Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-09-18

sible source of information. On July
%. when attempted TO send a report
| of the bombardment of Paete, the
| truthfulness of which was unquestion-
| ed, he Immediately sent for Lawtor.
and demanded to know how it had
been made public, and told Lawton to
| jump on the members of his staff.
Such strick orders against t=sI1ag
| TO newspaper men have been repeated
1y issued that when we go about head
| "narters the officers AVID us as
though we had smallpox, because they
are afraid TO be seen talking with US.
Otis refuses to give us passes to go out
of the city after the closing hour $3.50
although such passes are given to the
reporters on local papers and to bust
ness men of all nationaiities, even
Filipinos. All of the privileges extend
ed to newspaper men in Cuba, like the
limited use of the govS 'Iment tele-
graph wires ano access to kilograms
from the front which are not of con-
fidential nature, are denied us. 1t is
impossible to maintain any system of
correspondence from Iloilo and the
other islands except by mail, as the Of
ficials in those places, under orders
from headquarters, exercise a cersor-
ship practically prohibitive over the
cable.
Instances of the suppression of
news to prove that the sole intent of
the authorities is to suppress accounts
of the real situation here could be null
tiplied, if it was necessary, but the re-
peated assertions of the censor that
he was instructed to permit nothing to
go of political nature, nothing that
could reflect upon the army or create
a bad impression at home leaves no
doubt on that point. Such items as
court martials have been ruled out.
with the explanation, L am here to
protect the honor of the army
Shows Political Bias.
Recently l filed what l thought
most inoffensive statement that the
business men who had appeared be-
fore the commission had advocated
the retention of the existing silver sys-
TEN of currency. The censor said: I
Ought not to let that go. That would
be a lift for Bryan. My instructions
are to shut off everything that could
hurt McKinleys administration. That
is free silver L explained that the
silver system here was not 16 to l, and
with seeming reluctance he o. K.'d
the item.
THE charge that we cared for moth
ing but to make sensations for our pa
pers is most unjust, for doubt if ever
q body of newspaper men were more
conservatiNe in the presence of unlim-
tied provocation for sensationalism.
There have been three of four in
stances which l now recall of conduct
by our soldiers resembling the episode
of the Seventy-first New York in Cuba
which were matters of common knowl-
edge here, and which none of us has
attempted to cable nor desired to.
Lootins and sIacknailing.
There has been, according to Otis
himself, and the personal knowledge
of every one here, a perfect orgy of
looting and wanton destruction of
property, and most outra geous black
mailing of the natives and Cinnamon
in Manila, and various incidents like
The shooting down of several Filipinos
for attempting to run from arrest at
a cock fight, not to mention courtmar-
tials of officers for cowardice and the
dismissal of General for getting hope
lessly drunk on the eve of two import
ant battles-all of which the CORE
spondents have left untouched by COM
mon consent.
Scandals Effecting Officers.
also there are the usual number
of army scandals and intrigues, which
we have not aired. foremost among
them the fact Git is universally con.
sidered a fact in the army that OTIS
is deeply prejudiced against and jeaI-
Gus of Lawton, and has done every
thing in his power to keep Lawton in
making a reputation.
AS a correspondent OF the Associat-
ed Press l am supposed to have no
opinions, but in writing of events like
this war one must necessarily, to con-
vey any idea of the trend of affairs,
go somewhat into tie field of descrip-
ton of conditions. etc. which are IN
the final analysis matters of opinion.
In doing so l have endeavored merely
to reflect the views of the great ma
jority of well informed people. Wheth-
er l have done so correctly you can
easily judge by referring TO the stories
l sent via. Hong Kong soon after my
arrival and afterwards lone on the eth
of April, saying that notwithstanding
the optimistic official view the war was
likely to be a long one and that 1O0,,
900 men would be needed TO end it,. |
You will notice also that the tone OF
the Hong Kong dispatches was decid |
edly different from those sent from |