The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-08-04


come a target for some Yankee soldier.
Charlie Scott of the lola Register
says that General Funston belongs to
the nation and suggests that he be
given a good military Office in the Phil
ippines- With all due respect to my
friend, Mr.. Scott, I beg to differ ma
terially on this question and 1 doubt
not there are many Kansans who Will
agree with me-
Assuming that 'our Fred" doesn't be-
long wholly to US of the Sunhower state
but belongs in little dribs all over the
union, we still can claim the privilege
to elect him to the United States senate
and if he belongs to the whole nation,
that's where he ought to be. Perhaps
it may be said that General Funston is
not a politician. A man who evidences
in his every action as much sound sense,
honesty of purpose and executive ability
as General Funston does, would never
disappoint his constituents.
If Kansas wants to show her appre-
citation of as noble man as ever
fought under the American flag, let
her send the former colonel of the
Fighting Twentieth to the United
States senate. General Funston has
much impaired his health by long resi-
dence in the tropics and it is certainly
advisable that he return to a more nat
Ural climate as soon as possible. Wound
ed several times, his system full of the
deadly malaria, it is right that Kansas
people should be more solicitous of his
health than to even hint that he should
be given an appointment here in the
Philippines.
A Kansas paper asserts in glazing
headlines that Ed Little is a hero. How
decidedly superfluOusI OF course the
lieutenant colonel of Kansas fighting
regiment is a hero. Why, times in
Vulnerable I have seen him beg his men
to expose themselves as little as posi-
Bile to the fire of the rebels-and he
himself fine target for Filipino bull
let's True discretion is the better
p xva1 . 1arFT Colo al q hn-
comes so interested in the safety Of his
men that he forgets his own great dan
ger entirely. Self-preservation is not
the first law of his nature.
have been in a good many engage
ments with the Twentieth Kansas and
I have yet to see Colonel Little In any
place other than at the head of his
men-and military etiquette permits an
officer to stay behind the lines.
But tagging along behind and crying
GO on, boys" wouldn't suit him. He
is naturally a born leader of men, and
such a word as cowardice is not in his
Ocabulary.
He pays no more heed to the whis-
Ting Mauser bullets than the pyramids
do to the howlings of the canine element
inhabiting the banks of the Nile in
yes, in all truth, Colonel Little is a
hero, and he deserves to be a hero
general I have seen him cry like a
woman when one of his boys was shot.
His heart is big and tender. He is a
man, every men OF nm. Inere are
not many such soldiers, either.
Speaking of heroes reminds me Of
Major Bishop, formerly captain of M
company. I saw that man give his
last piece of bareback to a half-starved
prisoner-and that at a time and place
when ratiOns were as scarce as mug
gets of gold on a Kansas prairie. There
are very few such self-sacrificing men.
Salina knows Major Bishop as one Of
her foremost members of the bar and a
forcefuI speaker. The Eighth Army
corps knows him as a brave soldier, a
hard fighter, yet withaI possessed of a
heart as tender as a woman's. People
who know the major will rejoice in his
advancement. Were the war to last
six months longer and the Twentieth
remain in the field, he undoubtedly
would be at least a brevet brigadier
general-and deservedIy, too.
When the people of Kansas begin to
distribute public offices out to the MEM
bers of the Twentieth in evidence of
appreciation of the hadships borne and
victories won for Old Glory, let them
not forget Major Bishop Elect him
to a judgeship of the supreme court or
send him to congress from the Fifth.
He is a man to whom honor is dearer
than life and, honest in his convictions
and thoroughly capable otherwise, he
would be a credit to the people who
would be favored by having the oppor-
tunity to vote for him.
The Twentieth Kansas regiment ar
rived in Manila last December with
nearly 200 strong, healthy young men.
Today there are less than $50 men in
the regiment doing duty. The others
are dead, wounded and sick. Such is
the result of the warfare through
through which gallant Colonel Funston
has led the Jayhawlzer lads.
It is a sad thought that there are fond
in Kansas who viii wait in vain for the
return of the brave boys who marched
of human justice against that eternal enc
my of liberty and enlightened thought,
But their names are written indeMbly
upon the hearts of a grateful people. The
roll Of the heroic sons Of Columbia who so
willingly gave up their young lives for
our country.s flag will occupy the bright
est pages in the brilliant history of our
The very latest American institution in
the Philippines is the Manila college of
medicine and surgery. I have been told
mostly mestizas, is already very large.
Some of the very best physicians in the
the college, A successful future is pre-
Even General Aguinaldo has acllnowl-
edged the ability of General Funston as a
hghter. A few days since the latter re-
president Of the Philippine republic;
You did splendidly at Calumpit but re-
CARELESS of your superlative fighting pro-
clivities, 1 am going to take San Fer
nando from your troops on next Thurs
Doubtless General Funston chucHled at
the chocolate faced imp's audacity. Any
sides Of the city, came within range of the
Yankee outPosts, they received decidedly
onel Little called it, lasted about two
hours when the insurgents retired, leav-
ing possibly 900 dead and wounded on the
field. The American losses in both killed
and wounded would not exceed twenty
five
The rebels have several pieces of mod
0CL,EAN HAD