Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1900-08-28
ARE WE AT wARe-AND WHEN,

ARE WE AT wAR?-AND wHEN9
For considerably more than a yea,
now the American army has been en-
gagged in the bloody business of trying
10 supJugate the Filipinos. During
ali that time President Mckinley has
neld that no war existed; that, al
lhough sAe Filipinos had never ac-
knowledged allegiance to the United
states, they We're insurgents" just the
same, and that the trouble was simply
an lnsurrection which would speedily
De put down. No war existing. army
officers could not be court martialed
and dismissed the service under the ar
my regulations without the approval of
the president; and this position was
ned late in March, in the case of Can
tain Walsh of the Forty seventh infan-
try.
But on the heels of Walsh's case.
commuted by the president, comes an
other case, much more embarrassing,
MAJOR klrkman of the Forty-ninth in
1antry, was dismissed the service on
court martial, the offense being drunk
enness on the voyage from San Fran
cisco to Manila and an insult to Arch
bishop Chapelle. who happened to be
on the transport. In this instance the
president holds a view exactly oppo-
site to that he held and enforced a
fortnight before-in other words, he
holds that the findings O; the court
martial are sufficient to dismiss the
officer without his official concurrence.
because war exists in the Philippine
islands. Last month there was peace
IN that archipelago; this month gor-
CONS and hydras fill the air, and war
prevails. But if war prevails. it can
not be that we actually possess the
Philippine islands, for a violent out
break within nations territory is al
ways called rebellion or an insurrec-
ton. 1t is possible that the Philip
pine islands We're part of our terri
tory last month and are in thc-----1rr: -
Those bad persons known as antrim
perialists have all along claimed that
the Philippine islands were the prop
erty of the Filipinos, and could not be
transferred to anybody else without
their consent; is it possible that Presi-
dent Mckinley at last admits this view
of the case to be the correct one? Is
it possible that he has been studying
international law or has his Protean
mind inadvertently changed itself
again?
Or has Archbishop Chapelle some
thing to do with the new decision?
He has been sent to Manila to confer
with the infamous Spanish Archbishop
Nozaleda, the leader of the Spanish In
QUESTION in which Filipinos have been
tortured for years. and holds commits
sions from the Pope and the president
of the United States, authorizing him
to settle the controversy between the
friars and the people-the result OF
which is expected to be to rob the peo-
ple of Luzon and confirm in the hands
of the friars millions of acres OF the
choicest lands and millions of dollars
worth of the most valuable buildings
To furnish Chapelle with private sec
retary without cost to himself, Cath
Ollie priest has been commissioned as
chaplain and assigned to that duty
People SO distinguished and sent on
mission so remarkable are certainly
entitled to protection, and the presi'
dent ought not to shrink from the
business of defending his ambassador
| merely because the punishment,
made conspicuous, might excite embar
RAISING comment. Or did the shil
wu,ch bore the great peacemake
(whose arrival at Manila is followed D.
Il the declaration that we are at war
carry also cargo of canteens for tn
captured Philippine cities? And is
/ desirable to hide that fact from tn
II fierce light which beats upon con
10 queror. w. A. chorr y =