The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-01
PHILIPPINE DISCLOSURES.
SOME MYSTERIES OF THE CAM.
PATGN CLEARED UP.


Gunboats Were Turned over to the
Navy-TroubIe Between Otis ana
Dewey.
Washington Letter in New York Tribune
The mystery of Aguinaldo's seemingly
inexhaustible ammunition supply aud the
real reason for the army's REIMBURSEMENT
of the small gunboats TO the navy seem
TO have been disclosed 20 officials here
in the last mail from Manila from au-
thoritative army and navy sources. These
advices tend TO strengthen the adverse
impressions as to Gen. Otis which it is
now known President Schurman commu-
nicated 10 the President, and which Ad-
miral Dewey is expected to corroborate
in the lext few days. The general char
acter of the information thus communi-
Gated may be judged from the following
abstract of a letter from one of the most
intelligent and Well-known naval officers
of high rank now on the, Asiatic station,
which is given under all reserves. 1t was
written about Aug. /:
The state of affairs in these islands ia
curiously akin to the situation existing at
certain periods of our own civil war, when
the rebels wanted cash, and literally had
COTTON to burn which they could not ship
The islands are full of hemp, sugar ana
tobacco ready for the market. Any one
able to get these products out of insult
gent ports can procure them at his own
price. The foreign houses of the chief
Forts cwn or control a great feet of small
steamers and sailing vessels, and all that
Is requisite for highly lucrative trading
IS clearance for the insurgent ports, where
the merchandise is stacked up awaiting
..1A g-Tv-
fun cargo insures enormous profits.
Before the navy secured control of the
thirteen purchased Spanish gunboats no
clearance was needed. Commerce was
practically free The little merchantmen
simply ran stuff from the closed insurgent
ports to open islands, carted it overland
to nearby open ports. and sold it, SNUG
Cling arms and ammunition on the return
trip. The naval cruisers and gunboats
guarding the open ports were easily avoid
ed. In few instances, at least the small
craft, owned by supposedly friendly ma
lives, obtained clearance from United
States officers for three or four open ports,
and stopped at various forbidden harbors
in the round voyage, some clerk in the
office of the captain of the port doing a
little convenient winking at the disparity
of elapsed time. When the modifying fe-
Yer was at its highest Gen. Otis opened
wide the closed ports and, besides the
resultant flow of money, ammunition and
food into the besieged districts, the insur-
gent clearances' showed that vessels actu-
ally paid Il per cent. tax at every place
they touched to the insurgent govern
ment.
Dewey's DenuncIatiOn.
Admiral Dewey on May Is ordered his
cruisers to disregard all clearances ana
stop all trade with ports not actually IN
possession of our forces This radical step
was advisedly taken on his own RESPONSE
bility after conference with his cap
tains. Gen. Otis dared not resist the
order, when informed of its issue, al
though he resented it. If he had openly
disagreed to il, his protest would have
had TO go to Washington, and he would
not run the risk. So he followed DeWeys
lead, and decreed the closure of all ports
not under his effective control. About
that date occurred the remarkable scene
in the meeting of the commission at Ma
Mia marking the elimination Of the diff
ferences between the c0mmanders-in-chief
afloat and ashore. which was soon fol-
lowed by the admirars decision 10 start
for home. 1t was at the same meeting
that Dewey, according 40 current belief
calmly used the expression your lying
reports TO the governor general
The Spanish GunbOats.
I'm the discussion regarding the effect
on the supposedly friendly natives of Adj
miral Dewey's order restricting trading
Gen, Otis brought up his plans for utiliz-
ing the thirteen gunboats he had pur-
chased from the Spaniards in the south
ern islands. Dewey interrupted him and
put an end to the army's control of any
force afoat by the emphatic declaration:
If these vessels come out of the Pasis
river manned as you propose, 1 will seize
them as a menace 10 public safety
Gen. Otis had evolved a scheme to send
them our to hunt smuggiers, with Filipino
HrpF IA aaplxhqTlAe nil av11
differed by army 'non-comS' and priVates
He had no idea of the necessity of putting
a single officer aboard who could run the
vessels a mile without a pilot or having
a force to handle them if the Filipinos de-
serted or showed treachery. Dewey told
him the insurgents would possess every
one of them within a week after they left
port and then declared that he would seize
them
about June 1 Capt. Barker assumed
control of the little gunboats distributed
throughout the fleet by attaching them to
the various ships on blockade duty, and
in less than month all interisland traffic
was stopped, and the insurgents were cut
off from guns, cartridges and money"
Philippine Finances.
In another letter a source of serious
danger is pointed out as follows;
zone of the most urgent needs in the
archipelago now is an adequate system of
lndnclat COuliOl. yDOuy WHO can give
a clearance or procure one, or manage to
slip in the name of a closed port-a mere
clerical error, if discovered-can have any
amount of money ne chooses to ask. In
one case $4,000 was offered for clearance
to Apart (the northernmost port of Luz
zon), simply to prevent the steamer from
summary destruction or seizure in case Of
detection or capture by our cruisers. The
cruisers would never honor the clearance
and permit the steamer to enter a forbid
den port, but would simply order such a
vessel off, and warn her against coming
into the vicinity again. Without papers.
they would put prize crew aboard and
send her into Manila as a prize; or. if she
tried to escape, they would have 10 destroy
her For this reason clearances are ex-
ceedingly valuable. The temptations are,
therefore, notorious. The Spaniards kept
very few ports open, and trade with others
represented personal emoluments. It was
moi q n1estinn rnnralV of rnVpnua to the