Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1899-10-25

Comnslttee-Something About Candidate
whites Political Past.
The Democratic state central COM
mittee has begun the circulation in
Iowa of The Anti-Imperialist, the mag
azine published by Edward Atkinson
for the avowed purpose of opposition
to tropical expansion and to the pres
ent criminal aggression in the Philip
pine islands" The issue of this maya
CINE which the Democratic committee
is sending out by the thousands con-
tains many pages of extracts from the
New York mugwump Post giving al
legged extracts from letters from SOL
diers in the Philippines charging cruel
ty in the treatment of the prisoners
and describing the war now being car
ried on there as brutal. 1t also gives
just enough of the correspondence with
Aguinaldo to lead to the inference that
he was given to understand that the
United States would back him up in
his attempts to establish a govern
ment of his own in the islands. The
magazine does not print the CORE
spondence had between the state de-
partment and our foreign representa-
tives in which they were given plainly
to understand that they were not au-
thorized to make Aguinaldo any prom
Uses whatever. This part of the CORE
spondence would not be in accordance
with the purpose of The Anti-Imperial-
list and is of course suppressed.
As to the other charges made by At
kinson we are able to present an an
swer III the language of an Iowa sol
dier who has just written to his par
ents in this state in regard to the ru-
mors of such charges which have
reached the boys in the trenches. The
letter we quote was written by John
o. Stevenson to his father, Rev. j. o..
Stevenson of Waterloo, Ia. Young
Stevenson was senior in Tabor col
lege at the outbreak of the war, and
when the call for volunteers came he
left his books and joined company H..
Fifty-first Iowa. He has participated
in all the battles in which that regi-
ment has been engaged and has viewed
the situation calmly and impartially.
His letter was written Sept. i, and
was received last week. The letter
was not written with view to pub
LEGATION, nor with any idea that 1t
would have any bearing upon political
subjects. For that reason it is es-
pecially interesting at this time as
showing an Iowa soldier boys views
of some Of the stories that are being
peddled throughout the state by the
Edward Atkinson Fred White crowd.
The following are extracts from the
letter:
FiIipinos Not Abused.
IL suppose you have heard all sorts
of reports concerning the treatment
of the Filipinos, the actions of Ameri-
can soldiers, the mistakes. as they
are called, of Otis, etc. In regard
to our treatment Of Filipinos, l want
to say that never in my presence has
a prisoner been abused. On the con-
trary, the fellows give them cigarettes
and more cruel than they probably
ever saw before, and even set them
free. Some of the prisoners could not
be hired to escape. They lie around
our quarters, carry water and split
bamboo for fire wood. In the prisons
at Manila and Cavite they have all
the rice, salmon, canned meat and
tobacco they can use. Shower baths
are in some of the prisons and in all
plenty of water is furnished for wash
ing both body and clothing.
Treacherous Fiiipinos.
"From what we hear the people Of
the states also have thought at times
that we killed every one that fell into
our hands. There are lots of mean
Filipinos and they do many mean
xL:. narIObt
them changing their clothing for white
Amigo clothes. AS people they are
treacherous. After some of the fights
we would find among the dead ma
tive we had fed, well paid and treated
like one of ourselves. Now some Of
the boys, when comrade is killed or
particularly when the white flag trick
is used, or some one is stabbed in a
treacherous manner, would swear all
sorts of revenge and that they would
kill every niger they met, but when
a Filipino is captured they are the first
to offer them cigarillOs. There Is a
hospital for wounded insurgents at
Manila. 1t is large place and has
been filed to the limit. This shows
that the Filipinos are not all killed
when taken.
Stories Of Filipino Officers.
"Part of the Filipinos know that
they will be well treated, but part of
them are so frightened by the stories
of American atrocities that their Off
GERS tell them that they are amazed
when we do not string them up or cut
their threats. Coming up from San
Fernando on the advance we struggled
through swamps, creeks and revines
that were well nigh impossible and in
one almost inaccessible place we came
upon a couple Of families. They
crouched, crawled in the water, sup
plicated, fawned and kissed our hands.
/ never saw such abject fear. 1t made
us sick as we passed on.
FiIipinos Easily Panic-Stricixen.
Another thing some of the newspa-
pers hint is that it is no wonder We
can defeat the Filipinos with our Cat
lings, cannon, ETC., while they have no
such modern appliances. But many
times the Filipinos had opportunities
of fighting us three or four to one. All
the fighting at first was done by us
with the antiquated Springfield against
the modern Mauser, and the Filipinos
could shoot to kill while keeping out of
range of orr guns. Moreover many
times the firing line moved on far
ahead Of the artillery, which could not
be dragged through the rice fields and