La Junta tribune., 1900-09-22

to their own devices to work out their
own destruction.
/ have spoken Of the cruelties COM
mitted by the insurgent natives, espe-
cially upon those natives who refused
to Join in the insurrection. Many OF
the officers whom l knew before San
tiagO write me about affairs In the Phil
ippines. l cannot, as rule, make pub
lie their names. From one series OF
letters, however, desire to quote to
you certain extracts. In one of the let
ters he says:
"We have worked and planned to get
these people who cared to be friendly
and accept our protection to come into
town. We succeeded. Many of the
Filipinos came In and were given
houses. Those without food were sup
piled, the sick were doctored, etc. Now.
II is the earnest endeavor of all the In
surgents to burn the town, kill or car
~ OF the peOple-men, women ana
children. They treat their prisoners
with great cruelty There Is terrible
suffering among the amigos when We
cannot protect them. hear continually
and believe they are waiting for the
November election and will be active
until then. Our troops entered a new
town not long ago and called in the
chief local officer for talk. The mat
ter was laid fairly before him ms to
whether he wished to join with us or
20 with the insurrectos. Being think
ing man he hesitated few moments,
and then fairly took the breath from
the officer by asking him whether
Bryan and Mckinley would be elected
this fall. He Joined us only after being
~ hn
OF Bryan's being elected. would
certainly vote the straight Republican
ticket If We're at home.
II cannot understand how our own
country should do SO much to encour-
age the insurrectlon and cause the loss
of 90 much life. In this island know
that the army OF insurrectos and guer-
Has is kept alive by people at home.
Brynn's campaign Is most closely fol-
lowed The speeches Of public men
who expose expansion, and in doing so
praise the Filipino bravely struggling
for his liberty are translated into the
several dialects and issued as circu-
lars. From an intelligent prisoner the
other day I learned that the people
were assured that Bryan would be
elected and that our ships would be
withdrawn and The massacre of Ameri-
you doubt this l wish you could see
their barbarous mutilation of the pris-
oners and wounded that they take. L
do believe that II Bryan and his SYM
thixers cannot make their campaign
without such acts and speech ns are
traitorous to the government In time
OF war. it would be more generous ana
noble to hold their opinions In abey-
ance until we can straighten out this
tangle. II Bryan Is defeated and the
country gives the administration the
right support We can finish up this )op
here without great loss Of American
life md without great punishment TO
the natives"
"Thls town, one Of the worst on the
islands, is now practically on self
sustaining basis, and the municipal AZ
fairs managed by the natives them
selves. I begin to believe things will
shape up here within n few months.
We made an expedition last month to
tha mountains to the relief OF some
AmericanistA natives held prisoners
nv the insurrectos. We found them.
and their condition and place Of con-
finemcnt were horrible beyond descs1p-
tion. Their crime was living In town
protected by American troops, and the
cruelty with which they were treated
was edual to the sort inflicted by our
Indiana, In their worst days. Their IA
yorite punishment is to break the legs
of their prisoners with sticks, or max
ing them sit down on live Goals OF hre
Wouldn't they make fine ciass 10
govern here? The insurrectos governed
this island Neyte) for about year ana
half before we came. Iheir plan
was to sell the offices to the highest
cash bidder, and each purchaser sold
the Offices under him in like manner.
The same plan held good OF the munich
pal Offices. Naturally the most inteiil-
gent natives are now on our side. ana
/ believe firmly that the best classes
will become capable Of an Intelligent
administration of their internal af-
fairs"
The Philippine Policy.
Now, with these extracts fresh In
your mind, wish you to remember
that our opponents proposition IL that
we should turn over to unspeakable
torture at the hands OF those
who have been fighting us, the men,
women and children who have been
friendly to us and who have trusted In
our honor and power. 1t seems TO me
difficult to stigmatize such proceed
ing in sufficiently hard language. The
proposition Is not to give the flnpiuos
the right to govern themselves, but TO
give the Filipino bandits who have
been lighting Us the right to work their
wicked will on their fellow-countrymen
who have been friendly to US. Such an
act would be not merely one OF culpa-
BILE folly and weakness, but one OF the
basest treachery and inhumanity.
l have in my possession letters from
Mr.. George r. Becker, the geologist,
who was out In the Philippines for con-
siderably over year, and during g
large part OF the time acted as stan
officer to General James Franklin Bell.
In June, 1890, Mr.. Becker. while visit
ing a Ignite deposit in the island Of
Negros, under the escort Of some Call
fornia volunteers, was attacked by the