The times., 1901-03-26
PACIFICATION IN A YEAR.
Gen. J. l.. CgtIin, Retired, Writes of
Conditions In the Philippines.

Adjutant General Corbin has received
| from Gen. j. J.. Catlin a retired army
officer now in Manila. an interesting let
! ter regarding conditions in the Philip
pines. General Catlin says:
| Nhlle as matter of course the col
| llsions between our forces ard the re-
! treating and disappearing bands of guer-
| rlila-insurrectos continue to be quite fire.
| quent II is also true that they were never
! so reientiessly and ceaselessly pursued as
during the last two months. Every volun-
teer regiment has seemed desirous of
placing to its credit additional honor and
fame before returning to the States, and
none has lost any opportunity to give
glorious account wherever possible, and
| hence the enemy has had no rest.
AND now with the positive knowledge
that the American people have at last
provided an army sufficiently large to
| confront any exigeney at home or abroad,
ana that 1t means unconditional surrender
or death TO every armed foe in the Phil
ippine Islands, j do not think it possible
that even any organized guerrilla war
fare will be carried on after the expra-
ton of another twelve months At any
rate it will be so insignificant that the
work of establishing a stable government
and introducing American schools and
American courts of justice, and giving
selr-soyernment to the extent that may
be found practicable will not be seriously
impeded"
General Catlin calls attention to the eff
tort or General Macarthur to bring about
peace and says: "The general proposes to
utlilze all the forces of civilization here
TO help solve the problem of government
in these islands. There is a Womens
Peace League in its incipient stage which
IS holding its first meeting now The OBJ
Ject of the society is to bring the influence
of the leading Filipino women of the ISL
ands to bear upon the leaders of the in
surrection to lay down their arms and
submit to the Government of the United
States"
General Catlin refers TO a report cur
rent in Manila that the Secretary Of War
contempiates visiting the islands and
adds that in his opinion it would be of
great service to the solution of the prob
lem in Manila. Regarding the Philippine
commission he calls attention to the ne
cessity for perfect accord and co-opera-
ton between the ''quasi-civil and the mil
itary branches of the government" and
declares that no advance can be made
by the civil commission until the way
has been cleared by the military branch
of the service and until assurance of that
fact is made to appear satisfactorily TO
the commission
This simple statement" he adds
shows the necessity for perfect agree
nent and understanding between the Gov
ernor General and the civil branch of the
military government and authority The
organization and growth of the Federal
party will be a great factor in the effort |
10 establish local and general government
for the Philippine Islands. native |
comes down from Martinique and reports |
that the people of the whole island are !
favorably considering the propositions of
the Federal party, and a day or two !
after ne is followed by Colonel CoIliss, /
of the Second Infantry. who corroborates /
him substantially in every respect. And I
so it goes from island to island and pro-
vince to province. The most remarkable !
part OF this federal movement is the !
judgment and discretion of the average (
native in being willing to eliminate the (
question of religion.
Il have had favorable opportunity to /
see the average Filipino at work in large
different departments of the navy yard
At Cavite, in which none but FihpinOs are
employed. save in one of the blacksmIth
shops, in which Chinese are employed
Nearly three thousand Filipinos are en-
oloyed in this yard in different capaci-
ies-some as laborers. but a great many
more in skilled employment, and l was
simply amazed at their ingenuity or
rather their inlitativeness.
Lieutenant Campbell, of the Thirtieth (
volunteers, informs me that in the car
md engine works great number of
Fiiipinos have been employed in recov-
sriHg great quantity of wrecked en-
zines (steam) and cars, destroyed by the |
Insurgents, and that they have shown
;reat recOnstructing ability in this line,
md will place ali the cars and engines in /
ull operation in short time to the ad-
'antage of the transport service through |
,ut the island
In closing General CatIin says: Il have
cen and talked with at least a hundred
'fficers of the army, regular and volun-
eer, and | am proud to state that I'm
carcely an instance have l heard any
entiment of dissatisfaction expressed