The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1899-06-28
More Troops Wanted.
Commander Ford's Opinion of the
Filipino Campaign.

DaItluiOic ouAs oohO '-'
Commander John D. Ford, feet
engineer Of the Asiatic station, reach
ed his home 1922 West Lanvale St T.,
on Saturday morning before noon,
after an absence of year and half,
most of which period he spent on
board the cruiser Baltimore in the
bay of Manila.
Commander Ford was the only
Baltimore officer on board the Balti-
more during the battle Of Manila and
since. His return on the army trans
port Zelandia, having left Manila on
May 9, probably completes his last
voyage in the service of his country
and he expects to be retired in q
short time.
When I LEFT, said Mr.. Ford yester
day, we held not quite as much
ground as was ours during the first
part of August last year, and our
lines were restricted to the suburbs
of Manila. The troops did push out
into the country, but could not hold
the ground they made by raids and
were obliged to fall back. 1t is i'm
possible to conquer the people or to
gain the islands without more soldiers
out there, and but if we bend our
energies to doing it, We can beat them
and take the island. 1t twould mean
great loss of life and considerable
time, but it could be done. AS it is
now it is all we can do to hold our
own. The insurgents are constantly
encoaching and though, as l have
said, raids are made, the natives
driven back and the lines thrown out,
we can't hold the ground because we
have not enough men.
The line is always active and there
is no relief. Men spend months in
the trenches subjected to great mental
and physical strain and never know
ing at what moment they will be as
sailed. The lines of the natives are
often not block away from our OVID,
and the rule is when you see head
exposed to shoot it. The natives are
always on the defensive. They make
no advances of their own, but wait
and shoot when they can, do all the
damage to US they know how and
when we sally out they are driven
back into places where it is impos-
sible to follow, so strong is their
number, so impregnable the country.
The Fllipinos pictured in the SEN
sational papers are not the men we
are fighting. They are entirely dis
tinct and separate. The fellows we
deal with out there are not ignorant
savagee, fighting with bows and ar
rows, but an intelligent, liberty loving
people, full of courage and deternina-
ton. The idea that the Filipino is
an uncivilized being is mistaken
one. Originally the natives of those
islands sprang from japanese stock
and are identically the same race,
with change in language and Gus
toms. There was time when the
feudal system prevailed IN Manila
but no vestige now remains and the
savagery Of the people is found only
in the very lowest class of "negritos
or ''litile niggers,' as the Filppinos
are called.
I have pictures taken here, which
I brought home, Of native women
who would be handsome anywhere,
and of good looking, breiny men.
They have the intellect and the
stamina to govern themselves and
have done it for 800 years, although
under the rule Of Spain. They were
the clerks, and bookkeepers, the as.
SCISSORS ard managed the ertice ma
chinery Of government. Their couc-
age is undcub!ed, and they fight to
the death, having among them q
super stition that if you are killed
you do not really die, but in three
days re-appear somewhere else.
CAS- for their condition now, as far
as can see, they are stronger, mere
determined and more skillfcl in the
art cf wsr than when the fighting
out there started, and as days so by
they increase in strength and knowl.
edge, having nine or eleven millions
of people to draw from. They are
armed with Hausers-the best rife
in the Woodland are far better
marksmen than tie Spaniards. At
first they shot high and missed, but
now they have caught on and Gin
| low with deadly effect. They have
a good Government now, which they
are operating successfully, ard pre-
! serve law and order. They certainly
don't think theirs is hopeless fight
| on5 1,n't think ony0pa else does