The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-08-25
CR|nC|ZES GENERAL OTIS
ANOTHER RETURNED SOLDIER
TALKS.
The True Situation Ia Manila Has
Never Been Put Properly Before the
American People

Fred Il. Hinchman. member of well
known Brooklyn family, who has serv-
ID as "A volunteer in the Philippines as
sergeant Of Company 4, engineer bat !
,alIon, has recently returned home, hav-
ng been invalided and having received
mis- discharge from the army. He says
that the people of the United States
nave been mislead as To the situation In
the Philippines. He says in an inter-
view:
at is difiiCult To realize that practi-
cally the entire American people have
Deen kept in ignorance of the true state
Of affairs in the Philippines for the past
zen months, or since General Otis has
been in command there. This. however
8 the actual fact, as all who have re-
Gently returned from Manila see only
too clearly. The failure to understand
the situation seems to extend to the adj
| .ninistration at Washington, and If AL
| gers assertion that all the information
received has been made public is true,
| the administration should be relieved
| from much of the blame which is now
| falling upon it.
Not only have the reports published
as having been received from General
| Otis been quite incomplete, but in many
| important points, such as the health of
| the troops and the willingness of volun-
| teers to remain, been absolutely and
| deliberately false. The protest signed
| by the various representatives of the
press in Manila is gospel truth but on
| ~ part of 1t. They have put the case
mildly, well knowing, no doubt, that to
| state the facts fully and in detail would
put a sudden end to their activities as
journalists in the Philippine Islands.
From the beginning of his admins
tration in Manila, General Otis has
shown himself the wrong man in a very
| important place. In his dealings with
civilians and the Filipino Government,
nsincere, short sighted and irresolute
or arrogant by turns; in the city gov
eminent, a veritable tax gatherer and
peanut politician, and in his military
capacity, a martinez with an aston
ishing preference for office work at the
palace at Malaganan. To quote a prom
inent English merchant, in summing
up: He has done those things which he
ought not to have done: he has left UNI
done those things which he ought to
have done, and there Is no health in
him.
For a lone discharged soldier to
make all the foregoing bald and unsup-
ported assertions may appear presump-
tuous, but to go into details of the mat
ter would be subject matter for large
book. 1t is one of the miracles of the
18th century that this colossal beat has
remained so long unpublished. Time
will prove each and all of these state
ments to be true. Practically the whole
eighth army corps, both officers and
men, and also the grand majority OF
the foreign colony in Manila, hold the
same sentiments, and in conversation
express them in more picturesque and
violent manner.
General Otis is not a prophet. Fl,
said there would be no fight with tn,
Filipinos. There was a fight. He saiC
ut various times that he would subdu
them at dates long since past. The!
are still fighting. That the situation
was well in hand;h it is slipping
through his fingers. That there will b
no trouble in the southern islands; Their
will be. That the volunteers were will
ing to remain; no words of tongue o
Den can express the almost universe
desire to get home. That he needed blu
few more men; many thousands will
undoubtedly be needed to conquer Lu
zon alone. He has tried to fool all tn
people all the time. He cannot do it,"