The age-herald., 1899-05-12
EXTRACTS FROM
 ATKINSON'S BOOK

mans polemics against war, which have just attained the distinction, so far as the Philippine islands are concerned, of exclusion from the mails of the United States postoffice, are respectively entitled: l, "The Cost of a National Crime;" ?, ''The Hell of War and Its Penalties" and, 3, Criminal Aggression; by Whom Commit- ted?"
 In tho first of the brochures MT. Atkin- son analyses the revenue and expenditure of the United States, past and future, with view of showing that, as a result Of the active war with Spain, and the subsequent proceedings to which he gives the name Of passive war" there will be a deficit in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1900, of sl5O,ooo,- 0s00, and probably more. He closes the ex- hibit with the following arguments:
 "The pretexts upon which this so-called policy of imperialism is promoted consist of mixed motives of piety profits and pa- triotism.
 ''To the advocates who hope for great field in missionary service, we may put the question, How many of the youth of Amer lea will you subject to vice as a sacrifice for each heather convert you may make?
 ''To the advocates of the expansion of commerce we will put the question, How
 
 people of the Philippine islands to con- sume American goods, when, in fact, dur ing the last ten years they have bought of us on the average of $10O 600 a year? Yet we have bought of them annually, in the same period, an average of $7.000,000 worth mainly of sugar and hemp, and from the export duties on these products the Span ish government has secured its principal revenue, such export taxes being forbid den by the constitution of the United States.
 "To those who set up the pretext of. pa triotism, we calk attention to the reflex Of miltarism, the pauper labor of continental Europe waiting for its remedy, until the masses who carry the guns turn them against the classes who carry the sword to their oppression in the conscript service which is eating out the heart of Europe
 "To the worlSmen we put the question: How long will you bear an additional tax on the articles of common use which are consumed, not in proportion to ability, but in proportion to numbers. from which the principal revenues of the United States are collected, such additional taxes upon every one of your families of five persons surely coming to not less than $15 year?
 1.-The pretexts are piety, profits and pa triotism the conclusions, vice, venalty and pauperism. These are the constants which surely accompany the rule of blood and iron, and control of the masses by mill itary classes"
 In "The Hell of War and Its Penalties, MT. Atkinson not only argues against war as an economist. but takes in opposition to it the ground which has usually been left, on the one hand to sanitary experts and on the other medical men. In his letter to President Mckinley, here cited. he says:
 "The greatest and most unavoidable dan- ger to which our forces will be exposed to will neither be levers nor malaria; it will be venereal diseases, in their worst and most malignant form. It is this which has re- duced the population of Hawaii to a de- generated remnant. per cent. of whom are isolated under sentence of death from lep- rosy; a disease of similar type. perhaps not from the same cause, which gives evil dence of the utter degeneracy of these poor people.
 "The records of the British army in India and China. and the condition of the English troops in Hong Kong, lately reported to me by an English gentleman, who has been studying social conditions throughout the world, are horrible in the extreme.
 "The records of the medical department and the testimony of the visitors of our own camps In this country, coupled with the observations of members of congress with whom I have consulted, prove that the phase of the hell of war had taken firm hold of our troops even before they had been exposed to the greater hazard at their
  and Manila.
 "The precautions reported to me by com mercial men who are thoroughly familiar with the conditions of these places, espe- cially Manila, made necessary even on the part of private persons lest the infection should be carried from lavatories and the like, indicate the utterly corrupt condi- ton of all the principal cities of these is- lands.
 'It is no time to mince words or to for bear plain speech under a false sense of del- icacy. These words must be spoken This danger must be publicly named and these facts must be widely known and the expo sure to the corruption of the young blood of this nation must be stopped. It is not a pleasant duty, but I shall assume this duty. The final responsibility will rest upon yourself and all who have authority. Unless you would invite the execration of the mothers of the land and cause your administration to stand recored in his tory with utter condemnation, you can not ignore or slight these facts and this danger, which Is an evil worse than death, worse than war; to try to ignore 1t and not to provide against the inclusion of these islands in our domain will be to the dis grace of those who shall bring this danger of corruption of the blood upon our coun- try-a greater disgrace than all other losses of honor combined"
 Elsewhere In the pamphlet MT. Atkinson urges that the death rate in our forces in the Philippines in the first year will be one-third about 5000 men, while prob ably larger number will be sent home in- valided. The reason thus becomes plain, he says, why volunteers enlisted for the Gu ban or Spanish war are now (January 1S99) held on technical agreement for two years service in the Philippine islands
 "Lest others" he continues, should be entrapped into enlistment in the regular army or the volunteer service in the trop- ics, 1t will only be fair and honest on the part of the recruiting officers to be put in possessio nof these facts. Many self-sacri- ficing men might enlist on the certainty of death or disability within the next two years. but will, of course. be married be- fore leaving for Manila in order to be as- sured of adequate pensions for their wid- -ows and children.
 '"rhe way to avoid all these penalties is plain. It is simply not to commit an act of criminal aggression,' term so well chosen by President McISiney
 '"rhese islands can bc neutralized; ther cornmarce can he extended: the peace If