The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-08-10
Filipinos Have Been Deceived.


Col. d. c. Shanks, formerly com
msndant of the military department
of the Virginia Polytechnic Ins'i-
tute, at Blacksburg, Va has writ
ten letter to DR.. McBryde, Of the
Institute, a portion of which is as
follows, the letter being dated in the
Philippines May 3, 1899. This letter
which did not reach tho censorship
of General Otis, only goes to show
the real condition Of affairs in the
islands:
From what ! have seen and what
others have told me of other parts Of
the islands believe the average in
telligence Of the people is much
greater than that which is generally
accredited to them. OF course they
would not be able to stand alone as
a nation, especially in the present
scramble. when the stronger nations
are grabbing everything in sight.
But officers who were in the Cuban
campaign say there is absolutely no
comparison between the FlliplnOs
and the Cubans.
There is no doubt of the fact that
almost all of the officers that came
out with the first expedition feel that
we have not dealt squartly with these
people. The naval olllcors share this
opinion quite as freely AS the army.
BY application and fair Inference, If
not in direct words, these people
we're given to understand that we
were their allies in their struggle
with Spain. There is 20 doubt that
several thousand rifles and large
quantity of ammunition were issued
10 them from the arsenal at C4yIte.
An officer told mo not long ago
that he was at Cavite when Dewey
called on Aguinsldo in the quarters
Of the latter; that the troops were
turned out and made to present arms
to Aguinaldo, while the band sound
ed general officers flourish IN his
honor. A great many think, there
fore, that these people had good
grounds for believing that our OBJ
iect WAS not to replace Spain as their
masters, but was to use them as our
allies in the war with Spain and in
return to give them their freedom.
"At any rate, there is no gainsay
ing the fact that they now regard
US in a much more unfriendly light
than they eyer regarded Spain. |
have do doubt that they would vastly
prefer the Spanish return rather than
that the Americans should remain.
The individual relations OF the Amer
icsn soldiers and the natives have
not been such as to impress the lat
ter with our purity of motive OF our
honesty as a people.
"At first, when the American troops
were regarded as our allies, the
natives trusted them implicitly. An
officer told me that this confidence was
much abused in Manila, where the
native merchants, being unaccustom-
ed 10 the different varieties of Ameri-
can paper money, were ~swindled by
having considerable quantities of
Confederate money palmed of on
them. 1t is said that the Astor Bat
terry, taking advantage Of their name
went home leaving in the hands of
the native merchants several thous
snds of dollars of worthless orders
on John Jacob. who was represented
as able and willing to foot all bills of
the organization. So great was their
confidence in the Americans that
soldiers uniform was everywhere
sufficient to obtain considerable cred
il.
when the regiments were ordered
from Manila to this place some OF
the native tradesmen and saloon
Keepers, being unable to COLLIER their
bills, interviewed the commanders to
lmplore their assistance. One cap
tain told me that one saloonkeeper
came to him with list showing that
Henry Ward Beecher. William Ne
Kinley and George Washington had
been liberal patrons Of his establish
ment. Another, a tailor, begged his
assistance in collecting bill for
clothes made for and delivered to
Grover Cleveland. The latter was
much more fortunate than some of
the others. AS luck would have it,
one private, named O'Brien, happen
ed to be passing at the time,and was
promptly identified as the pseudo
Grover Such tricks have msde
the natives wary of any further deal
ings in benevolent assimilation"
"No doubt the islands are rich and
there is future in store for them
when developed, but the kind Of de
velopmeut thus far is not of the kind
generally talked of in the papers. A
large percentage of those who flock
here from America will be those
whose ir hueuce is the worst possible
and whose wits will be used in
kDavery
"Prof. Worcester, a member of
the Commission, who has spent three
years 10 the islands, says in his book
that he found in his travels that the
least trust worthy of the natives
were those who bad come most in
contact with the white men, and /
cannot doubt that be IS right. Il is
not very pleasing commentary upon
modern civilization, but | believe it
is a true one. The press and cable
censorship at Manila is so rigid that,
although we have line there, no
news is sent us, and We generally
get our Manila news from American
NeWspApersr