The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-06
MUST Be STARVED OUT.

MUST Be STARVED OUT.
Aguinaldo Said to BE Located up In the
Mountains.
New York, Dec 5-Edwin wildman,
formerly correspondent for the Jour
nal in Manila. in discussing Aguinal-
dos chances Of escape. says:
"Agutnaldo, bottled up in the Carabal-
10 mountains, Is q little less than fugi-
tive or hrigand. There he has proba-
bly, about 20,o0S natives who are in
sympathy with his cause. Aguinaldo
will have for time at least q great
mountain territory. stretching from the
Carabano mountains on the south to
Mount Data. 1000 feet high. to the
north; to the east. over the great range
Of Sierra Madrss to the Pacific; to the
west, wild country traversed by the
North Caraballo mountains. for Bay
ambang is the fountain head of the
mountains of Luzon. All the great
ranges. both north and south, radiate
from the headwaters Of the Magat and
Cagayan rivers.
"Asuinaldo has therefore chosen the
most impregnable fortress nature gave
to Luzon. With the great Cagayan
valley to draw supplies from. he can
hold out Until we move forces from
Apart. 200 miles up the Cagayan river,
and literally starve him out, or by
adopting Indian methods Of lighting
By subsisting our army on what ma
ture affords and what we can buy or
take from the natives, we can hunt
him to his hole. Even then he may
elude US and escape to the Pacific
coast, or even to the south beyond the
east coast range. In fact, if be should
decide to take to his heels and box UP
his revolutionary ideas for more pro-
pitious season, 1t would only be by the
utmost vigilance. coupled with gooa
degree Of luck, that we would catch
him.
I'VE are fighting in the north of Lu-
Zon, as will be seen by the brief re-
sumo Of the nine provinces, known
population of more than million. be-
sides an unknown number of savages,
who have from time imme-
mortal resisted the white man, and
will continue to resist him as long as
the white man offers him civilization.
under control. His methods are not
those of civilized war. He skulks.
shoots from ambush. retreats, and
throws life and property to the dogs.
He is now the fanatic head of a half
civilized horde of aborisines, who would
rather fight than work, and who hail
him as the great chief who promises
to give back the untrammeled savag-
cry Of their forefathers. If We could
catch him and shoot him and all his
cabinet and staff, the revolution, as
general movement, would be at an
end. But he has the cunning, as we'll
as the love of life, to prevent such a
catastrophe. and takes to his heels.
seeming danger afar off.
I'VE have a problem in the Philip
pines that will require large army.
One hundred thousand men are none
too many. Asuinaldo will next be
hemmed in from the north, and opera.
lions confined to the mountains. 1t
we then garrison the capitals of the
provinces and the seaperts of impor-
lance, opening them to trade, the CIV
ilized sections of LuZon will quickly
range themselves on our side. With
army protection to commerce and In
dustry, and American dollars at work
in the islands. the natives would soon
compete for them. AS to the savage
hordes, they could be dealt with as
occasion demanded.
''In all the civilized or semi-civlized
parts and cities Of the island where we
have come to stay the natives have
shown a ready willingness to accept our
government and go to work. England's
colonial system Is based on the power
of protected trade, and until that sys-
tenn gets to work in the Philippines the
natives will be, as General Otis COM
plains, uneasy If town by town they
must be captured. then town by town
they must be garrisoned.
THE paralyzation of trade in the
island is one Of the present unfortunate
conditions. We have kept out foreign
trade, because it would give the ma
tives money to buy the sinews of war.
The boarded wealth in the products of
the islands of the past year Is enor-
nous. When the volume of trade COM
mences the flow Of money into the prov
inces will be in millions. Prosperity such
as never before in their history will be
experienced.
1.-THE vast quantities of tobacco, sugar,
indigo, hemp, copra and rice will find
waiting market. Never in the history
of the hemp industry was the price so
high Reports coming from various
parts of the islands show that the ma
tives have not been idle, but have raised
abundant crops, and that, being TN
able to market them, have immense
warehouses overlooking with the pro-
ducts of their labor ureat English.
German and American firms in Manila
are ready and anxious to buy UP the
entire product Of the Islands in all their
staples. 1t is immaterial, therefore, to
our future movements whether Aguin-
aldo Is captured or driven from the
islands"