The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-23
THEY ARE IN BAD SHAPE
Montana Boys Are Anxious to
Get Home.
LIEUT.. RICHARDS TALKS
The Troops Are Dissatisf1sd-Otis Is Not
Liked and Has Bungled the Cam
paign, Says Bahnsen Of
Company L.
Special Dispatch to the Standard

Special Dispatch to the Standard
San Francisco, July 22.-The Montana
volunteers fought hard while there was
lighting to be done, and now that mat
ters in the Philippines are at stand
still. they. want to come home. This
sums up in a nutshell the general SEN
tlment of the regiment as Lieut.. H. c.
Richards has heard it expressed. The
full Montana regiment was doing gar
rison duty at San Fernando, and when
Lieutenant Richards left the islands
many of the men were in poor health.
being run down from the heavy cam
paign and the enervating Innate
Everybody knows by this time"
said the lieutenant to a Standard cor
respondent to-day, that the Montana
boys are fighters, not kickers, and for
that reason you don't hear much cCm-
planning from them, but among them
selves they are free to express their be-
lief that with the signing of the peace
protocol with Spain, there should be
some signs of their being relieved from
further service. There is no poss bilty
of anything like permanent results be-
ing accomplished under present con-
d1tions. and every day the MontaLanS
are kept in the Philippines only adds
to the sick list Some of our boys are
in bad shape. principally through
stomach and bowel troubles, and with
continued diet of army rations there is
no chance for their Improvement"
Lieutenant Rickards was averse to
saying anything that might be CON
strued as savnring Of criticism Cf the
way the Philippine campaign is being
managed. but he expected wha las
now become universal opinion. that
.1,I ~ ,,ti,.
is to put effectual quietus to insureent
operations.
when we can garrison the towns
We take said the lieutenant. then we
will accomplish something d finite. At
least 80 600 men should be available for
this purpose and then an aggressive
campaign should be prosecuted with
out cessation until the Filipinos are
compelled to sue for peace to save their
necks. Aguinaldo and a few other lead
ers who constitute what little backbone
the insurgents have should be laid by
the heels 1T once and put out of the
way. The American troops will have
then to deal with half-organized bands,
who can be whipped as we do unru'y
Indians"
The men in the ranks are outspOken
and protest against the condition of
affairs that prevail in the shot torn
lands. Here is what John P. Bahnsen
OF company l., ISL Montana volunteers,
says:
Il am not satisfied at all with tha
way the volunteers have been handled.
This has been political campaign. not
good war against a wicked enemy. The
boys entertain more or less sympathy
for the Filipinos and some of them
think 1t is not quite the right thing
to be killing them off. When we arr
at it we ought to be allowed to go
at it properly and get the fight over
as quickly as possible for both sides.
"Otis has never been liked by tn
soldiers. He has no get up he would
never push the fighting. Montana and
Kansas regiments were out together,
and of the 1000 men there were only
800 on the fighting line before we got
through All the rest were sick in the
hospital or incapacitated.h
Never has a chorus of condemnation
been so spontaneous as that with which
the returned soldiers on the transport
Indiana assailed Major General Otis,
under whose command they fought in
the Philippines. These men are not of
one regiment, to which possibly pique
for some fancied discrimination might
be ascrihed. They represent half a
dozen regiments of the regular infantry
and artillery and the volunteers from
Montana Nebraska. Utah, Pennsylva-
MIA Minnesota, the Dakotas. Californ a,
Colorado. Washington, Iowa, Nevada
and Kansas.