The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-09-02
OUR LOSSES IN LUzoN.
An Army Ofacer Asserts that They Are
Larger than Those OF the Insurgents.

Larger than Those OF the Insurgents.
Tho Manila correspondent Of the New
York Pest has forwarded letter writ
ten by an American officer of "high
rank, which was placed in his hands
for the purpose Of publication In the
United States The letter, signed Loyal
Legion" is as foilows;-
..Barnum once said, 'Ihere lie nothing
the American people enjoy SO much Is
being humbugged," and 1t is certainly
true The reports and statements about
the situation In the Philippines which
we read in papers from the United States
cause us to doubt the evidence of our
senses. We have been here since last sum-
mer. We went through the almost blood
less campaign against Afanila--with our
allies at our backs--and the triumphal
entry into the city, and few months
later had the pleasure Of fighting over
the same road, this time driving our
allies ont Of the city and It's defenses.
'.Then, since March 20, we have been
fighting pretty steadily, fighting at one
place or another most of the time, our
lorOe pfOoaDly hVeThRlnH aoout So.Uvu
men, or 20, 700 electives; and what has
been ths result that we know of up to
this timer
1--WE have lost by wounds and death
fully thousand men, and, including the
sick, have some 1000 In hospitals. We
have always. or almost always, bean
able to drive the Filipino troops out of
the towns or works We have attacked
but, as we havo of late months pushed
out to some distance from our lines to
make such attacks. We have had 20 fall
back each time to our own .lines; this
because oar forces are too weak to hold
advance points and to guard our base
Manila
ain effect, we have advanced our lines
againt Stubborn foe, and In the face tof
great difficulties about ID miles. All
that men could do with such an interior
force, and in the face of tropical ssas 1ns,
has been done. Now we are at labout the
end of our tether. To conquer these IS
lands will take at least 1900 men. So
far, their lcss:s have probably been less
than ours I'VE know what our less are
in light, and we get pretty good idea
of the enemy's as we usually remain for
the timezbeinR In pt session of the field.
The reparts published in America under.
rate our less and vastly overestimate the
enemy's W. have always had to attack
them In a chossn and fortified position.
The odts are all against Us
again, the enemy can supply their
less at once. With. their armed troors
they always have half ss mnny again who
accompany them to relieve their troop s
Of labor; and whenever a man falls, one
of thsss (bolosword or large knife) men
takes his place. rhess natives can march
all day In the heat Of tropical san, with
handful of rice in their kknaps lcks for
food and sleep on the ground In thoss
terrible rains without the slightet injury.
The Tagal trIte alone numbers about
10000 people They have been fighting
for the greater part of 800 yeaIs, off and
on. That Indicates what kind OF people
they are. Yet the world is led to believe
that we can esslly subjugRte thCs3 Islands
Cat prtssnt we have only a very small
part of one of them), with an army corps,
of about 80, 000 men.
Every officer of experience with whom
j have talked hrs placed the number of
TROOPS needed at between 1900 and 100,-
COZ men. Thirty thousand men will have
TO be reinforced by many more thousands
II they are left to perform this great task.
In the meantime we will less thousands
every year by dis,sss men who will
break down, If they don't die or have to
be ssnt away.
Another point How are these troops
to be relieved by others? The medical
authorities all state that white troors
cannot remain in this climate more than
two or three years at farthest: and nov
the whole of the United States army Ia
abroad except half dozen regiments.
There Is one more point to be- consid-
cred. Now that we have burst our
bounds and gone In for conquest of for.
eign territory, we must be prepared TO
hold what we have taken against any
foreign foe For this we must have a
large.cegular army. 1t must be trained,
disciplined force, always available. There
Is no other possible solution of this Edifa-
cult problem. If we would not doom
our little regular army TO destruction,
and court dishonor, we must face this
matter ldiV and act promptly"