The evening times., 1899-08-21
THE PHILIPPINE SITUATION.
Views of an Army .Oficer Expressed
ima letter.


The following letter from a high regu=
lar army officer stationed at Iloilo, Phil
ippine Islands, dated June 2S, has been re-
ceiyed by a War Department official:
II see no difference in health conditions
here and in the United States. The men
in the regiment have been healthier than
at home. Where they took the same rea-
sonabie precautions as they would IN
Georgia there would be no difference
Campaigning is awfully hard in the sun
on account of lack of water and difficulty
of fighting ones way through the grass.
| bushes, and bamboo. know of no dis
eases that We need fear which are indigi-
| nous to the islands except smallpox. Good
food is hard to get. We have had no beef
| or mutton here for twenty days; vegeta-
| bles, there are none; fish are fairly abun-
dant but high. There is no fruit other
| than cocoanuts. This, of coul Sc, being
| largely due to our being in state OF
seige.
LAS to the military situation, the views
| of all the officers have met both here ana
| on Luzon. except those doing office duty
| in Manila. are directly opposed TO the
newspaper reports with almost every re-
| spect. From what one sees in the papers
| the white dove of peace is always just
about TO light on the land. To the 1gnt-
1 ing man, however, 1t is not apparent. AS
a matter of fact, We hold nothing In these
| islands but what we stand upon. our pos
| sessions are not to be counted by prov
| inces, islands, or square miles, but aetu-
ally by acres. No one can go anywhere
| outside of our entertainments without great
| danger. The lines around Manila, when L
| left, May 80, were only three miles cut.
| Rifle bullets from the insurgents actually
| went through the houses in Malate section
| of the city. Daily and hourly the hrlng
| from the trenches could be heard IN the
city To the north We were holding tne
| railroad line and few detached posts; TO
the east the line of the Pasig River We
| hold lines and lines only, not areas. bor-
| dering every one of these lines are lnsur-
! gent trenches and plenty OF armed msn, ana
| so close are they that the duty is very
| hard One night off duty is as much as
| man can expect.
The native is not aggressive, but 10
one out here calls him a coward. He viii
not stand a charge, even when in earth
works, but he does a powerful amount OF
damage first and last before he quits. Then
| he simply falls back and goes to Work Dig
| ging again. The moment We leave piece
| of ground il is theirs, for they swarm pach
upon it. 1t is true that we can Win
thousand or two thousand men go where
! we wish; no great force will oppose US.
! Every town and village will wave with
white flags for the time being, but when
| we have passed, the waters roll in behind
| and it is as if we had never been there.
| The Filipinos are beginning TO shoot weli
! of late as our casualties show. They seem
! to show no scarcity of either ammunition
or food and so far as | can see show no
! signS of giving up.
IS ff
/ Manila in May was simply an effort 10
! stop the rush of our troops north, until
! they could recover a little. No one in the
fighting line believed for moment that
they meant business, though the Manila
| stan seemed 10 place great reliance on
! them. / see no sign of weakening, ana
unless internal troubles come with them
| there is no end in the near future. All
| the fighting has been in Luzon, not be-
| cause the other islands are pacified, but
| simply because we have no men to under
take the subjugation of the others Here
/ at Iloilo we hold radius of three and
half miles from the town. One cannot
walk or drive because we are surrounded
| This is the only hold We have upon this
island, indeed right across the bay our
enemy holds possession, so that we hold
only half circle. On Negros We hold
only two points. On Cebu, only one, on
many others not foot. Ii is hoped here
that the fall of Aguinaldo's party on Lu-
zon Will mean the giving up of all the
other islands, but we do not think so.
The insurgents here will, simply turn
to banditti and must be hunted down.
Speaking broadly. the line Of the army
believes it will take at least 100000 men
and two years TO get even a fairly firm
foothold. Once we0hase' that~it will take
from 1900 to 10000 to keep them, be-
sides a squadron of the navy. Whether it
is worth while to pay so much for our
whistle depends, of course, on the point
of view. That the islands will pay a
handsome profit to capital invested and
that the trade we can build up with these
people will be large there can be no
doubt"
The writer of the letter criticises the
policy of General Otis and says:
General Otis policy seems to be TO
deal only with battalions, so that the older
field officers, coionels, and lieutenant
colonels have no commands; most of the
battalion commanders are captains, in
fact but there is no discussion OF orders
allowed out here. You have just got 10 do
what is ordered
|