Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-23
THE SOLDIERS AT MANILA
CHARGES OF EXCESSIVE IMMORAL
ITY DENIED.
Statement of Chaplain Miller, Who
Was with the Troops for Over
Fourteen Months.


unfairly attached to the 4th Cavalry. and
served under Generals Young Bates and
Lawton In the Philippines. has made a
statement to the Secretary of War in refu-
| tation of charges of excessive immortality
and drunkenness in the Philippines. He
served with the troops in the archipelag go
for more than fourteen months. and says
the statements he makes are based on per-
sonal observation and knowledge. He is
now in this city, having been invaded
home.
Mr.. Miller devotes a considerable part of
his statement to a refutation of charges
made by Mr.. VIM. E. johnson, special COM
missioner of the New Voice, in article
entitled "1mperiaism's Blacklist Crime"
Mr.. Miller says:
while l do not think 1t worth while to
review these publications in particular, l
am constrained to say that my experience
In a service that extended over most of the
islands of the archipelago by no means cor
roborates such statements as the following:
Our government is aiding and abetting the
reign of vice in the Philippines The gov
ernmental authorities are licensing houses
of prostitution, importing women for such
purposes (on the contrary, 1 have seen the
most strenuous effort to keep such women
from landing), or by legal restraint retain
ing native women for immoral purposes.
Little Drunkenness Seen.
saw IolHIllS ~ COTTODDTdle tne S'"Nt-
ment that 800 women of abandoned charac-
ter had come to Manila during the first year
of American occupancy. But on the other
hand, after making, in company with the
secretary of the Young Mems Christian AS
ISOLATION an exploration by night of the
city of Manila, to find out the extent Of
drunkenness and impurity that existed, the
facts compelled us to state that we did not
see more than half dozen drunken SOL
diers, and in a secluded part of the city
we found about forty-five houses with from
three to four women in each house, evil
IDENTIFY there for immoral purposes, and pa
trOnZed. by our soldiers, but we failed to
see, as stated by Mr.. Johnson, the American
flag dishonored in the decoration of these
resorts. To my personal knowledge these
houses have not been licensed by the gov
eminent nor are they In many cases con-
nected with saloons, nor is it true that our
flas as Z, general thing Is used to decorate
saloons and houses of prostitution.
Astonished at the Good Order.
Neither have l, as Mr. johnson says he
has, seen parts of the city of Manila wholly
given over to riot and righteousness, but,
on the other hand, while going by night to
visit and hold divine service with the SOL
diers in their quarters 1 have been aston
ished at the good order, which far exceeded
that which l have seen in many of our
western cities, especially during their
earlier history. Often 1 have gone from
Z to 10 O'Clock at night and not seen a sin
gle drunken soldier on the streets of Manila
and other cities. l entirely agree with the
statement, made by one high In authority,
that l know Of no city in the United States
where there is so little crime or where
crime is followed so quickly by punishment.
"A strict regard for the truth compels me
to state that for the same number of SOL
diers assembled in a given place L have
found a larger degree of drunkenness and
immortality in the cities of our home land
than in the cities of the Philippine arch1-
pelago.
The Army Canteen.
While l heartily dislike to see intoxi-
eating drinks retailed over the counter
must, in combining myself to facts, state
that the army canteen is not the low grog
shop that the writer describes it to be. The
army post exchange, I have seen 1t in
the Philippines, was not surrounded by
drunken soldiers: neither were men allowed
to purchase anything stronger than beer.
and the quantity of that was restricted. On
the other hand. it often furnished us Some-
thing better to eat than We could get else
| where. with ice and mineral water that
we could not obtain at any other place. At
many places In the interior the vino and
tuba joints surrounding our camps were
banished by the establishment of the post
exchange under strict military control. The
number of saloons as given In The Voice is
far above that which really exists. There
were many places where strong drink was
sold before American occupation, and great
complaint was waged against the American
administration because they refused to IL
cense as large a number of saloons as had
been licensed by the Spaniards.