The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-15
PASSING
OFFICERS
Prominent Army
Men in the
City.
OPINIONS ON
PHILIPPINES
An Officer Describes Tragic Incl
dents on the March to the
Chinese Capital.

| Among the military on board the Blu
ford now in port, is Colonel Richmond,
| in command of the Forty-first Regi-
ment, which is returning to the Main
/ land He is veteran in the regular
army, having graduated from West
Point in 1867, and been in the service
ever since. He was interviewed last
night by representative of the Ad-
vertiser, and though very much ia
tigued from his long journey, very
| courteously talked of his experiences
and the situation in the Philippines.
IF you wish to hear real blood
curdling war stories, said he, you
must not come to me. I nave been in
the service for over thirty years, but
always arrived on the scene just too
| late for the war. In the first place,
| just after 1 graduated, l was ordered
! to Alaska, which had just been pur-
/ chased, and 1 got there just after the
/ trouble. 1 was sent to take possession.
! It was the same in Cuba; / was sent
there, but when L arrived the war was
all over, and l only had hand IN TAX
| ing possession. Now this Philippine
war comes along, and 1 thought it was
ally over when l got there. 1t was a
case of taking possession again
On being asked to hrs actual ex-
periences, however, the Colonel admit
ted that although he did not partlci-
pate in the thickest of the Philippine
/ fighting, his service there was not al
together devoid of adventure.
Our men," said he, had q, great
deal of what they called hiking to
do" said he that is, running across
country in pursuit Of thieves and law
breakers. 1t was very difficult TO keep
the country about us peaceful and to
quiet various disturbances, although
the actual rebellion had been quelled
in that part of the island. We We're
stationed in the province of Pampanga,
and our duty was to get that part Of
the country in such condition that civil
government might be instituted, and to
the Fortyfirst belongs the distinction
of having quoted the first Territory IN
the Philippines wherein civil govern
ment was established. 1t was just a
little over a year from the date of our
occupation of the place until we had it
in shape for the regular institution of
a government, and this was accom-
| pliShed before the same was done In
any other part of the Philippines
When we left the province was in
very promising condition. Perhaps It
might be interesting to people of the
outside world to know something OF
the system used. and the difficulties
met with in bringing about the estab
! liShment of government in our new
| POSSESSIONS
In managing the territory that my
regiment had in hand, l had to at all
times keen SharD lookout for thieves
and other lawbreallers, and to quelI
| any disturbances that arose: at the
same time schools had to be establish
| ed. To go about this l would detail
an officer to visit the parents of the
children of the better class. to talk
! to them and interest them in the ed
ucation of the little ones. The better
| class were not hard to appeal to IN
/ this regard, and under the direction Of
| the officer they would secure teachers,
native teachers if American teachers
/ could not be procured. The principal
| difficulty, however, in teaching, as in
everything else. was the lack OF any
means of communication; the better
educated Filipinos speak Spanish, but
| the middle and lower classes speak their
native dialects, the latter varying so
! that in a distance of twenty miles one
will find people who cannot understand
each other. In communicating with
| these middle class people I required
| two interpreters; / spoke to an Ameri-
can myself, and this American trans
! lated the message in Spanish 10 an
educated Filipino. the Filipino in turn
translating it, if he could, in Tagaluth,
or whatever dialect the native under
stood; then the answer to the question
would have to come back through
| those three persons again before reach
ing me, and by the time I received it
l. SO 49, To-
the answer to my question.
THE situation is much better now;
wherever the Americans have come in
contact with the Filipinos the latter
! have become Americanized to a re-
markable extent. The natives are nat
urally very bright and quick to learn,
and are far above the Cubans, as L OBJ
served them in my service in Cuba in
regard to intellectual qualities. 1t is
really marvellous to note the progress
| of these people within the past three
years. You see, ! went with the First
| Washingtons to Manila in 1898 as col
/ onel of the regiment and after years
service, returned with them and was
mustered out. Immediately afterward
l went to New York, and thence to
Camp Meade. Pa, where I organized
the Forty first Regiment. in August,
/ 1899. We Immediately left for Manila
going by way of the Suez Canal. Our
return now, by waysof San Francisco,
| will make a complete circle of the
globe. our regiment being the first to
do so. although there are several under
orders to do the same thing.
AS l was saying, the progress OF
the Filipinos in an educationar way IS
something remarkable 1t cannot def
nitely be estimated as to how long it
will be before civil government can be
established all over the group. That
| is matter of speculation only; 1t all
depends on the contact with Ameri-
cans. The Filipinos are very quick TO
adopt American ways. and where they
are associated with Americans they
| rapidly become AmericAniZed but
there are many localities very hard to
| reach. and it will probably be a long
time before these are influenced in the
least by the new conditions In the