Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-11-02
HOW THE BOYS FEEL.
FRED WHITES CHARGES AGAINST
THEM ANSWERED..

| Against the FiIipinos, but They Were
True to the Flag and Fought to Defend
It-They Believe the War Should Be
| Pushcd-ColoneI Lopez Says 1--WE Are
All American Soldiers and Stand by tho
Flag"
| The return of the Fifty-flrst regi.
ment from the Philippines and the
| heartfelt welcome which goes out to
| them from every loyal citizen of Iowa
| is in marked contrast with the Ian
guage that has been used during the
campaign by Candidate Fred White
and by General Weaver and others
who are supporting the Democratic
ticket by ascliling the administration
and branding the boys who have been
unfolding the hands of the president
as "tyrantS.'
1t is well, in these closing days of
the campaign, to remember that Fred
White used the following expressions
in nearly every public speech he has
made since the campaign commenced:
I'm the long list of bloody deeds that
disgrace humankind, none, it seems to
me, is so entirely black and dastardly
as the awful drama that we are now
enacting-the carrying on of war by
fire and sword into the devoted homes
of an innocent people who never did
us the slightest wrong and who bat
tied for their freedom centuries before
the American colonies raised the ban
ner of revolt against George III. To
heed not the holy Inspirations of q
people who are striving to secure only
their God given heritage of freedom is
worthy of the barbarian. To slaughter
such people and apply the torch to
their homes ARE acts that define the
tyrant.'
Il care not from whom this sicken-
ing gush of the infallibility of the flag
may come, whether from the tempo
rary occupant of the presidential chair
or from some obscure layman. This
doctrine that the flag is always in
vested with peculiar sanctity, and
that it must be defended with the last
life, whether it floats from Independ-
ence hall, from the top of Bunker Hill
monument, or from the newly acquired
haremS OF vOluptuOus Sulu chiefs; this
doctrine that the flag is as holy an
emblem in the one place as in the 9TH
er is at once downright childish and
intensely vicious, incapable of being
invoked in any other than q desperate,
unhOly cause"
In this connection it is we'll to call
attention TO the fact that the treaty of
Paris which put an end to the Spanish
war, was ratified by the senate of the
United States Feb. 6, 1899. BY this
ratification, ending the war for which
our boys enlisted, their terms of en-
listment expired and they could have
at once demanded their muster out.
Dld they do it? No, they were not
that sort of soldiers. They had been
ordered to the Philippines to assist in
putting down an Instruction against
the authority which the United States
had acquired in those islands as
result of the war, and they did not
propose to turn their backs on the
flag.
Up to the time when the treaty of
Paris was ratified the Iowa troops
had not participated in single en-
gagement nor had they been assigned
to duty. Ll fact, they had but three
days before diSembarked from the
transport upon which they had spent
ninety-thrce days. They might have
demanded that the transport put about
but they did not. On Feb. they took
part in the capture of San Rogue and
not until April Is. when they We're sent
to MalOlOs. did they begin that active
| duty on the firing line that has won
them so many laurels for bravery.
April %, sCventy-siX days after the
ratification of the peace treaty and the
| termination of the war for which they
had enlisted they participated in their
| hrSt battle at Quingua, where twelve
men of the gallant regiment felt the
| sting of Filipino bullets. From that
time until Sept. %, at which time they
| were ordered to Manila to return home,
| the tlfty-tirSt were almost continual
| ly on the firing line. Concerning them
| the Manila Times, in its issue, printed
| the day after the Iowa boys arrived
| from the front, says:
What record! Few can boast a
better, and indeed Iowa need e proud
with all the suffering and hard
| ships, sickness and tribulationS atten-
! dant upon campaign, these sturdy
| volunteers bore all like true soldiers,
without a single murmur.
Yesterday, when the regiment ar
| rived, one cOmpany-G of Creston-
consisted of four privates and two
| nOn-cOmmisSiOned officers, in command
of the first sergeant, as they had no
officer. Others mustered eight or ten
to 81 company. The original strength
of the regiment was 1854 officers and
men at present there are SOC and of
these when they left the line but 22G
were able to do duty. Heroes is too
inadequate an expression for these no.
| BILE lads"
Remember all these gallant deeds
were performed after the terms of en-
| listment of the Fifty-first had, strictly
speaking, expired, and our boys were
| solely actuated by love of the flag and
were not compelled to remain in the
service of their country. Also remem-
Der that Fred White says that by per-
| forming these deeds of valOr our bows
were engaged in acts (which define the
| tyrant."
The people of Iowa who glory in the
achievements of the Fifty-first should
see to it that Fred White receives n
most emphatic answer in disapproval
of his TRADES against the boys and
the flag on election day.
The boys themselves are answering
the Democratic campaigners. Colonel
| Lopez said at San Francisco, after the
arrival of the regiment:
Il have many Democrats in my COM
mand, but not n single one will tell
you anything else but that he wants to
see the rebels whipped and is in favor
of all that will bring this about with
out loss of time. We have no partisan
politics; all are American soldiers and
CT nd for tho fac