Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-04
Plans for Returning the Volunteers
From Manila.
MOVEMENT TO BEGIN IN NoVEMBER
Transport Service viii Be Taxed
to the Utmost
REGULARS BSTITUTED

Many incomplete and misleading state
ments have been recently published regard
| ing the future military policy Of the United
States in the Philippines. In order to pre-
vent further misapprehension on that SUBJ
ject Adjutant General Corbin made brief
statement of the facts In the case today.
He said there had been no change Of policy
since the departure of Gen. Otis, and that
none was contemplated. Under the law, the
entire volunteer army now serving in the
Philippines will go cut of existence June
80, 1901, and the problem before the War
Department is how to get the 81 600 men
of that army home from the Philippines
before the date named and relieve them
with other troops of the regular establish
ment as far as possible, without loss of
military prestige in the Philippines and
without material disturbance of. the pres
ent military organization.
Bringing Home the Volunteers.
Gen. Corbn says 1t Is proposed to MAIN
tain an army of 10000 regulars in the Phil
ippines as long as required. and to do this
it will be necessary to draw upon the troops
now in the United States and in Cuba The
army in the Philippines at present has a
strength of about e. 600 equally divided
between regulars ard volunteers. All the
volunteers are to be brought home and
mustered out at the place of enlistment
June 30 next, and in order to accomplish
this with certainty and with the least en-
barrassment the homeward movement will
begin early in November next AS was the
case with the volunteers for the Spanish
war. they will be brought home so far as
possible in the order of their departure
from the United States.
To do this will tax the transport service
to its utmost, and good margin Of time
will be allowed so as to guard against any
pc ssible disarrangement of plans by un-
foTeseen and unavoidable delays. The plan
is to have all the men at their homes and
their accounts with the government closed
on the final day of their term of enlist
ment. This is a task of enormous proper
tons and will tax the powers Of the entire
military establishment to the utmost from
now until 1t is fully accomplished
Sending Regulars to Manila.
In order that there may be no immediate
reduction of force under Gen. Macarthur
it has been arranged to send regular troops
to the Philippines as rapidly as possible to
take the places of the departing volunteers
Orders have been already issued,for the as
sembling of the 9th Cavalry at San Fran
cisco for transportation to Manila by the
next departing transports. One detach-
ment of this regiment will leave about the
10TH instant and another about the 1St of
July. 1t is believed that many of the
troops in Cuba can be relieved from duty
in that country soon after the elections
there, which take place on the 18th instant.
In case the conditions justify 1t these
troops will be brought home at once there
after and assigned to home stations In or
der that those garrisons may be utilized in
recruiting the army in the Philippines.
An Incorrect Statement.
Gen. Corbin says 1t is incorrect to say
that the time of the volunteer army is to
be extended or that reinforcements are to
be sent to the Philippines, the fact being
simply that the volunteers are to be
brought home for disbandment and enough
regulars sent there to take their places to
give Gen. Macarthur 10000 men to assist
IN maintaining the supremacy of the
United States and to assist in the execu-
ton of the plans for civil government de-
termined upon by the Taft commission.
Percentage of Illness Small
An expert estimate Of the sanitary condi-
tions among the troops in the Philippines
is afforded by a published letter from one
OF the army nurses in the Manila hospital,
from which this extract was taken:
1.-The ones here who served In the terrible
epidemic OF fever In the south during the
memorable summer of 1898 find the work
here comparatively light. There is little
typhold fever, the majority of medical cases
at present being malaria and dysentery.
Those who have been here sufficiently long
to have seen a rainy season tell us of the
wonderful things We may expect between
the months OF July and December, when the
hospltas are overrun with patients suffer-
ing from rheumatism and pneumonia The
percentage OF illness among the troops.
however. is small. as is also the death rate
OF the hospitals. Forty nurses are now on
outy ana more are expected when the
Thomas arrives"