With the taking of the
railroad we will have cut off the pro-
vinces OF Zambales, Paggasinan, Tarlac
and Pampanga, and Bataan, from the
main part of the island, and can lay
claim to good deal moro country than
the precise amount of real estate on
which our army is now camping.
From the railroad Aguinaldo's
army can hardly retreat anywhere but
nothward across the mountains to the
fertile valley Of the Rio Grande de
Caguary. The walled city cannot un-
derstand why the army has so much
trouble with the railroad. When the
officers in the field notify the walled
city that the rails have been torn up
from the section OF track just captured
and that the ties have been burned
and the grade destroyed they get an
order to fix It, So after few miles
of railroad Is captured the soldiers
have to scatter up and down the track
and go Mining for steel rails. The
insurgents bury the rails five or six
feet deep. They observed that the
Americans located the rails by sound
Ing with crowpar, 80 they resorted
to the expedient OF putting layer of
ties over the rails. TO replace the
burned ties the quartermaster's depart
| ment were forced to use planks, two
! boards, each two inches wide being
nailed together for ties. The side
track, wherever possible all the way
back to Manila, was jerked>up, carried
north and put down where the rails
could be found.
The American army Is badly In
need OF railroad ties and steel rails.
| Another great need Of the army is
light draft steamboats, for use on the
many rivers and lakes Of Luzon. There
Is hardly place In the world where an
army could use river steamers tC
greater advantage. The Rio Grande
the Chico, the Rio Grande Pampanga
the Agno, the Bicol and the Pasig ali
flow through fertile and densely popu
lated valleys and offer a means to the
army of bringing up supplies and swift
ly transporting large bodies OF soldiers
that would be Invaluable were 1t util
lied.
"From what eau be learned from
the insurgents they are we'll satisfied
with the present condition OF affairs
Their congress has just returned /,
communication to the American peac,
commission declaring that, while they
: would have accepted autonomy from
our government II they had been pro
perly dealt with at first they will now
consider no proposition except indie
pendence. With,almost AZ, 900 miles 0
territory from which to draw supplies
and with boats coming In without an,
opposition from Hong Kong, Japan ant
from Central and South America ant