The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-12
OTIS REACHES WASHINGTON.
CoNGR ATCLATEs HIM
UPON HIS WORK.

GnCe nj tne =" niue nut he-
iterated the Statement That Or
ganixea Revolt in the Philippines
Is Dead-says the FiIipinos Are
the nest of the Asiatic Races-Gen.
obs Health Is Good.
Washington. June l1--Maj Gen E. S
Otis, accompanied by his aids, Capt. SHAY
den and Lieut.. Stanley. reached Washing
ton from his home a Rochester. ~ y
whsre ne stopped over to visit with Mrs
Otis and his children, at 7:45 O'Clock this
morning.
He was met at the station by Adjt. Gen.
Corb,n and Gen. Swain. and the party was
driven directly to the Arlington Hotel
After breakfasting Gen. Otis repaired to
the war department, where he formally
reported to Mr.. Miklejohn, acting secre-
tary. Thence Gen. Corbin escorted him
ard his aids to the White House. The
President was in his private Office in close
consultation with Senator Allison Senator
CulIom and Justice Harlan when the party
arrived.
Gen. Otis and Gen. Corbin were immedi-
ately ushered into the Presidents library,
where Mr.. Mckinley met him with the
utmost cordialty, congratulated him upon
his apparent good health and thanked
him several times for his signal services
TO the country"
Gen. Otis made no report to the Presi-
dent in detail, although the situation in
the Philippines in a general way was al
most the sole theme touched upon. After
few minutes the President invited Gen.
.n.l. IL
Senator's Allison and Cullom and Justice
Harlan, and for over half an hour Gen.
Gals remained talking over the situation
in the Philippines.
Organized Revolt Is Dead.
When Gen. Otis left the White House
he was naturally reticent concerning the
subject Of his interview with the Presi-
dent But he did not hesitate 20 reiter-
ate his statement. made repeatedly since
landing at San Francisco, that the Fill
pinos' rebellion. as an organized revolt,
was dead. He spoke of the insurgents
who still retained their arms as robbers"
and "guerillas"
When his attention was called to the
views of Judge Taft the president of the
Philippine Commission, in the Manila dis
patches printed this morning. he express
ed the opinion that they were satisfac-
tory. He said the United States would
be compelled to maintain in the Philip
pines for a considerable period as large
an army is there at present.
The army" said he, will be needed as
measure of repression until the rob-
bers and guerllas are stamped out. The
maintenance of this large force is neces-
sary, owing to the vast extent of terri
tory which we must cover. We have es-
tablisbed ourselves in Negros, Cebu, Sa
mar and many of the other islands, in
addition to Luzon. and are to-day actu-
ally exercising effective authority over
more territory than Spain ever did"
Gen. Otis said that practically all the
leaders of the insurrection were either
dead, captured or pacitied. The recent
capture of Gen. Pho del Pillar, he thought
had probably been effected with the con-
sent Of that general. So far as Agui-
naIdo himself was concerned. Gen. OILS
was not inclined to credit the report of
his death. In his opinion, it mattered lit
B. tie however. whether Aguinaldo was dead
r or alive, as his influence has been com
pletely destroyed
"AguinaIdo.' said he. lis probably in
hiding somewhere in the mountains Of
Northern Luzon but he carries little
more influence than any other individual
AT large He is discredted and is a
dead issue"
Tribute TO FilipinOs.
Cen Otis spent the afternoon at the
war. department in conference with the
heads of the various staff departments in
regard to the condition. and needs of their
departments in the Philippines.
He made one statement in particular
which came as a distinct surprise, in view
of the fact that he has spent year and
a half In fighting the Filipnos. for he de-
clared that these same Fidpinos We're
without question the very best of any of
the Asatic races living on the Pacific
coast and Islands. He paid O high trio-
ute TO their acquisitveness, saying that
Young and old were alike anxious to learn
from the Americans, and quick TO do 50
If given any opportunity. The demand
for schools on the American plan was
unsuitable. Il had not been possible to
secure q sufficient supply of Spanish
American text books the market having
been denuded Of them When the book
hungry Filipinos were told this, they beg
ged for American school books and de-
clared that their children could learn from
them even without the Spanish text and
TRANSACTIONS. Gen. Otis found to his as
constituent that such was the case. and
he says that in the course of a very few
months the Filipino children pick up
fair knowledge of English. Even che Oil
natives con the text books in
the effort to fix English phrases in their
minds. There was a dearth of teachers
too. Gen Otis often had recourse TO the
sol0iers in his ranks who knew a little
Spanish and 50 were suitable for detail
as teachers.
Gen Ctis said he locked upon this
educational movement as tho only solu-
ton OF the Philippine problem, aud was
confident that the spread of American
IDEAS through the Filipino schools would
IN the end make good citizens of the
Tiipsnos.
Save for a swarthy color, the evidence
Ct his long sojourn in the tropics Gen
otis. in personal appearance locked
very much as he did when he was last
IN Washington before the Spanish-Ameri-
can war. He emnha ticallv contradicted
ire cries that he had been IL VIII lie
in Manila. and declared that he was now
in psrfect health, a statement which was
borne out by his appearance
Gen. Otis left at II 80 O'Clock tonight
for West Point 10 attend the closing ex-
ercises Of the academy. He will return
here Wednesday night or Thursday morn
ing Thursday night Gen. Otis leaves for
Rochester where Ella borarte plans for his