Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-11-10
WE'RE CU7RAGES COMMITTEES?


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1t is a matter of sincere regret that par
tisan feeling has been carried so far as to
accuse u soldier boys of having need
lessly desecrated sanctuaries in the Phil
ippine islands. knowing that statements
of that character, whether satisfactorily
proven or not, will have a tendency to e
cite political opposition to the party that
effort is apparently being made to resort
to this unjustifiable extreme. Inasmuch
as movements of this character have in
view political effects for next year, it is
wise to weigh the importance of such
statements at his time. The Montana
Catholic Of Butte says:
The work of vandalism in desecratins
the churches on the island of Luzon is
brought home to the people of Butte by
the exhibition in the windows of q avn
shop of two silver chalhes stolen from Il
Manila church. A number of vestments.
also prizes of war, are to be seen in the
same window. 1t is claimed by some of
the soldiers of the Montana regiment that
such articles We're stolen by the Chinese
and finding their way into the paWnshops
of Manila We're purchased and brought
home by the soldiers. Others. however,
tell a different story, and say that
churches We're looted right along by AM
erican soldiers pictures from the walls,
Vestnlents, chalices and anything of value
being taken. While no one objects to the
use Of churches i'm time of war as they
can be utilized. Il cry OF shame is heard
from every side at the needless desecra-
ton of affairs, n the wanton destruction
of church property.
General Otis, who is himself a devout
Catholic, is authority for the statement
hat no church was needlessly desecrated,
and that they were fired Upon only when
used as barracks by the enemy. Other
a similar manner Father w. D.. Nc
Kinnon, chaplain of the First California
volunteers, says:
1t is true that a great many churches
have been looted and stripped, but this
has been largely the work of Cinnamon in
usually been between the yacuation of a
town by the rebels and the entry of the
American forces. A good many of our
soldiers have relics and souvenirs from
these churches, but they got them from
the natives and the Cinnamon.
The Montana Catholic is unwilling tic
non, who was on the ground, and whose
explanation is lucid and reasonable in all
respects. It prefers to intimate, as broad
~ as language can express it, that the
articles found III Butte, to which it refers,
We're looted "by American soldiers" It
might as we'll have said Montana vol
unteers,' for the Inference is plain. To
emphasize this idea, and protect a lot
of greasy Filipinos and depraved China
men from the indignation of church peo-
pie, the Montana Catholic adds-in re-
ferring to Father McKinnon's statement
1t contradicts the stories sent home by
Catholic soldiers, who declare it was not
the Filipinos or the Chinese who did the
stealing and who desecrated the churches
in the captured towns, but the American
soldiers who disgraced the uniform they
| Wore. The Filipinos, on the admission
of all authorities, are deVOut Catholics.
! They may AVE had an unreasonable
! grievance against some of the priests.
but they have none against the churches
or their religion. They would not desc
crate the ~sanctuaries, nor permit the
Chinese to do it.
Oh, no; the noble Filipino gentleman,
who puts in his spare time cutting the
ears off our wounded soldier boys, and
firing poisonous brass bullets into his
body, to educate him up to the delights
of a horrible d9Ath, would not be tempt
ed to carry off any gold and silver that
he found lying around loose inside he
walls of a church! He is perfectly will
ing to use the consecrated edifice as a
fort, a supply depot, a commissary de-
| partment, a hospital and a court house,
but he wouldn't demean his mol soul
! by carrying off a golden candlestick that
would sell for enough money to keep him
| on Manila yelvet for the next ten years!
| And. then, when he finds it a good
scheme to leave town in a hurry, on ac-
! count of an undesirable visit that is
being paid by the Yankee soldiers, he
sees to it that nothing is disturbed in
the church building, which he may pos
sibly AVE been using for a livery stable!