Willmar tribune., 1900-05-09
ARE WE AT MARYLAND WHEN,


For considerably more than a year
now the American army has been en-
gagged IN the bloody business OF tryinx
to subjugate the Filipinos. During
all that time President Mckinley has
he1d that no war existed; that, al
though the Filipinos had never &C.
knowledged allegiance to the United
States, they were insurgents" Just the
same, and that the trouble was simplv
an insurrection which would speedily
De put down. No war existing. army
officers could not be court martialed
and dismissed the service under the ar
my regulations without the approval Of
the president: and this position was
held late in March, In the case of Can
tain Walsh of the Forty-seventh intan-
try.
But on the heels Of Wslsh's case.
commuted by the president, comes an
other case, much more embarrassing
Major kirkman, Of the Forty-ninth in
fantry, was dismissed the service on
court martial, the offense being drunk
enness on the voyage from San Fran
cisco to Manila and an insult to Arch
bishop Chapelle, who happened to be
on the transport. In this instance the
president holds a view exactly oppo-
site to that he held and enforced a
Fortnight before-il other words. he
holds that the findings OF the court
martial are sufficient to dismiss the
officer without his official concurrence.
because war exists In the Philippine
Islands. Last month there was peace
in that archipelago; this month gor-
gons and hydras I'll the air, and war
prevails. But If war prevails. 1t can
not be that we actually possess the
Philippine islands, for a violent out
break within a nations territory Is al
ways called a rebellion or an insurrec-
ton. 1t is possible that the Philip
pine Islands were a part Of our terri
tory last month and are in the posses-
sion OF somebdy else this month?
Those bad persons known as anti-im-
perialists have all along claimed that
the Philippine islands were the prop
erty of the Filipinos, and could not be
transferred to anybody else without
their consent; is 1t possible that Presi-
dent Mckinley at last admits this view
Of the case to be the correct one? Is
it possible that he has been studying
international law or has his Protean
mind inadvertently changed itself
again?
Or has Archbishop Chapelle some
thing to do with the new decision!
fIe has been sent TO Manila to confer
with the Infamous Spanish Archbishop
Nozaleda, the leader Of the Spanish In
quisition In which Filipinos have been
tortured for years. and holds commis-
sions from the Pope and the president
OF the United States, authorizing him
to settle the controversy between tho
friars and the people-the result Of
which is expected to be to rob the peo-
pie of Luzon and confirm in the hands
of the friars millions of acres of tho
choicest lands and millions of dollars
TO furnish Chapelle with private Sec
retary without cost to himself, Cath
olic priest has been commissioned az
chaplain and assigned to that duty.
People so distinguished and sent on 4
mission so remarkable are certainly
entitled to protection, and the presl-
dent ought not to shrink from tho
business of defending his ambassadors
merely because the punishment, IL
made conspicuous, might excite emhar-
RAISING comment. Or did the ship
wu4cn bore the great pe2cemaker
(whose arrival at Manila Is followed by
the declaration that we are at war;
carry also cargo of canteens for tho
captured Philippine cities? And ia It
desirable to hide that fact from tho
fierce light which beats upon a con-
queror. w. A. CROFTUT.