The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-08-08
Officials Say Robbers, la
drOneS, ETC., but They
Keep on Fighting.
NATIVES HATE AMERICANS.
Show "a Passive SullenresS
That Will Be Long-En-
during"


| EEPlBLIC SPECIAL.
| New York. Aug. John + McCutch -ou
| who has been in Manila as q newspaper
| correspondent since Dewey destroyed The
| Spanish fleet in Maniia Bay. sends to tho
New York Herald a lengthy article on pres
ent conditions in the archipelago. In which
| he says:
| There are more Insurgents as far as
| official recognition goes. II IS now the Gus
| tom 10 speak OF native armed bodies as
| 'ladrones. robbers and bandits Nearly
| every day hear Of force Of our sol
| diers encounterinG some band OF robbers
| after which there Is fight which ends In
| an American loss of one or more and 4 rob
| ber loss of 100 or more killed Sometimes
| the account varies Il little bit. and we hear
| that our troops are running down band OF
| $50 or 500 somewhere in the mountains. but
| there is always the cheering reports at
headquarters that the 500 are composed of
| 'ladrones' or robbers
Our troops never meet one Of these
bands without at once engaging It, after
| which the report of the enemy's casualties
| comes in. supplemented with the usual
| statement that the band was scattered and
| broken up. Yet Il week later We hear of an
| other fight in the same district with an
| other band o: robbers as strong as the first.
| The trouble seems to lie in the unwilling
ness OF these bands to remain scattered
and broken up after our troops return 10
their post TO send the news of victory.
OmciaI View.
"In brief the military situation. as we
hear it at headquarters, is about this:
.Eyervthing is quiet. There few
,,Ic Of lad or 'rOibprS'
that occasionally run into some of our
troops out In the hills. but otherwise ev-
erything 1t quiet.
This Is the official. or headquarters. view
of the present state of the rebellion-ev
erything quiet, all the Provinces occupied
by American troops, native municipal gov
ernment. only few bands of robbers and
'ladrones' still under arms, and they con-
tinuing the fighting because they find it
easier TO prey on the people than to work;
ports open and commerce resumed; the
| emy's ammunition practically exhausted.
their arsenals captured and the coasts
! guarded by gunboats; Aguinaldo a fugitive
| so remotely hidden that his influence is
not to be feared.
THE foregoing is. believe. a fair resume
| of the conditions which General Otis will
| contend as having been effected by the
| campaign waged during the past year.
From American travellers who have re-
|
| the impression Is general there that every
| thing is over in the Philippines, excepting,
| If l may be permitted to guess the realizing
| on our S20G90G@0.
"One of these Americans was amazed to
| hear that we Were still having fights he
| tween forces of 800 natives with rifles and
| 800 Americans with rifles He evidently was
| not prepared to hear of robber bands going
| about in regiments. instead of skulking in
| small numbers. as robber bands are sup
| posed to do.
II have endeavored to find out the mill
| tary situation in Luzon and the southern
| islands as it exists to-day. The result OBJ
| tained has been from my own observation
in the Camarines, Albay. Leyte, Samar
| Mindanao. Cavte, Manila. Tarlac and Pan
| gasanan and from reliable officers in Ia
yaks, Ia Guna, Union. Iloeos. Abra and
| other northern Provinces. as well as In
| Cebu, Negros and Panay.
| As 1t Really Is.
81 find that tire canvass hardly sustains
| the optimistic reports to be had at head
| quarters in Manila. In other words there
| is still a good deal of fighting going on:
! there Is a widespread. almost general
| hatred OF the Americans; there are. approX-
| imately, 20!o00 rifles still in possession of
the Ffipinos and there are number:ss
| forces of armed men operating in many dig
| trcts.
| THAT the insurgent army, as an Clgan-
| lied force. holding definite limitations uf
| territory and maintaining an orderly and
| tangible formation, Is broken and disrupted
| there is no doubt. Instead of Know.nS ,hit
the enemy holds certain towns and ciS-
| tricts. and that fight IS necessary 10 os-
| sesS those districts. Cur troops can :ow
plan no movement or expedition with lne
| certainty Of making contact with an armed
| force.
Reports which tell OF the presence of
nrpa nf .Irirn In, 81,
| cinity of garrison towns frequently are
| brought in, but when force of Americans
| goes out TO ilnd them they are Snns that
is. if the American force is a strong cne.
| But let small body go out, and The
woods and hills will be found alive with
rifiemen and bolomen. The Filipino nethc 1!
of warfare has changed from their c,l dc
| liant methods to a new and more irs.idious
one. that is as much. If not mora, 10 ne
| feared.
| Long before Tarlac was taken, Aguinal-
DO reaiized that his troops could not stand
against ours. Even force numerically
much stronger could be driven at will by
| comparatively small American forces
| soon after this discovery, which he seems
| TO nave been long In making, he heard that
the United States was going to increase the
Philippine army to about 60 OCO-a force
| that could annihilate him If he contested
| Its advance or will.
| AGufnaldO's New Campaign
| He then issued, along in October, a proc
| lamation advising many of his followers to
| return 10 their homes hide their rifles and
| await call at some future time. Others of
his followers were held under arms and di-
Iected to begin guerrilla warfare in the ter
| ritory held by the Americans at that time,
| or to be held by them later on.
That proclamation which was undoubt-
| edly forced by the vigorous campaign in
| auSurated at the time by Generals Mac
Arthur. I.awton, Wheaton and Young
| marked the end of organized resistance on
large scale. 1t will be remembered that
| Tarlac was taken without a shot and that
| our troops occupied in turn all the Prov
inces of the north with fewer than a dozen
| fights of any consequence.
! From that time on it became a foot race
| after the demoralized bands that were leav-
ing the Tarlac lowlands There was no es-
| tablished capital, no machinery of govern
| ment, no grand army, and half the Cabinet
+, surrendered or were captured.
| Officially, the revolution was crushed, but
General Onception. Aguinaldos chief OF
staff, uttered dissenting opinion.
The insurgents robbers, or ladrones.
| still have between 5000 and 1000 rifles.
| have no record of the number we have
| captured, but General Bell, one of the most