The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-07-20

Belligerent Expansion Editors Are
willing to Employ the Artillery
of Their Own Mouths, but Hesi-
tate to Shed One Drop of Their
Blood - Philippines Not a White
Mans Country.
That the general feeling among the
boys in the Philippines is in favor of i'm
mediate return to the United States is
evidenced in letter received yesterday
by f. H. Russell, of Eyota, Mimi, from
Nlcholas Hansen, an Eyota member of
company A, Thirteenth Minnesota. The
letter rs written from Manila under date
OF June 3, and in it Mr.. Hansen saws:
presume you have long ere this re-
ceived my letter telling you of my unsuc-
cessful attempt of stopping a piece of
Filipino lead. I did not get over that as
soon as L thought, and am stin here at
the hospital meditating over the conse-
Queqnces of that foolishness. I have been
progressing steadily but slowly. I had to
remain In bed nearly four weeks, which
was something of a trial itself in this eli
mate. Otherwise have not suffered
greatly especially as compared with some
VI the otner wounded men here who. not
merely nave their flesh torn, but also
thelr bones shattered. Some of them have
peen mere for four months and will NOT
get well for a good while vet The lost
two weeks have been hohhlino, oho,,+ ~
ward little on four legs. but 7 have met
discarded my crutches. The wound 10 oil
most entirely healed up, but nv leg gets
6dSllV IF
II VIII De some weeks yet before will
get my former strength back again Tho
injury Will not, however, be permanent
AS stated In my former letter. we arc
talrly well treated here in the hosni+oI
tAough the same lack of discipline and
eiaIllng so manifest in the volunteer
10y may also be seen here The phv
9.oIdhs are poth competent and conscien-
uous. Surgeon Major Fitzgerald ~ NTi-,
lleaPoHs, especially holds the confidence
u the wounded men, but that can hardI1
oe sdlo OF the nurses. There are Soma
eooo women nurses here, but not enonob
anu the men nurses are neither so carnfI1i
80 ~ 90 attentive to their duties as thew
thonob a. we get fairly good board, al
lug tlouen II Is made up largely of army ra-
IONS ,il with a few extras added.
II is generally expected here +bo+ ~,
Ciesons VIII embark on the HancocIr co.,
me United States in a few DAYS Tba
rest Will then follow as soon as tran
epUitS can De got ready, and hardly need
~ ~ tIldt the entire volunteer army
- cheering over the prospect of 2 sneadI,
return. Some of the expansion naners
nave lhtlmated that the volunteers roieb+
Dhe 10 stay until the fighting sbo7,Id
cease. How those fellows prata aboI,t
ngntlng when they are at a distance of
49, i1liles from the scene of the con-
mt sometimes wish that these in
pe organized into brigade and sent over
mere to do the fighting 1 will bet fen 70
one that they would change their oninion
IN less than twenty-four hours-and tho
country would at the same time he rid
OF lot of prating knaves. They talk
ABOUT our soldierly honor as If thev
ever had any; about quitting under Are,
as II they had ever been under fire: abou+
shedding glory upon American arms
etc, etc, all of which big SOUNDING
phrases they are willing to support noos{
zealously by the artillery of their own
mouths, but not by one drop of their
own blood. o4A
"Well, I am using somewhat strong
language, but 1t is really exaspera+ino
to see these papers attempt to show thai
we nave a sort of picnic here, and that
they know the sentiment of the volun-
teers when, as matter of fact. thew
nave not tried to ascertain our senti-
menus at all. II they had they would
Know better The letter of Gov Lee. of
South Dakota, to the president renre
| sents the sentiments of the volunteers
pretty we'll. They feel that the purpose
they enlisted for has been attained. and
that II the United States decides 1non
an aggressive policy regulars should he
secured as soon as practicable to sun
port that policy. This does not neces
Sarlly argue that the volunteers are tin,id
hs1h ~
OF the before mentioned papers said
On the contrary, they respond as readily
10 any call as they would under any cir
cumstances. But they don't care 10 do n
II we were still lighting Spain nothing
"ould De said AS it Is now, l doubt if
enough men to form a single hatta1io,1
can be induced to re-enlist and remain
here A''1ii
The brushes we have had with tba
t11plnos hardly deserve the name Of bat
ties Excepting possibly three or four
they We're rather skirmishes attended
with more or less severe loss. Neverthe-
less our aggregate loss by this time is
not small, the killed numbering upward
OF 3OO, and the wounded upwards of 1900
There are troops here who have had
Su1hclent experience to learn what war
means, both as to danger and hardships
On April 3 two battalions of the Thir-
teenth went with Lawton on his march
rain more or less every day, and f.c
four weeks these troops kept tru6IIino
over rice fields steadily getting r,6ra oD5
more muddy, fording streams and fight
ing Filipinos. They were yet nearly all
the time, either with persIiration or rain
and had no chance to renew or dry their
clothes They had to sleep on the wet
ground, of courZe, with no covering but
rubber bl9pGet that will keep cut about
as much cater as a screen door. They
hau 70 carry their ammunition and at.
tlmsrs their rations, and finally they had
70 convey their wounded men several
miles to the railroad. WE'LL such is war.
If anybody chooses to call it a picnic they
can do so.
How cold is it here? Well. it isn't
cold at all, any more than 1t is cold in
Minnesota in July. 1 am quite sure that
the thermometer never fans lower than
25 degrees above the freezing point even
on the coolest night in January, and this
we call pretty chilly here. This is not a
white mans country, whatever the pa
pers say to the contrary. ! have not vet
seen the day here when white man
could perform ordinary manual labor for
any length of time