The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-06-15

tains-Mcstizos Cause Much Trouble.
The following n from an officer at
preson, serving In Luzon. lie says.
My battalion, the second. is In gar
rison in LuCban, mountain town. the
highest on the Island. Lucban, tucked
away In the clouds as Il is not only by
It's natural location, but also by its own
resources, is the most beautiful city
in Luzon. The mountain scenery Is
Wild and unusual. the climate cool. dry
and delightful, and the city itself, beau
tifully laid out, is indeed a gem in the
jungle.
THE natives I'm Lucban, prosperous
and progressive. are the most intelli-
gent we have experienced since we left
Manila.
Perhaps garrison duty here for the
next eighteen months will not be as
tedious as we had anticipated. Kip
lings portrayal OF British army life in
India exactly describes ours here.
There will always be plenty to occupy
our time while we are here; the work of
the army in the Philippine Islands Is
divided into two equal parts-the occu-
patton and the regeneration. We are
now in the second division Of the work,
and the labor and pains required is fully
equal to the first.
There is great chance for invest
ment over here. This is not a new
country, for the people are not new
they have been settled for $50 years,
but they are not modern, and right
there lies the opportunity for foreign
money. $4,000 in the States will soon
be worth 900 or $4,000 over here
1T is not my intention to dilate or
expand upon the narrowing and sympa-
thy-enlisting details of a soldiers life
in the field. That's all a part of the
story. Although the essential relations
of rank and authority remain the same
are drawn the harder in fact; I'm the
field an officer shares the lot of his
men.
Il would like to say in passing that 1
am satisfied no army of modern times
has been called upon for campaign more
| difficult than the American army is do
ing in the Philippines today. 1t is true
! your Boer-British war is y war, and
ours the mere suppression of an unreas-
oning rebellion. The real fighting here
| is child's play to that of South Africa,
! but still the real campaigning remains,
and that is at times a terrible task.
There has not been a real battle here
since the early months of the revolt;
our work now could best be termed
bushwhacking. There is always pres
| ent, however the element of war in its
| true sense; while we have had many
arguments with the Filipinos concern
| ing the future of their bloomin' Islands,
I in most cases it has been the "Mauser"
against the "Krag," yet in several in
stances bigger guns that Krags spurted
sentiment-in these actions mountain
| hoWitzers and three-inch field pieces
participated, and our little discussions
assumed the dignity of martial or
! chestra.
Ever since my first appearance in the
army in '9S, had always been morbidly
curious to know what would be my
first impulses and actions when under
my first volley. / had decided a good
many times in as many different ways,
Just what / would think and do when
that time came. 1t is not necessary to
state that what l did do when the time
came had no connection with what
thought 1 would do.
1T was a beautiful morning in jan
uary, in the mountains. We had heard
the enemy concentrated at town called
Binyan, and we were marching blithely
up to the attack Their fertilization
was trench behind a low stone wall on
the side of the town our approach lay
MY battalion had the good fortune
to be in the the lead that day, at the
head of the column. Directly behind us
was the cavalry; behind the cavalry the
mountain battery. The wagon train
for protection, had been sent to the
rear.
Though on the island two months we
had not yet been under fire; this was
to be our first fight and everybody in
the line was supremacy happy. The in
surgent position, though not sure of its
exact location and range, we knew was
straight down the road, directly to oui
front. A deep, narrow stream lined or
both sides by a dense growth of vines
and fallen trees, lay between us and
our quarry. Behind this screen we de-
ployed, forded the stream in line OF
skirmishers, scrambled up the further
side, plunged through the thicket there
broke into the open, and there they OPP
ened on us. You have heard OF
soldiers who ducked under their first
volley-well we didn't duck, we
dropped,
"They volleyed us that morning at 5OC
yards, when we were looking for then
at a mile. simultaneously with that
crash from the low stone wall there
across the rice paddy every man in the
command drops to the ground like g
limp wet rag. We look at one another
calmly, mechanically, then without 6
single word or command we all stand
up again. Don't be harsh-this was oul
baptism, and every soldier should be
allowed his ration of stage fright in hi:
!. first appearance. The scene was, how
ever, a remarkable and ludicrous dis
play of unanimity and spontaneity OF
motive and action.
LAS soon as that first vOlley ratified
by and we were on our feet agin, ev-
erything went as gay and happy as q
wedding bell Fired with that pure
Anglo Saxon love of fighting our mer
worked their smoking breech bolts unit
within fifty yards of the enemy's works
where they charged and it was all Owe
with not a native in sight For It fl
certainly morally and physically i'm
possible for these people TO Withstand
the wild abandonment of the charge %
the American soldier with his historic
Yankee yell. One swift look of gapinl
terror at that plunging line of blue anC
brown, and seized with the fear of Goo
in their hearts, like a startled gather
ing of wild monkeys, they turn anC
scamper for cover.
ut is mestizo half-caste leaders whit
are the seat of all the trouble over here
, just to show their influence over thes
simple minded folk. Along the Who'll,
route of our march we have found tn
natives were taught to believe the mos
| DrepOSterOus tales of the approaching