New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-10-07

CONDITIONS IN PHILIPPINE TOWNS.
Ger In the Regular Army, serving in the Philip
pines, as gallant a young fellow as ever drew
breath, and the son of no less gallant Confed-
crate officer wrote to me the other day In part
1900: '
So now. with but very slight chance OF any
more hard fighting, I come to believe that the
thing can tell you of is most civil and peace
full. look from the window Of my room
across the green plaza with our flag floating
lazily from an immense cocoanut tree stem and
see the children playing In the streets. and even
now the padre is passing in his sombre black
skirts. The sounds come TO me of q town con-
tanning more than $500 people, which on
June 13 1900 had been but a single family.
Then this town was the most mournful place
have ever known. The grass was knee high In
the streets, houses deserted, broken and gut
ted; not dog. pig or chicken and as silent as
the grave. The town circled by thousands
of boleros and many guerilla bands Of fusi-
lero5. Now the guerillas are scattered in the
mountains, and just across the plaza are the
busy sounds Of hammers and axes and big
boys and girls school is going up, with more
than enough 10 fill It. Our bridges are rebuilt,
streets clean and good police force organized.
Actually telephone line will be here.
OF course, don't begin to claim all Of this as
the work of my hands, but have put in so
much Of my best thought and work that feel
a fatherly interest in 1t all. AT any rate. the
other commanding officers Of the station have
come and gone. laid the foundations; 1 asked
to be assigned TO the district because 1t had my
sympathy, and had been through such a rough
time. 1 imported a Presidente. Chief of Police
and a whore police force On our marches
brought in all the women as well as men capt
ured. Most Of them had the fever and nothing
TO eat We gave them medicine and rice. Soon
the men followed the women and brought the
children. All were in the same condition.
1 hunted up the padre caught him and
ringing That was the first start, and since then
other officers have been in command, and by
business fairness and energy have built we'll.
a he q Including he iT1U pnt
of roads and bridges, paid the police force regu-
larry with not a cent Of income from taxes and
not dollar fro n the United States. You know
we feel glad that I have been permitted to
take part in doing some good, and through all
my life IT Will be thing pleasant to remember
This letter interested me so much that I think
1t will interest you. 1t shows that the real
battle in the islands-the battle for civilization.
for peace and for prosperity-is being waged; and
now our opponents propose to undo the work
being done by these gallant, generous officers of
our blood and race and to turn the islands
back for Agunaldo's cruel followers to work
their wicked will on those who have been
friendly 10 U.s. and who under US have had rest
given them in the place Of turbulent misery.
We cannot with due regard leave the islands
new. If we did so, great though the wrong
would be to US as a Nation. it would be
greater wrong by far to those in the Philippines
who have trusted In our good faith.
BRYAN's QUEER DOCTRINE
Moreover, remember that when we made the
treaty with Spain we undertook certain sacred
have some small justification in still denouncing
our course If they see fit. but they have no JUS
tification whatever in helping directly or indi
rectly Mr.. Bryan, who did his best to secure the
ratification Of the treaty, and now wishes to
go back on our plighted faith In that treaty
II was explicitly stated that the civil rights and
political status of the islanders should be deter
mined by Congress, that when Mr.. Bryan
urged the ratification of the treaty he no less
explicitly abandoned all right to champion the
queer doctrine that he calls by the name of the
Constitution following the flag" a doctrine
which vanished from our political life with the
vanishing of the generation of politicians who,
to aid the cause of slavery, upheld the bred
Scott decision.
In that treaty we guaranteed certain rights
10 Spanish subjects and guaranteed protection
them, and when Manila capitulated it was on
promise that the city. its inhabitants and
its churches and private property should be
specifically placed under the special safeguard
and the faith and the honor Of the American
people These are solemn promises, and we
cannot as Nation go back upon them save at
the cost Of impairing the National reputation
for good faith. 1t may be that our opponents
can point to details here and there in which
they think that our work could have been bet
tered It would be strange If such not the
case. There will always be critics who find
flaws in the work Of the doors.
Mr. SchurZ, for instance, in 1864, complained
that the cause of freedom and union was bur
dened by a very vulnerable Administration
this same Administration being that of Abra-
ham Lincoln. Looking back, gentlemen, how
infnitesimal seem the points for criticism Of
Lincoln's Administration compared to the vital
necessity of continuing it in power! Let Mr.
Schurz sit at the foot of General Franz Sigel
and learn from him the patriotism which is also
much needed now as it was in 1864
HOPE OF FILIPINO INSURGENTS.
Remember that the chief hope of the insur-
gents is in the triumph of the Democratic party
You do not have to take this my say So The
letter recently captured on an insurgent general
from a member OF the Filipino General Com
mittee at Hong-K F. Riego, to Theodore
Sandico sets forth this fact explicitly. Sandico
Aguinaldos Cabinet officer who commanded
the massacre of all Americans and further
more, of all people who were not Fiipinos, with
out regard 70 sex or age his proclamation to
this effect being published at the time of the
Filipino assault Manila. In this letter him
Riego states that the downfall of Mckinley is
necessary for the ascepdancy of the Filipino
fag-that is, for the downfall of the American
fag-and in a companion letter is stated not
less explicitly that if Mckinley is reelected the
insurgents must give up hope. Out of their
mouths they are judged Every true Amer
lean, every true friend Of Christianity and civil
izaton, it seems to me- is in honor bound to
work for the reelection of President Mckinley
this fall.
When men get pointed in the wrong direction
they often go very far. The opponents of our
Philippine policy have actually denounced us
for the stand we took in China, a stand dictated
not merely by patriotism but by every consider
alton of humanity and justice. Apparently these
critics of our wished us to leave not only our
Minister, but the wretched women and children
in Picking to their awful fate. It is difficult to
speak without indignation of advice at once so
dastardly and so inhuman. President Mckinley
has deserved for all time the credit of this Re-
public for the promptnesS with which he sent
General Chaffee and his gallant band of Ameri-
can Regulars to join the advance of the civilized
Powers in the rescue Of the hunted creatures
before whom doomed death and torture at the
hands of a mob of unspeakabIy cruel barba-
rians.
EXCITING HATRED AND ENVY.
This year our opponents rest their hope of sue
cess upon exciting envy and hatred in one class
of Nitt inst ~ haV ntD