The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-08-11
items Of Interest from the Capital
City on Current Events Of
Political Import.
sEPsBLICAH ADMINISTRATION BLURDERS
.The Rule Of Gen. Otis In the Philip
pines q Rank FaiIure-COrruptiOn
Unearthed by New Civil Commits
aion-ConEress to Be Whitewashed
democrats UnItcd.
Especial CorrespOndence.l

pines and is having himself interviewed
to the effect that he has crushed the
Instruction in the islands and left
everything on a peace footing.
His ignorance of the situation may
be pardoned from the fact that he con
Quoted his campaign from the depths
of his. armchair in the palace at Manila.
His mind appears to be not altogeth-
er easy as to the quality of the peace
that he left behind, because he adj
mitted, reluctantly, that we could not
spare any of 10000 from the is
lands in case of trouble with China,
because san army of suppression
would be needed in the Philippines for
several years to come.
Gen. Otis was received at the white
house with great cordiality, and he
ought to be, for has he not been the
faithful servant of the administration
all these months? Has he not done
what President Mckinley has ordered?
Has he not suppressed any news that
the administration thought disquiet-
ing? Has he not censored the reports
SO that it was impossible to discover
how many lives were being sacrificed
and how much money was being spent
In this attempt to crush a people who
only desire an opportunity to govern
themselves in their own way?
Indeed, Gen. Otis has been a loyal
servant of a laundering administra-
ton, and the abuse which has some
times been heaped upon Otis should in
Justice have been melted out to his
master in the white house who direct
ed the Philippine war. Now that Gen.
Otis is back, his optimistic statements
will be used by the republicans as cam
paign material. That they are not
true will not matter to the republican
leaders. On their side the campaign is
to be prosecuted with promises for the
future and evasion and misrepresenta-
ton, in order to conceal anything
which might damage McKinIey's
chances of reelection.
Otis a Rank Failure.
In sharp contrast to Gen. Otis self
sufficient claim of having put down
the rebellion in the Philippines comes
the wall from the new civil commits
sion which recently landed in the is
lands. Judge Taft and his colleagues
on the commission a-resassured bH high
army officers that the bresentforce in
the islands is utterly inadequate to
suppress the insurrection; that even
In the southern portion of Luzon the
insurgents r in entire control.
Gen. OTIS municipal governments
have been a rank failure. They have
simply been used by the Filipinos as re-
Cruiting stations for the insurgents.
The commission has been in Luzon a
week and up to this time not a single
Filipino has approached them with an
offer of surrender or, submission on
any terms.
The commission is simply amazed at
the conditions of bribery, corruption
and general ~rascality which prevail
wherever the Americans have left their
trail. The Cuban frauds are nothing
to the corruption which has been going
on in the Philippines.
The Filipinos have had so bitter an
experience with Imperialism that they
propose to hold out at least until after
the fall elections. If Mckinley is re-
elected, they know they may expect a
condition of servitude worse than
ever dared to impose, and they
will keep up their guerrilla warfare
indefinitely. If Bryan is elected they
have some hope of being allowed to
govern themselves and receiving the
protection which should be given them
by a country which processes respect
for the principles of liberty and indie
p%endence OF which it's own institutions
are founded.
The new civil commission is giving
the people a glimpse of the facts. Otis
misrepresents everything, from the
condition of the Filipinos to the cost
of our war of determination.
General Corruption.
The more the Cuban affair is probed
the o clear it becomes that the o
tai frauds re only a small part of the
general corruption which has become
rampant under military control of the
The administration is looking sur
and grieved and ordering
prompt investigation and retrench-
ment in the postal department, hoping
by that ruse to keep the country in ig-
lorance of the frauds in other direc-
tons.
If there could be a searching investi-
into the1amount of money dis
oursed by the military authorities, un-
der the pretext of administering Ha- /
vana and improving the sanitary con-
the result would shock the aver
voter. While the administration
and its2 henchmen pretend to know
lothing of the Irregularities in various
directions in Cuba yet information
comes from those on the ground indi-
that the postal frauds are a
mere bagatelle compared to what has
been looted in other directions.
President McKinley's o~ft-repeated
lphorism about being the instrument
'~fProVidence is paraphraAed by certain
'thcials in Cuba to read: providence
8 in it, we're in it and here's money
n it." Cuba for the past year has
'een regarded as a promising place for
administration fayorites who desired
o reap an abundant harvest.