The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-08-21
Twentieth Regiment In the
Walled City,
TO GIVE PREFERENCE.
Thinks Soldiers Should Be Re-
warded With Offices.
How Liquor Grows on Trees In
NegrOs.

season mas DeSun IN QeaQly earliest Ii
the>orient and the Yankees go around
in their blues and browns looking like
a lot Of setting hens that had been bap-
tized by the proverbial small boy.
During the nights the wind bowls and
makes itself miserable and when morn
ing dawns it dies down and the rain
begins. Kansans, particularly, can not
understand how it can rain so hard. As
a member of the Twentieth said to me:
1T don't rain here; it just drops down
and each drop is a bucketful-'
There are times when the sun shines
through riffs in the clouds and one
wishes icebergs could be carried in his
coat pocket.
Since February 4, the "Sunfower''
regiment has been continuously on the
firing line. General Macarthur apprec-
lated the fact that the few men left,
capable of duty, were pretty well worn
out and he has ordered them into Ma
Mia for recuperation. The brave boys
are now Iolling in the lap Of luxury in
their quarters in the walled city, eating
three square meals day.
Naturally, the members of the TWEEN
tieth Kansas are anxious to return
home, but have no doubt that they
would willingly stay if their country
needed their services. They are as
patriotic as they are brave and noble,
those "JayhaWkerS."
General Funston has succeeded Gen
eral Wheaton and is in command of
an excellent brigade at San Fernando.
Things are quiet in the vicinity of that
city but the rebels have been promising
to recapture the place from the Ameri-
tempt has failed. Doubtless they will
give it up as bad job-at least until
General Fred leaves.
All the Kansas people are interested
in the homecoming of the Bagbag
swimmers and it is indeed gratifying to
the volunteers that their services rem
dered to the state and nation are ap-
preciated. The regiment will be as
glad to be received as Kansas folks
are to receive them, but they can not
help wondering whether the gratitude
of Kansas people will much Out-liVe the
cheering and band-playing. The SOL
diers will have been gone about a year
and a half when they get home and
they won't be cent richer than when
they left-Only wiser. OF course, it's
all right and proper that the people of
the state should meet the returning
heroes and throw flowers in their way
and have bands of music to play to
them, and shout O thousand welcomes.
All that sort of thing Is very nice, but
soldiers can not live on flowers and
music and hand-shakes. The boys left
positions to go and fight for Uncle
Sam. When they return will those or
similar positions be open to them? IF
the people of Kansas want to show
their patriotism and gratitude they
should always give the volunteer the
preference, provided, of course, he is
equally capable.
Said an NJ company man to me the
other day: Tt is very kind of the peo-
pie at home to prepare a grand recep-
ton for US on our return and certain
ly appreciate the spirit that prompts
them-but, do you know, there are
those among US who will be seriously
in need of jobs as soon as we get back
Will they discriminate between a sol
der and 'stay-at-home?'
I am astounded that newspapers in
the United States, whose editors claim
to be Americans, should publish such
reasonable rot as I have seen lately to
the effect that our troops in the Phil
ippines are committing atrocities and
barbarities on armed and unarmed /
FilipinOs. These defamatOry reports
are perhaps believed by some The
brave boys of whom this outrageous
SANDER is written are thousands of
miles away, else it would never be
printed; and at least not repeated. The
cowardly ours who write such treason
or even dare to whisper it, would GER
tainly not fare well were they to fall
into the hands of those to whom they
refer.
War is necessarily cruel in its devas-
tatiOn, but as waged by US it is not
wanton in it's destruction of either life
or property. The accusation that the
war in the Philippines has been, so far
as we are concerned, brutal disre-
gard of humanity Is an outrage against |
American civilization; it is nothing
more or less than reasonable mahgn-
ity.
When wounded prisoners are taken
by the American soldiery, they are
carefully borne to the hospitals and
receive precisely the same tender care
as the American soldiers themselves. |
Other prisoners receive the same ra-
lions as the American troops and are
kindly treated. They all say they new
er lived better.
Undoubtedly the commissioners sent
to the Philippines by President McKin-
ley will have returned and a provision
al government established here before /
the 1st of December. Then it is hoped, /
congress will Immediately take up the
matter of government for our Oriental
possessions and will proceed to perma- |
nent legislation.
Excepting in the Moros who are per-
feet heathens a hundred times worse
than any American Indian that ever
lived, and the people of Panay Island,
outside Luzon, the United States is |
governing the Philippines with the full I
consent and cooperation of the inhab- |
itants. Right here in Luzon, we have |
only one class of people in opposition |
to our sovereignty, the Tagals. The /
othe tribes all acknowledge that they |
would be much better off under Ameri- |
can rule than otherwise. The better |
class of Tagals are against the So I
called Republica De Philippians.
Have we a moral right to govern /
these islands? Why not? Are we in !
capable of administering Justice? Is /
it not true that our government is |
broad-g auged2 The islands are in our |
hands If we surrender the sovereignty /
to whom will we yield it? ITO the ma |
tfves!" shouts some one of the patri- |
OTIS who wishes American troops will be /
annihilated and who calls the flag a /
dirty old rag to be trailed in the mud |
What natives2 I wonder if people who !
talk thus ludicrously are aware that +
there are in the Philippines over $50 I
different tribes, speaking different Ian
guages, all of whom entertain naught