The Irish standard., 1900-04-14
aRAYsoN FIRED The FIRST BULLET
VIM. M'Kinley's Explanation is
Quite Erroneous.
METHODS OF CAMPAIGN CRITICISED
Speech Made in Philadelphia,by
Abram L. Mumper.

"Grayson, the American soldier who
fired the first shot in the war against
the Filipinos, told me on board the
Hancock as his regiment was ready to
sail for the United States that it was
the 'bullheadedness of the American
officers in invading the insurgent terri
tory that was responsible for that shot.
But we fired the second shot and the
third shot before we. got response.
And this was two days before the senate
was to vote upon the peace treaty and
many of the insurgent officers were away
from the firing line. This is the way the
insurgents made what the president calls
foul attack upon u.s. But the Fill
pinos returned the fire and the war
was on"
The foregoing statement was made
during the course of speech delivered
at the Philadelphia anti-imperialist con-
ference, Feb. 22, by Abram L. Mumper,
who was private in the Idaho regiment
engaged in the Philippine campaign,
and is man OF the highest character
and of unimpeachable veracity.
Nj. ssS11urraper,s address was ignored in
the reports Of the conference at that
time and through the courtesy of Mr..
Edward Osgood Brown the Chicago
Chronicle is enabled to give it publicity
for the first time 1T follows in part:
II have Just been reading Senator
Beveridge's speech again. He says the
blood of our soldiers is upon the hands
of the opponents of this war and that
the flood of all the years can never
wash that stain away I deny this. The
blood of our soldiers is upon the hands
of those who called Aguinaldo general
while they wanted to use him and the
boy in the street when they were
through with him.
"The blood of our soldiers is upon
the hands of those who enlisted as SOL
diers to fight war for humanity and
then became sorry they did it. The
blood of orr soldiers is upon the hands
of those who furnished Aguinaldo with
guns to liberate his land and then tried
to buy his land at $50 per gun. They
had one gun offered, believe, but upon
investigation it was found to belong to
a Yankee soldier.
"Beveridge and Barrett are telling the
American people what they saw. Per-
haps private soldier who has seen and
suffered for the supposed honor of the
flag need offer no apology for telling
what he saw. + saw the Filipinos' every
claim ignored, their every question as
to Our probable policy evaded. / saw
their city given over to drunkenness
an evil which they loathed. Their army
was pushed back and back by policy
that seemed to know no compromise
and have no other purpose than to force
submission or open revolt.
whether this policy came from
Washington or was born in the minds
Of the ambitious officers who had not
yet gained enough glory I cannot say.
But can testify that on more than one
battlefield the Filipinos were treated like
Indians. At Caloocan saw natives shot
down that could have been taken pris-
oners, and the whole country around
Manila set ablaze with apparently no
other object than to teach the natives
submission by showing them that will,
the Americans war was hell. 1t had the
opposite effect and filled Aguinaldo's
army with recruits.
II believe General Lawton was the
first to introduce to those islands the
recognized usages of warfare. He was
the first to give out the truth of the
Philippine situation. You people in
America had been kept in darkness.
You had been assured that General Otis
had the situation well in hand with his
1900 men. Lawton scarcely breathed
the air of Luzon till he realized we were
fighting strong national idea, not a
mob; the whole Filipino people, not a
small fraction of one small tribe. Blunt,
honest soldier that he was, he gave it
out straight that it would take 100000
men to put down the trouble. believe
a study of Lawton and his remarks will
show you that he was not in sympathy
with our Philippine policy. But we have
no time for that here.
"What changed our former friends
and allies into such bitter foes7 Let US