The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-04-27
Real Situation in
the Philippines,
From the Troy Times.


m EWSPAPERS which find their
IAll chief delight I'm CriticsnS Amer
IMI lean operations in the Philippines,
IlVl and in circulating stories of eX-
u " cesscs committed by our troops
there. very carefully refrain from any al
lusiOns to the other side of the picture.
AS Il matter of fact there rs no evidence
To warrant the charge made by these
journals that our soldiers are guilty OF
inhumanty in showing no quarter to the
Fiipinos, i'm butchering helpless women
and children and in ruthless lootinS of
Filipino property. That there may be
individual cases of bloodthirstiness and
pillaGing no one will deny. There never
was an army which did not possess some
soldiers who went beyond the bounds OF
propriety, But the American hghtinS
man has as a rule shown himself as hu-
name and merciful as he is brave. Re
ports which are now coming In throw
light on the situation in the Philippines
which the American public did not pos
sess before, owing to the distance of the
scene of strife, the rigidness of the mill
tary censorship and the dithcultN OF get
ting exact information. one of The most
valuable contributions TO American en-
lightenment comes from John +. Bass,
the very able correspondent of Harper )
Weekly who has been at Manila for
of the most vehement opponents of Amer
lean retention of the Philippines, and MI.
Bass himself has been among the Sc
vercst critics OF the governments course.
although fair and intelligent one. Re-
cent developments have completely
changed his opinion.
In his latest letter To liarper'S Mr..
Bass deals with events that occurred Just
-, nI q a a.
lision between the Americans aud the
l'ilipinos in February. The idea that this
was sudden and unlocked for occur
renee may as well be dismissed from
consideration II was the elimination of
carefully devised and iiendishly in"
EeniOuS plot ny certain Filipino leaders.
one Of the chief of these was SandicO.
Secret societies of which he was the head
had been formed, ana the Filipnos In
Manila. armed ana organized, awaited
the word to arise and massacre the Ame'-
lean troops, while the insurgents in
tTenched around the city were then To
pour in, take pOsSeSSiOn--and unlimited
loot and rapiTe would follow. General
Hughes, WHO was in command, learned
| about the conspiracy. lie summoned
Sandico to his presence, told him he must
| stop forming the clubs, which were in
reality regiments of the insurgent army,
| and when Sandico, at first loudly pro-
| Tossing innocence and ignorance and the
| warmeSt friendiness to the American,
| saw that he was found out he dc.
| camped, to become a member of Agun-
aldo's cabinet and one of the most rabid
| anti ti-Amercans.
The bloCkhouSe battle of February
| came on unexpectedly merely because
| the insurgents were not quite ready, al
| though they had been preparing tor
months, They were awaiting more
! favorable opportunity, and only the
| alertness of the Americans deprived them
of It. OF what followed Mr., Bass saws
"rhe result was IA disappointment, 70:
| the plan had been to rise inside and at
! tack from the outside The blow given
| to the Catipunan, or secretly organized
| militia Of SandicO, was severe, but IN
| spite of the overwhelming defeat Of the
| insurgcnt forces on the outside. the ter
ritorial militia got together on Februacy
| 10, Then Sandico, minister of the interior
| i'm Aguinaldo'S cabinet and commander
of the territorial army I'm Manila ISSUED
To officers of his command the following
order, than which no more openly dcvil,
| ish document ever came from human
pen. The sultan of Turkey before tn,
! Armenian massacres issued AN order thai