Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-26
ONLY EiCHTEEN.

After the Montana volunteers landed
in San Francisco the Examiner made
a thorough canvass among them for eN-
pressions of disapproval of General Otis.
of the war in the Philippines and Of the
policy of expansion as it applies to the
retention of the islands. In the entire
regiment but eighteen men We're found
who would in any manner offer criticism
of the existing order of things. All the
rest of them We're found to be in thor
ough accord with the aims and purposes
of the government. 1t must be con-
teded that the weight of argument is on
the side Of the great majority, in a case ,
where personal experience and obser-
walton is looked upon as reliable ~testi-i
non
With all due respect for the few men
who venture criticism in one form or
another, it quite naturally follows that
the hardships incident to military duty
in the tropics would produce in some q
Feeling Of intense disgust and disapproyal
Of the causes leading up to personal
4ulScOnIOTIuI6. lHlS letllHS Wal IIeN1A~
ably take the form Of criticism, when
drawn out in the shape Of a newspaper
interview.
1t is quite noticeable, however, that the
men who went into the service through
~promptings Of loyalty to their country's
flag, and who fought in that spirit, as
most Of the Montana boys did, have no
criticisms to offer. Hardships and suf-
, ferings only intensity the ardor of the
true patriot. 1t is the unfortunate who
enlisted for a picnic, and failed to find it,
whose nature recoils upon itself, and
sz;who finds. a safety valve for his own feel
ings by, censuring the powers that be
for the unpleasant experiences he has
been compelled to undergo.
Nothing could be more gratifying to the
patriotic sentiment of the country han
the comparative unanimity of the return
ing soldiers in favor Of the aims and OBJ
jects Of the war. With but few dis
senting voices they proclaim the justice
Of the American cause, the wisdom and
care which have been exercised in the
administration Of military affairs, and
the intrinsic value of our new possessions
to the commercial life of the republic.
These lessons should not be lost upon
the American people.
For months past the democratic news
papers have tried, with the desperation
of political despair, to poison the public
+ -, - 10 avicti,o conditions in tho
Philippines. General Otis, who has
borne the burden of civil as we'll as mill
tary duty-who has ~endeavored to lay
broad and deep the foundations of paci-
@tication by refusing to destroy the prop
erty holdings of the Filipinos and by ac-
cording to the captured every considera-
ton of mercy which the conditions of wal
would alloW-has been abused like a
pickpocket by the bourbon press. Pres
ident Mckinley has been assailed for the
: on-performance of that which such
characterless organs defined as his duty
and when their system of procedure has
been followed by the chief executive-no
because they suggested it, but because
THEY LII " III q oiAS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS torrent of abuse
has followed. The administration has
been damned when it did and damned
when it didn't.
Lurid editorials on the justice of Agui
naldo's cause have been thrust under the
eyes of the American public every morn
ing for months, and long essays on tn,
folly of holding the poverty-stricken ant
sterile wastes of the South Pacific hay,
been laid before the people. Intelli
gent men, who take the trouble to inform
themselves on such matters as they arts
for public judgment. have known al
along hat the democratic press wa
making a most assinine exhibition of it
own ignorance and dishonesty, and tina
such efforts to create cheap political cap
ital would inevitably react.