Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-04-19
REALITIES OF IMPERIALISM.

dispatches. OWlnB lloIe 10 WHAT ih'S'
dispatches didn't say than 10 what they
did say the American people were left TO
infer that although the rather incon-
gruous element OF gunpowder entered
very largely into our work OF benevolent
assimilation, an affinity was brought
about. in measure, by the agency
OF civilized warfare and Humanitarian
ism" Lately. however. numerous Off
GERS and soldiers Of our army in tho
islands have, while resting from the neat
ana burden of the campaign, been anus
ing themselves writing to the folks
at home, and extracts from some OF their
letters. which have found their way into
print. tell quite a different story. And,
rs we said the other day. if even half
Of this different story Is true, We have
rapidly assimlated the Spanish style
Of pacifying the natives, which
few months ago Mr.. McKinleys organs
denounced in unmeasured terms as not
only uncvilized, but atroctous. The tale
officers and privates serving in the Philip
pines unfold to their families is one Of
wanton destruction and unblushing
appropriation Of private property, the
burning Of villages, the killing Of wounded
rebels" and the wholesale Closing" Of
prisoners. We have already published
extracts from several private letters from
the seat Of war, which throw important
light upon our method OF conducting our
humanity mission" but we select and
present as specimens two more from a
new batch Of excerpts we find in northern
papers. A Kansas man writes this, in the
course of a description of the part his
regiment took ia the battle Of Caloocan:
Company | had taken few prisoners
and stopped. The colonel ordered them
up into line time after time, and finally
sent Captain Bishop back to start them.
Then occurred the hardest sight / ever
saw. They had four prisoners and didn't
know what TO do with them. They asked
Captain Bishop what to do, and he said:
You know the orders and four natives
fell dead"
And a member Of a company of engi-
neers writes:
at the Puente Colgante suspension
BRIDGE l met one of our company, who
told me that the Fourteenth and WASH
ingtons were driving all before them,
and taking no prisoners. This Is how
our rule of procedure for cause. After
my message | had not walked
Il block when / heard shots down the
street. Hurrying forward, l found a
group Of our men taking pot shots across
the river, into a bamboo thicket, at about
200 yards, / longed TO Join them, but
had my reply TO take back, and that Of
course. was the first thing 10 attend to.
/ reached the Office at =. NJ, just in
time TO see a platoon of the Washing
tons with about fifty prisoners. who had
been taken before they learned how not
TO take them"
From these statements, and they are
supported by the contents Of other pri-
vate letters, it would seem that in only
one particular is our assimilation Of the
Spanish style incomplete. The Spaniards,
true to the inherent regard of their race
for courtesy and form, were polite enough
to line up their prisoners and dispose of
them through regular firing parties;
we treat ours as the Texan
said he always treated snakes-killcd
them out Of hand wherever he saw them.
The censored dispatches have repre-
sented our soldiers as being very much
over the task of benevolent
Mr. Mckinley set them TO
do, and as revelling in the glory of it.
But private letters and interviews with
returned soldiers tell another story in re-
spect OF this matter also. \ sergeant in
i'm. hn 10 h,
Tough, makes the following statement:
There's no use trying TO conceal the
fact that many of the men over there
now. especially the volunteers, are home
sick and tired of fighting way off there
with nothing in particular TO gain. There
is not one man in the whole army now
in the Philippines who would not willing
ly give up his life for the fag L 1t was
necessary, but 1t isn't pleasant TO think
about dying at the hands Of a foe little
better than savage, and SO far away
from home
The truth Of this declaration is borne
out, not only by various family letters
which vent disgust with the Job of
'nigger-killing' III the Philippines, but by
specials from Washington touching the
feeling Of our soldiers in the islands. One
of the specials in question, which repre-
sents fairly the tenor Of them all. SAYS
that "the desire OF the volunteers to re-
turn TO this country is evidenced in re-
port which shows that of those who have
been offered opportunity to re-enlist with
the offer Of a bonus in travel-pay of over
$500, only about per cent will accept"
IN this connection it may be remarked
that the expressions dead nlggers."
"killing niggers," pitching "nigger
corpses into a hole" and the like. stud
the private communications from the
Of northern and western SOL
diers; thus showing that race prejudice
is race prejudice under any and all cir
and that in "benevolently
assimilating" the Filpinos. Mr.. McKin-
ley will bring US face to face with an
other serious race problem provided, OF
course. the Filipinos are not "assiml-
lated" out of existence.
Again We were assured in the CEN
sored dispatches that our army Of inva-
sion was going through the rebels" like
fire through a broom-straw field, and that
when Aguinaldo's capital was captured
the backbone of the rebellion would be
broken. Agunaldos capital was captured
and partially burned. and scores Of other
towns and villages have been swept out
" existence. All the same. however, Cen
eral Lawton has been forced finally to
the admission that the rebellion" has
an immense reserve stock of backbones Ia
the Island OF Luzon alone, and that 1t
VIII take 10000 men 70 break them all