The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-06-09
GENERAL OTIS TALKS

On the Situation in the Philippines.
Declares War Is over-vicious
sts-ies Denied.
cKlSAGo, Jrne s.-Ma1or General
q. S. Otis, OF the United States army,
arrived at 7;2O nck this morning,
from San Franz 20 - Manila, and
left at 1880 for Wa ,ngton, Mrs.
OTIS and daughter orr . in chi"' Z
last night from New Iork. a. the
general and his y and daN :"
spent the hours be zen trains tOg,
er-the ending Of SEPARATION Of tive
years.
General otis clinet = 4nte int
detailed intervle, Sayi' It w I'D !
be coma 'tent with ,%sity = d
officer to enter into IN. ,x'/ .
course regarding the stu, he
philippines before reachl4 AshiSs
ton. He said he W., "a Wilt
to talk in general @ns h, " &.
The general was appC entity in tn JesS
Of health. and confirmed hNs appear ines
by saying he had not beeS Ill day
since he left for the Philippines and at
the present was enjoying the best cs
health.
II left the Philippine situation in the
best Of hands" he said. 1.-THE officers
are all able men and well qualified to
cope with the different questions and
situations that may arise.
The War Over.
"The war is over. This guerrilla
warfare can't last long. To be sure we
viii have to repress those people for a
number of years. but there is no or
ganized, force of Filiplnos. The depre-
dations that are going on are conduct
ed by robbers and drones. The United
statec troops are now engaged in de-
Tending the inhabitants Of the Philip
pines against the robbery and murder
committed by their own people. But
the conditions are generally improving
and in some parts are better than they
have ever been.
I'VE have 5000 efrective troops un-
der arms in the Philippines. Estimates
,sgardIng the number OF inhabitants in
the islands are all wild, but the num-
ber is between six and seven million.
The great majority Of the people desire
peace and wIsh to again take up their
business pursuits. Business in Manila
has again resumed activity and the
inhabitants are peacefully pursuing
their -aVOcatlOns
81 do not know where Aguinaldo is. l
never saw him, 1t is possible, but not
probable that Aguinaldo is in the Gag
ayan section of Northern Luzun. 1t is
a rough, mountainous country and
sparsely settled. At first he was re-
gardad by his people as a leader, but
Of late he is losing prestige and is not
held in such high regard.
Democratic Lies.
"storles have been circulated about
depredatlons committed by men of our
army, but they have been false. Our
men have been held under close rec
straInt and have conducted themselves
like soldiers. can't see that the ad-
mInlstratlon of our distinguished sec
retary of war has made any mistakes
in this campaign. We may have made
mistakes over there, but, II 80, they
have been the result of human liabll'
Itv 10 commit error.
"oflclal reports OF the warfare have
not been exaggerated, especially of late.
am not conversant with the newspa-
per reports. Although l received Amer
ican newspapers l had not the time to
peruse them. The censorship I.s not
been rigid and we assisted the newspa-
per correspondents all We could. OF
course, some sensational kilograms
were sent, as It was very difficult for
newspaper men to secure correct YER
slons regarding our operations as they
were so extended. but we helped them
wherever we could.
~ have no idea as to my course after
reach Washington. have RsceIved
no orders and I simply await the COM
mands Of my superiors."