Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-11-17
FAILURE COSTLY AND COMPLETE.

FAILURE COSTLY AND COMPLETE.
1t Is nine months since the first COLI.
sion between the United States army at
Manila and the insurgent forces led by
Agulnaldo occurred. That this might
have been avoided by the exercise of
fair degree of honest diplomacy by the
representatives of our government most
Americans believe, but that perhaps is
question. What we know is that the
struggle has continued from Feb. until
now that the money cost to US has been
a hundred millions or more; that the
flower of our army, composed OF as
brave soldiers as ever carried musllet
and led by as gallant and competent
regimental and division commanders as
ever wore uniform, has been sacrificed
to no purpose. General Otis has had in
his command 81 900 men. According to
his reports up to Aug. G, ZIG had been
killed in battle, 1855 had died of wounds
and $50 of disease; 1871 bad been
wounded and 2S had been taken prison
ers and since then thousands of others
discharged, broken In health and doomed
to invalidism through life.
At this cost number of cities and
strategic points have been taken only to
be abandoned, some of them as many as
six times; large number of Filipinos
have been killed only to have their
places taken by others, and vast amount
of property has been destroyed, and at
present our army is cooped up in Manila
1 ..e:.. g.. hA1 It,.x
its own there only by the protection of
the navy.
Under date of Sept. II, since which
time the situation has not improved, the
Manila correspondent of the Chicago
Tribune has given us definite and de-
tailed statement of what territory we oc.
cupy upon LuZon, which, corroborated
as 1t is by all the Information brought
by returning soldiers and other cores
pondents. and standing unquestioned by
any one, as it does must be accepted as
correct. Omitting his details, which
tell exactly where and how our forces
are located, his assertion is that we now
occupy effectively the city of Manila and
one or two places in the suburbs making,
all told. III square miles, a space II by
10 miles. The entire area of LuzOn Is
AZ 1000 square miles. so that we appear to
have about one 350th part of it, and this
at a single point where our navy and
army are combined.
AS to the other islands in the vicinity,
Mandanao has not been visited by our
troops and in Negros and Cebu the two
or three ports we occupy are constantly
beset by what the dispatches call "rob
Der bands" that stubbornly dispute our
possession. Beyond this, in the thou
sand other islands of the group, we have
done and attempted nothing, and the
summing up is that at the end of the
first campaign, so costly in men and
money, we have in subjugation about
l20 square miles out of the ia, 900 COM
prised in the archipelago, or consider
bly, less than was within range of
Dewey's guns when he sailed into
Manila harbor after Aguinaldo had
fought the Spanards to finish ia the
rear.
That the campaign has been the most
costly and complete failure in the history
of American army movements is certain
and that the responsibility for this fail
ure rests mainly upon the wellmeaning
and Woodworking old granny who has
been in supreme command of our forces
need not be argued. He has had, as We
have said, as fine an army as ever tool
: the field and 1t has been as large as he
has said was necessary. He has had the
support of the navy whenever he would
accept it. All his subordinates have
been capable and faithful, but he has
t utterly and miserably failed. And ye
e we are told that he is so hedged about by
Influence at Washington that he canno
4 be removed and that. the slaughter ant
( fruitless sacrifice must go on under hi
e observation-disclosures and Farmer.