The record-union., 1899-04-15
THE PLEA OF A sENTIMENTALIsr

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THE PLEA OF A SENTIMENTALIST
The Governor of South Dakota in ask
ing the President to recall the regiment
from that State now serving in the
Philippines, arraigns the Administration
severely as acting without the lines OF
the Constitution in keeping the troops
in the Philippines, as offending against
the spirit of the Declaration of indie
pendence, and as contradicting itself
in the light of it's declared policy con-
corning Cuba.
Evidently the Governor of South Da-
kota is devoid of common shrewdness.
If he imagines that he can frighten or
bulldoze the President into recalling
the troops, he is wofully mistaken.
Every argument used by the Gov
ernor in support of his demand will APP
ply with equal force to the troops of
all the States now in service of the Fed
eral Government The appeal or de-
mand, therefore, runs to the whole
question and is intended to make an
issue regarding our entire policy of the
Government in the Philippines.
1t is absurd to think that this Gov
eminent will undertake to compel any
volunteers to serve it a day beyond the
term of enlistment. 1t has not come
to that by any means and never will.
The troops themselves have not been
heard to murmur nor are they protest
ing that they are held under compul-
sion, or are serving against their wills.
Indeed, such as desired to come home
when the term of enlistment expired
have been returned. The Government
has recognized the right of the men
to be mustered out on expiration of the
enlistment term by Offering them in
ducements to re-enlist and to remain
in the service. The latest advices from
the islands represent the men as not
suffering, as not subjected to duress,
and generally as not undergoing hard
ships unusual in such campaigning as
is on in the Philippines. One of the
most Intelligent writers on the subject
is Priest McQuade of San Francisco,
Chaplain Of one Of the regiments In a
recent letter to the Bulletin" he speaks
at length Of the condition of the troops,
and the care taken for their comfort
and declares that their general health
is good, in short the priest does not
find a bad condition of affairs nor does
he even suggest that there is any de-
sire by the men to abandon their work
The Governor of Dakota will not find
it an easy task to cultivate animosity
against the Administration because the
volunteer troops are not returned from
the Philippines and the country given
over to the control Of the Filipinos and
the anarchy that would result. For
withdrawal of the volunteers before
their places are fully filed by regulars,
would amount to fleeing from the arch
ipelago and granting complete triumph
to Aguinaldo and his hackers.
1t would mean abandonment of the
100000 people of the island of Negroes
who are in perfect harmony with u.s.
and have received our officials with
generous welcoming. So, too, at and
about Iloilo, where the country has
been pacified and peaceful conditions
have become settled ones, and industry
and business have resumed sway, our
abandonment would mean domestic
war and the most deplorable resulting
conditions.
To recall the troops of the States be-
fore our lines are so strong as to rem
der their presence no longer necessary,
would be to weaken our influence in
Cuba and Porto Rico and possibly nee
essitate new campaigns in those ISL
ands. 1t would mean the intervention
OF other Powers, and seizure of the
philippines by them, while the United
States would be written down as having
abandoned its duty, and cowardly
turned its back upon semi-civilized and
savage foes. We would lose all the
prestige we gained by the war with
Spain, and defeat the prime and central
object OF our purpose in the Philippines
and in the other possessions we have
taken from Spain.