The evening times., 1899-06-27
How About Macarthur:

IN any resume OF the situation in LuZOn
that General Otis would be likely to send
in response to an order for one, it is not
possible TO believe that he would be silent
concerning the situation of General Mac
Arthur at San Fernando. Yet in the Otis
report given out at the War Department
yesterday nothing appeared in that connec-
tion beyond a statement giving San Fer
nando as the northern limit of our line OF
occupation.
| Not long ago General Macarthur captur-
ed and occupied Candaba. ten miles north
east of San Fernando retiring to the lat
ter place for an unassigned but easily
| cogniZable reason. On his departure from
Candaba, the rebels reoccupied the town
and massacred those of its inhabitants
| who had welcomed or pretended to welcome
| the American troops. AS our generals
| previous experience with the insurgents
must have warned him that something of
| this kind would be morally certain to hap
| pen. we can only think that nothing short
of a serious threat upon his communica-
tions with Manila and the prospect of at
tack by superior force. could have in
duced him TO abandon the unfortunate
Candaba "friendlies' TO their awful fate.
Presumably. then. the conditions were
serious. from military point of view,
when Macarthur retired on San Fernando.
Since that time we have been allowed to
hear little or nothing Of his position. move
ments. or prospects. On accommodating
toward Manila he was reported to have
found the enemy in force few miles south
of him. There was some skirmishing and
there the news ended. For days the cable
and the Department we're silent about our
northern column. the latter finally. and IN
officially. admitting that Otis might have
to detach troops from the Manila garrison
for MacArthur's support. Later, the War
Office suggested that if Aguinaldo contem
plated a movement against Manila, he
would have to break through our lines at
San Fernando. This would place the rebels
to the north of that place whereas the
latest previous news represented them as
menacing our troops from the south.
We call attention to these things to il
lustrate the fact that. if the patriotic
American press and public are under any
illusions as to the actual state of affairs in
N, u
Mia and the practice of altering and
amending official dispatches in Washing
ton for publication, in the first case, pre-
vent accurate information from reaching
the country. and. in the second, have de-
stroyed confidence in the matter given out
at the War Department.
Between what is really known of the |
situation, as derived from private sources |
and information of a confidential character |
by way of Hongkong, and what the War |
Office claims from time to time, there is |
such a marked discrepancy that public sus-
picion is not to be wondered at, and is un-
avoidable. For example, yesterday, Otis is |
alleged to have reported that our line ex-
tended from San Fernando to linus. sixty |
miles. When Commander Ford returned
from Manila few days ago he said that,
at the date he left the island of Luzon. We
did not control as much territory as
we did in August, 1898, our area of actual,
occupation being confined to Ma
Mia and its suburbs. If the situation has
changed so happily and gloriously within
thirty or forty days, and our victorious
arms have conquered a territory covered
by a line sixty miles long within which
operations are being conducted on
a large scale wide the Otis report of June
26. why is it that developments so valua-
BILE to the Administration and so conducive
to the suppression of the provisional army,
have not been exploited by the War Office
editorial bureau as they progressed?
The President should at once set about
the reform of his news service, in addition
to his other work Of securing troops for
Otis without further delay. The American
people can stand good many things easier
than they can tolerate being misled in con-
nection with things that involve national
interests and the honor Of the flag.