The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-10-08
LEADS ALL NORTH CAROLINA DAES I'M NEWS AMID CIRCULATION

dead of both sides The American priests
had more power than the Spanish priests
with the natives.
"There are Americans going into Ma
Mia who do not represent even the aver
age class of Americans citizens. Take
some of the civilians. There are a Mr..
Brown, whose name is Baranski, and
Mr.. Carmen associated together in the
American Commercial Com | have
it on the authority of N in and
Timothy w. Coakley, of = dppines-
American Company, + men and
Brown sell tomatoes 50 per case,
whereas the duty OF - Ses is $8 per
case.
THE PRosF : CARMEN.
1T is said t - Carmen came to
Manila six mon,% o a penniless man,
and that today he1 IS a monopoly Of the
Nipa Thatch and the cascos for transpor-
tation of the Pasig river. Mr.. Brown is
often seen with American officers, when
these officers are intoxicated, taking
them to their homes. | have watched
him thus again and again.
"Mr. Brown is connected with the sa-
loon business, and that is the business
which fourishes best in Manila.
"The abuses referred to are mdoubt-
edly caused by the fact that we retain
| the impractical duties of the Spanish
regime in force. These duties are levied
not only on foreign nations sending in
| produce but also upon the produce of
| Spain. Heretofore everything in the
| line of Spanish groceries and provisions
came in free of duty; hence table living
was cheap. Now we have ungOdly du-
ties on condensed milk, canned tomatoes,
| etc.
| "There is no use in any American citi-
zen trying to get into Luzon just now
| to start in business, because, if he takes
| in his merchandise honestly through the
custom house. it would be impossible for
| him to make Il living.
| Il know that some of our soldiers
| oftentimes levy blackmail ON the people
of the city, going, for example, into a
| Chinaman's house and charging him 80
for the tax Of his piano So much IS
| this carried on that day or two before
| came away the walls of Manila were
plastered with a proclamation of Gen.
| Otis calling attention to the fact that
no citizens should pay taxes to any one
except at the places established by the
| Government.
NATIVES WANT AUTONOMY.
Il think the people in the islands gen
orally would rather have an autono-
nous government under an American
protectorate than anything like Il colo
| nial or annexation arrangement.
Il am inclined to think that their ma
tional aspirations are very much strong
er than most people imagine. However,
it looks reasonable to me that, with u
large and efficient army, order can be
restored and Aguinaldo's army captured.
'Then it will depend upon how justly
the people we send there treat the Fill
pinos. Nobody could justly have the
| opinion that either the American Gov
ernment or people mean to oppress the
inhabitants of the Philippines. but many
| of the agents sent there are undoubtedly
corrupt
For instance, / saw on the books of
the Red Cross Society of California an
account of how two young fellows, one
am army officer and the other Red
| Cross officer, had stolen the supplies OF
the Red Cross, sold them, and had gone
/ into business and were now prosperous
business men in Manila As long as
such dishonesty and cruelty are possl-
BILE with our soldiers and civilians, L
do not think there will be any lasting
1 peace in the Philippines.
But | do think that if the campaign
was given into the hands of one man
who was competent to run the army, ana
another man who was competent to run
the civil administration, we could have
peace
'"Fhere is a good deal of jealousy be-
tween the high officers of the army, ana
that makes it difficult to force matters
to a focus with the Filipinos.
IF the dispatches are true that Whea-
ton. Lawton and Macarthur are to have
separate commands, each one with full
power | do not think it is in human
nature that they should work i'll har-
mony.
OTIS SHOULD GO.
at seems unfortunate to retain Gen.
Otis i'm command of the Philippines. He
may have all the qualifications and have
the confidence of the Government, but,
inasmuch as he has entirely lost the
confidence of the soldiers and civilians
in the Philippines, | think we will find
if more difficult to handle things with
him as Goyernor-General than we would
if we had a new mana man like Gen.
Leonard Wood or Gen. Irving Hale.
Il do not agree with DIR. Schurmann
il he thinks that the sphere of hostility
to America in the Philippines is small
| one.
"The natives of all the islands ! visit
ed, Cebu, Negros, Pany, Sulu and Luz
zon. seemed to feel that we are the ag-
gressors, except the people of Joo, who
do not believe that we are going to es-
tablish u very firm government over
them, or one distinctly American.
Towards the end of July in Manila
the soldiers seemed to degenerate The
war began to assume the ugly phases of
a race war. The new regiments do not
have the calibre of men which the volun-
teers had. They are much apt to kick
and cuff the natives. Langley Jones. of
the Associated Press assures me that he
saw on the Escolta, from his rooms in
the English hotel, over hundred un-
iustifable assaults by Americans on the
E'ihpinos.
AN American chaplain i'm Malabon,
whose name | withhold, told me that in
= his first narish work he had been told