Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-05-12
WaaAlngton Standard
HOW THE FIGHTING BEGAN.

Secretary Long, in his Boston ha-
rancuc, icy, 4tcd the stall" nh>urdity
that tho outbreak nf huSiilitlr> III the
Philippines VT. caused 10y the protest
oil Il large percentage oi our people
against the imperial policy. The
cuckoo journals rcitcratc tins impu-
dent pretensc.
General Reeve, vino went to the isl
and> a. Colonel OF Minnesota regi-
ment and was promoted to be Briga-
der General, has returned to Mime
apolis and been interviewed by the
Journal OF that city. He talks plainly
and honestly, and his talk shows how
the fighting began and how easily it
might have been avertcd. Here is
what he says on this point:
"Whcn our troops first landed in
the Philippines very few, il any, OF the
natives dreamed of or cared Ior actual
independence. Aguinaldo himself
thought only of erectinga government
under American protection. He per
sonally told me that he did not think
the Filipinos knew enough about con-
Quoting international relations and
enough about finance and free adj
ministration to set up nation OF
their own, but that as for the other
functions of government he thought
the could get along very we'll. | re-
gard Aguinaldo as 4 very able man. /
am not OF the same opinion as those
who hold that he is puppet in the
hands OF ADLER men. But soon after
we occupied Manila there began to de-
velop among the insurgents war or
absolute independence party. The
chief leader was Antonio Luna, editor
of the Filipino paper, Independence,
who was at first very favorably dis
posed toward us. Bat the fact that
they were not considered in the treaty
of Paris, but we're disposed of for $780,
100000, caused some of the leaders to
entertain grave doubts as to the
straightforwardness of our intentions.
They argued that in view of the fact
that they practically controlled the
whole Of the islands with the exception
of the city of Manila the sale of the
title for $2O,0OO,OO indicated that the
Americans intended to exploit them.
Having had no experience except that
of broken promises in their relations
with the Spaniards, they could not,
under the dubious circumstances, be-
lieve that we meant to deal fairly with
them. Finally, no definite promise or
statement was made to them by the
Americans. Added to the causes of
suspicion and the lack of q definite |
policy on our part was the forbearance
of our soldiers, which impressed the
more ignorant of the natives with the |
idea that the Americans were afraid of |
them.
"Then such men as Luna, Pho del |
Pillar, Mabini and Aravelo, who had |
become out.and-out independents. be-
gan to set in circulation stories about |
the Americans, which. being greedily
swallowed and believed, led to the |
popular impression that American
rule would be worse, if anything, than
the yoke of Spain. Besides this, a |
whole lot of patriotic sentiment and
independent enthusiasm had been
worked up where it had not existed be-
fore. So things went from bad to
worse, our government failing to enun-
ciate policy, and the independents
continually putting before the natives
their very definite policy of absolute
independence. One of the stories that
received universal acceptance was that
ever since the Americans had liber.
ated their negro slaves they had been
looking around for others and thought
they had found them at last in the
Philippines. 1t was rather surprising,
with the natives in such frame of
mind, that the fighting did not begin
sooner. You know how it came and
what have been the events since. do
not need to dwell on that. But can
tell you one piece of news that is not
generally known in the United States.
"On Sunday, February 5, the day
after the fighting began, General Tor
res of the insurgents came through
our lines under flag of truce and had
a personal interview with General Otis,
in which, speaking for Aguinaldo, he
declared that the fighting had been
begun accidentally and was not au-
thorized by Aguinaldo, that Aguinaldo
wished to have it stopped, and that to
bring about conclusion OF hostilities
he proposed the establishment of
neutral zone between the two armies
of any width that would be agreeable
to General Otis, 80 that during the
peace negotiations there might be no
further danger of conflicts between
the two armies. To these representa-
tions OF General Torres, General Otis
sternly replied that the fighting, hav-
ing once begun, must 60 on to the
grim end. And it has been going on
ever since. The little brown fellows
whom We all expected to disperse in
short order are fighting. and fighting
we'll, though they cannot bring them
selves to stand for hand.to-hand com.
bats.
"Now as to what could have been