The record-union., 1899-09-15

tory perch on our banners? Then | am
content" But one man over whom
bent did say, Il think it isn't any use,
Lieutenant" and when / gave my rub
Der coat to some men to carry him off
IN 1t, he said, Thank you very much,
sir He said it as quietly as though
l had given him a light for his cigar
cite at the club. However, it has
turned out that there was some use,
for he got over it, and is out here now,
ready to do it over again just as qui-
city as before; and he will not stop un
| I'll he is knocked down again, unless
he gets an order to halt, and then he
will do it without asking any questions.
/ 1t gives a man a. different view of
1 life to have such experiences; it shows
him possibilities Of the human charac-
ter that he never could appreciate 9TH
erwise, and he not only stops to think
before he puts such lives in jeopardy
| but he is apt to think at least twice
before he condemns some of these fell
lows who have not the cleanest records
and who have appeared before the sum-
mary court numerous times, but whom
he saw displaying in the face of death
such coolness and nerve-not bravado
|
totally beyond himself
However all this is en- passant. The
/ fight at Santiago was over long ago
and our business / suppose is not to
think but to do just what we are told
That is perhaps one reason why We
are being such good soldiers and are
content to sit here and wait until our
| turn comes and why we are not fret
| ting and chating to get out and fight.
Yesterday was Memorial Day, and it
was observed cut here as it was in the
States. But / couldn't help being
amused when l read in this morning S
American" an account of the decora-
tions along the Escolta and observed
the character of places that seem to
represent the strictly American busi-
ness interests out here:
''On the Escolta, coming up from the
| Spanish bridge, the huge flag of the
! Stars and Stripes first met the eye
| foating at half-mast above the en-
trance to the Alhambra. Proceeding
up the Escolta. the senate was the
next place where any attempt at dec
! oration had been made. The Hoffman
House was the next to display the ma
tional flag at half-mast. Perhaps the
only really artistic display was that
made by DR.. Hugh Ross, at the corner
of Gale San Jacinto, on the river side
of the Escolta. Here was displayed a
/ life-size figure of Liberty. draped with
the Stars and Stripes and yelled in
mourning. On the opposite side of the
Escolta the San Miguel Brewery Com
pany displayed the mourning Stars and
Stripes, and innumerable smaller flags
ornamented the frontage of the build
ing. The Golden Eagle bar and the
Postoffice displayed the simple emblem
Of the half-mast high flag"
1t is unfortunate that the very worst
element of our race always f1ocks to a
new country. We have seen it many
years in the Western States, and here
1t is the same. Then, too our rapid
enlistment of thirty-odd thousand men
/ of the regular army in a few months
| overtaXed the capacity of the recruit
ing service, and a great many men
We're accepted without their antece-
dents being sufficiently investigated in
consequence of which we have in the
ranks a considerable number of men
! who should not be there, and it will
take some months to get rid of them.
They are of the kind who are too
sharp to be caught in serious offenses,
and yet they will hold up a Chinaman
who comes peddling about the lines and
will relieve him of his change or any
of his stock they may be able to take
care of. Indeed. the Cinnamon have
got very suspicious and come near
headquarters to do their trading, where
they can be in sight of help. Some of
the men-not many, but a few, the
hard characters-will take what they
want and give the Ghfnaman what
they think proper. The other day a
funny thing occurred. Our Chinaman
cook, Puck, speaks quite good English
and l told him to look out for a ped
dler and buy some bananas from him
Pretty soon he came back from the
road laughing, and said: oh [ see
one Chinaman with some banana and
/ tell him / take the banana and give
him 10 cents and he just-run like HI
This strictly American expression
shows that Puck is progressing in his
American citizenship. He is an Amer
lean citizen, isn't he? He was citi-
zen of this country when it became a
part of the United States. And isn't
Aguinaldo as much citizen of the
United States as you are? He is in
rebellion, but the Southern States were
never out of the Union and their peo-
pie never ceased to be citizens
For some time the question of citizen
ship here will be involved and many
of those who came from the States will
not be an honor to US. The enlisted
men who are discharged by sentence OF
court-martial are turned loose here and
require quite as much looking after in
town as do the natives Indeed, they
require more attention. for the natives
are afraid to attempt any lawbreaking
in town, except that once in a while
two of them have fight about their
best girl or something of that sort but
they don't attempt to trifle with the
soldiers. There would be enough diff
Guilty in solving the problem of control
out here without in addition having to
manage the lot of worthless and ras-
cally Americans who have congregated
from all possible sources. Then, too
a good many of them have got hold OF
some parts of soldier uniform, particu-
larly campaign hats, and they impose
upon people under the guse of being
soldiers.
There should be prohibition against
men not in the service wearing any
part of the uniform but what a howl
would arise if any American should be
arrested on such a charged And we
go along the streets of Manila and see
men in all sorts of mixtures of soldier
and civilian garb they are volunteers
and regulars, too, and the matter OF