Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1899-10-05
Some Beauties of the Strong Hand.

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pie who believe that American col
onial government in the Philippines
will be model of justice and order.
in shining contrast with colonial gov
ernment as the world has seen it under
ancient Rome, under Spain and Great
Britain, ETC., are given in the report
of Mr.. Richard NJ. Collins. Associated
Press correspondent at Manila, to his
chief, Mr.. Melville Stone, General
Manager of The Associated Press. This
report was called for in view of the
statements previously made by Asso-
| ciated Press correspondents at Manila,
alleging that important news was sup
pressed and the situation in Luzon
grossly misrepresented by the Ameri-
can military commander. Mr.. Stone
sent copies of the letter to several As
being editor of the Pittsburg Post,
made it public in his paper.
Mr.. Collins says that the press GEN.
sorship at Manila was more severe
than that enforced in war times in
Japan, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and
Russia, or in Cuba under General
Weyler. He says that the press cor
respondents were repeatedly told by
the censor that the purpose was not
simply to prevent the publication of
anything that might aid the enemy,
but to keep the knowledge of the facts
from the people at home. His own
words were, my instructions are to
let nothing go that can hurt the Ad-
ministration. Now the truth has
come out, and under such circum-
stances will 'shurt the Administration
far more th an it otherwise could have
done.
1--WE were compelled" the letter
reads, '.to send nothing but the official
version of all events and conditions,
even when the official view contro-
verted the opinions of the great mass
of the officers in the field and of intel
ligent residents, and was falsifca-
tion of events which passed before our
eyes. In this way every fight became
a glorious American victory, even
though every one in the army knew it
to have been substantially a failure,
and were drilled into writing, quite
mechanically, wholly ridiculous esti-
mates OF the numbers of Filipinos
killed."
Under promise of great change to
be wrought in the situation, the press
correspondents held back for month.
and then sent their "round robin" re-
port, which stirred up so much COM
ment here. First, however, they took
it to the censor, who read it and said:
This is just the sort of thing the CEN
sorship is intended to suppress. The
censor sent it to General Otis, and tht.
latter Immediately called before him
the correspondent of the New York
Snn (an ardent expansionist paper, by
the way) and said to him: '.You have
accused me of falsehood. This con-
stitutes conspiracy against the Gov
ernment," for which, he was further
told, he with his associates in contu-
macy would be tried by a general |
court martial.
Coming to the subject of the situa-
tion in the island as affected by the |
conduct of American soldiers and their |
officers. the report says
There has been. according to Otis |
himself, and the personal knowledge |
of every one here, perfect orgy of
lootipg and wanton destruction of
property, and most outrageous black
mailing of the natives and Cinnamon |
in Manila. and various incidents like
the shooting down of several Filipinos
for attempting to run from arrest at a /
cock fight, not to mention the dismiss
al of General - for getting hopless-
Iy drunk on the eve of two important
battles-all of which the correspond
ents have left untouched by common |
consent. Also, there are the usual
number of army scandals and intrigues,
which we have not aired, foremost
among them the fact (t is universally |
considered a fact in the army that
Otis is deeply prejudiced against and
jealous of Lawton, and has done ev-
erything in his power to keep Lawton
in the hack ground and Dreyept him
from making a reputation"
This will suffice for the report made
by this representative of the Associat-
ed Press. To it may be added the fol-
lowing deposition made by a private
in Colorado regiment, who for three
months served as clerk under the
auditor of public accounts at Manila.
He says reads the report, 'tan ex-
of the vouchers forwarded
to Washington will show that exorbi-
tant prices are paid for all kinds of
supplies purchased in Manila; the vast
quantities of high class wines and 9TH
er supplies have been purchased os-
for the Spanish hospitals,
while in the American hospitals only
The coarsest supplies are furnished.
HE says court-martials of private
soldiers charged with selling Govern
ment property have been stopped be-
cause they would result in the expos
/