The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-06-08
in "HUMANITY'S NAME"
Captain Alfred E. Lee Pictures Phil
fppfnes sBenevOlent Assimila-
tiOn."

To the Editor of The Press-Post:
Here is what a Western soldier, now
engaged in the Philippine slaughter,
writes from camp. I find it in Spo-
kane (Wash.) paper.
1--WE burned hundreds Of houses and
looted hundreds more. Some of the
boys made good hauls of jewelry and
clothing. Nearly every man has two
suits of clothing, and our quarters are
furnished in style-ine beds with silken
drapery, mirrors, chairs, rockers, cush-
ions, pianos, hanging lamps, rugs, pic
lures, etc. We have horses and carriages
niture and other plunder to load a
steamer"
Such is the kind of civilizing warfare
which the good and great Mckinley
is carrying on against the so-called
"rebels" of the Philippine islands.
In the name of humanity we have
already slaughtered five or six thousand
Of these people, solely for the crime, as
the administration regards it, of de-
Tending their country against an un-
provoked and wicked invasion. Nor are
we content with shooting them down
with our machine guns; we are also
burning and footing" their homes,
and our soldiers are garnishing their
tents with the furniture and draperies
of their victims Still baser crimes are
charged, and such are the illustrations
which we are putting before the
heather tribes over the sea of Amer
lean civilization!"
Was ever a more preposterous, more
sickening humbug than the pious cant
about benevolent purpose in this war
on the Filipinos? Was there ever in
modern times-even in Great Britain's
brutal and selfish conquests of unof-
Tending tribes-an instance of more
shameful, cruel and wanton aggression
The imperialist newspapers are exploit
ing it's so-called victories as glorious to
American arms. There is about as
, much glory in one of these much vaunt-
ed butcheries of these unoffending peo-
pie as there would be in the act Of a
prize fighter in knocking down a help
less child on the street. If it is military
glory we are after, let us choose an an
tagonist with training and ability to
fight at least similar to our own. There
is no glory in slaughtering with machine
guns and protected artillery simple
minded people who fight us with bows
and arrows. There is no glory in burn
ing their humble homes over the heads
of their wives and children. God pity
the man who exults over such warfare
as chivalrous and humane.
This war on the Filipinos is the most
fragrant crime Of the nineteenth CEN
tury. The massacre of the Armenians
by the Truks is white beside it, The
nearest comparison to it in modern
times is that of the British rapine and
devastation of India during the 18th
century. But we are outdoing even the
British 'precedents in mercenary ag-
gression. The British government never
purchased human beings for slaughter
We have. We paid 81 piece for these
men, and have killed, say, 5000. The
British monkey, to which we have sur
rendered as catspaw, never gave the
| world such example of blended cruelty
and idiocy-of fatuous greed and bru-
tality-as that.
Meanwhile public debt and taxation
are piling up. For this egregious folly
we are spending hundreds of millions
| which the toll and sweat of labor must
ultimately pay. But far more deplor-
able than it's money cost is the brutal
izing effect of such war as this upon
our own people. It's effect is perceived
already in visible handwriting of the
public conscience. We have ceased to
challenge the respect of other nations
for our national consistency and in
tegrity, and have exploited for their
admiration the qualities of a military
bully. Perhaps the. Americans of the
future will be proud of this-perhaps
not. The perpetuation of the republic
rests in the hope that they will be
ashamed of it.
ALFRED E. LEE.
Columbus, Ohio, April l..