Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-07-22


the river under fire that day, saying:
II propose to make all the heroes
that are made in this war"
Colonel Thompson, the press censor,
has refused to allow me to mention
regiments distinguishing themselves
in battle, saying he was ordered to do
so by General Otis.
During General Wheaton's advance
to Pasig and beyond with the Flying
!, brigade Otis ordered all press dis
patches stopped unless they described
the enemy fighting furiously and said
enormous losses were inflicted by our
troops.
As a matter of fact on this occasion
the insurgents were contemplate In
numbers and ran away except in cases
of one or two small bands, and their
losses were very slight.
General Otis conditions for press
dispatches were 80 outrageously dis
honest that I refused to send any dis.
patches, preferring to let The Journal
be beaten rather than to telegraph
official lies.
The most extraordinary thing is that
up to the time I left Manila, which
was after the capture of Malolos by
Macarthur and Santa Cruz by Lawton,
General Otis had never been at the
front.
Imagine this jealous clerk, who
never went outside the city, directing
with absolutely tyrannical exactitude
the operations of divisions command
ed by soldiers like Lawton and Nc
Arthur!
| I know from my own association
with both divisions in the field that
General Otis treated the generals as
though they were schoolboys.
When it was announced that Law.
ton was on his way to the Philippines
to command all the troops in the field
as corps commander, every member OF
the little clique surrounding Otis was
busy belittling Lawton.
When Lawton arrived Otis refused
to assign him to any command for five
days, although there was heavy fight
ling. Lawton begged permission to
take part in it, offering even to carry a
musket if necessary.
asked Otis what Lawton's status
was and why he was not assigned.
General LaWton is merely an off,
Ger reporting to me for ORDERS" he re-
piled, "and when I get ready to give
him orders he'll know what his status
Iis."
Otis's jealousy of Lawton was 80
plain as to be childish. For several
weeks Otis never consulted him, nor
gave him the slightest information re-
garding the plans of the campaign.
The truth of the situation is that
General Otis is regarded by practically
the whole army, officers and privates
alike, as an incompetent officer who
sacrifices everything to serve his own
vanity and jealousy.
1 do not speak with the slightest
feeling against General Otis, whom
l believe to be painstaking, industri-
Gus, and, according to his own light,
patriotic.
He has accomplished great deal in
regulating the municipal affairs of Ma
nila, but his conduct, or rather non
conduct of the military campaign has
been a series of blunders due partly to
timidity and lack of experience, partly
to jealousy of other officers and partly
to his incurable habit of wasting his
time correcting press dispatches and
), doing a clerks work, while generals
in the field, powerless to move without
his orders, are waiting for him to make
up his mind in his Office how to fight
the enemy.
When I complained to General Otis
that be was striking out of my dis
patches things l had witnessed with
my own eyes and which the American
people had right to know, he said {:
1I don't propose to allow the Ameri-
can public to know anything about
this campaign that will agitate or ex-
cite it. So long as I am lin command
here the people of the United States
will know only such facts as deem ad-
visable to allow to be known.
"Any man who writes anything
about this campaign contrary to my
wishes will be expelled from the
Philippines. We are not going to
have any public agitations about this
campaign if / can prevent it,"
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