Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-17
RATTLE OF THE CENsoRs.
Marked Activity In the Manufacture
of Canned Victories
washington Post.


We venture to say that quite the most ex-
citing conflict before the American people
today is that which now RACES between the
British confectioners OF war news at cape
town and our own purveyors OF canned VIC
tories at Manila
Our fellows have had nearly years extra
practice. and. we must say, they are DONG
beautifully smooth and steady work. But
they lack versatility and imagination While
they plod along In monotonous routine, the
/ Pritish, with the ardor OF impassioned
amateurs, are throwing fancy novelty and in
ventive genius into their achievements. FROM
/ Manila we have only the same old story OF
the furious attack, the Wild unbridled hisht
of the enemy and the list Of casualties oc-
! casionally the name Of the captured town
/ seems new but the incidents are familiar
We have met them so frequently as to feel
! intimate with them. We are good frienoS,
! Of course and all that sort OF thing; but
! we are beginning to thirst for a change on
! the other hand, our British rivals In South
/ Africa are displaying an originality which is
full of charm. They do not conhne them
/ selves to dreary conventionalities. They tel
us OF desperate sorties in which hundreds
of Beers are butchered, and 1t is very cold
| day. indeed, when they cannot destroy Boer
artillery or capture some of their important
guns. In this respect they remind us OF
Sampson in his happiest moments. we all
remember how the MORO batteries were ST.
fenced every day or two during June, 1898,
and what terrible destruction was wrought
at Santiago by the precision and the power
OF our bombardments. We begin to think
that the inspired poet who composed those
odes to Sampeons prowess has found his
equal in the burning bard who celebrates In
song the "derring do of British champions
in Natal They are darlings, both OF them,
and we bathe our souls in the rapture they
distill
Naturally, we should like to see our own
minstrels at Manila take on a new access
of spirit and invention. General Joe Wheeler
Fighting 10, as we love to hear him called
does not appear to let down all his gladness
at the call OF the Manila censor. On the
contrary, writing to a friend in Florence,
Ala, he rather indicates that tired feeling
which so affiicts humanity at certain times:
ION the 9th of September l had a little
fight with tho enemy at this point, but it
did not amount to much, although as i'm
portant as some other engagements which
have been dignified in the papers as fights. l
am sorry to say that much which appears in
the papers of the United States is gross ex-
aggeration."
1t seems to us therefore that II we expect
to hold our own with England in this matter
there must be speedy and radical i'm
provement in the literary style and intellect
ual elasticity of our bright young men in the |
Philippines. The English censors have 80
arranged things that their stories Of great |
victories and captures and so on at the ex-
pense of the Beers do not encounter con-
tradiction and confusion until the great |
British public has been furnished with new |
and still more engaging appeal to its |
credulity We shall have to improve in this |
respect Our fairy tales have lost their |
charm They are we'll meant, we KNOWN
spired by the very best Of motives; but the
country demands change Of diet, variety
of Jokes We rather think that the Cape
town censor will get the decision over our
chap at Manila-on points!