The record-union., 1899-11-24

create public opinion are willing to
sanction socialism when garbed in the
guise of poetry? The critic has an ac-
countability here that he cannot shirk.
Dr. Nordau can advance the degenera-
ton that weighs SO heavily on his soul
IN no more effective way than by rec
ommending Markham as great poet.
DEBS.
Alameda Argus: We are unable to
see why papers should devote such
considerable space to the mouthings OF
the man Debs. He comes with no
message except the doctrine OF dlscon-
tent. Since he failed to destroy TINS
Government or to nullify the laws he
has gone vaporing up and down the
earth, trying to get another chance to
make wholesale mischief. 1t surprises
us. that his dupes of five years ago
should listen to him a moment, and 1t
is doubtful if they would but for the
attention that is paid to him by the
press. The press excuse. probably, is
that he is sensational and is rather
bolder in preaching anarchy than the
general run of men-afraid-of-t their jobs.
PHILIPPINES NOT UNHEALTHY.
Los Angeles Times: In the early days
of the Tagalo insurrection it was as
serted with monotonOuS frequency that
the climate of the Philippine Islands
was extremely unhealthy, and that
American soldiers sent there for SER
vice would die off Like sheep, or goats,
or some other sort of animal which IS
supposed to die off in large quantities
at very short notice. The facts of the
matter, as developed by a year and q
halfs campaigning in the Philippines,
have been shown to be almost dia-
metrically the reverse Of these lugubri-
Gus representations. The climate of
the islands, SO far from being extremely
unhealthy, has been shown to be salu-
brious far beyond the average of trop-
ical countries. The percentage of
deaths from disease among our troops
in the Philippines has been exceeding
ly small-much smaller than was an
ticipated at the outset, even by the
most sanguine. An official report, print
ed not long ago, showed that the death
rate among the troops in Luzon was
much lower than it was among the
troops quartered at San Francisco and
other American camps in the early
stages of the American-Spanish war;
also that the death rate from disease
in Luzon was far lower than the death
rate from the same cause in Cuba In
deed, the rate Of death from disease in
Luzon has been but little, if any, great
er than it would have been among the
same number of men in private life.
This is a most remarkable showing, and
it speaks volumes for the sanitary ar
rangements among our troops, which
have been transported thousands OF
miles, across stormy seas, and quar-
tered in a tropical land, where the con-
ditions of existence are widely different
from those prevailing in the regions
left behind Only the most thorough
study and application of modern scien-
tific principles of sanitation could have
brought about results so brilliant and
so gratifying. 1t is, of necessity, Il
great source of consolation to the
friends of men who are serving their
country in the Philippines to know
that, while those men must Of course
take their chances of injury or death
in battle, they are otherwise as safe as
if they were in their own land, engaged
in the ordinary vocations of life.