The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-27
THE PHILIPPINE SITUATION


Philippines paciffed as soon as possible
The people have decided to retain the
islands and there is nothing else to he
done. When the pacification has beer. ar
complished the next question will no
to establish a suitable form of vern
ment; and in that connection, the
G e has pointed cut. time and aga n,
that our colonies must receive practica ly
the same amount of liberty and self
government as we ourselves enjoy Some
other plan of government might serve.
or be necessary as a temporary expedi-
ent, looking towards something better,
but any colonial policy built upon other
than the indicated lines would be a libel
on our institutions and prove to be as
disastrous bone of contention as the
slavery question ever was.
However, the election being pas ell,
there can be now but little temptation
to d1stort matters one way or the othe..
Let the exact facts be known At the same
time, our Philippine policy will bsar
watching, 1t will be one of the main
issues in the next campaign. Thee will
be hard work to be done in the i-lands
| for years to come, even with all tie i'm
| provement that has been reported CT late
] That there has been some Improvement
is borne out by reliable testimony, though
it is still hard to tell the exact extent
of it.
A South Dakota paper publishes let
ter from Maj. ]. Q. A. B1aden, of Aber-
! deem, S. D., now major of the Thirty
sixth United States infantry at Manila,
fIom which the following interesting par
agrarhs are taken:
Sometimes I think our progress here
has been slow, but when l carefully con-
| slider what has been done in the past
year L realize that very much has iA>Uu
scc c4i1G a year ago the most
Angeles, about ten miles beyond San
| Fernando, where the South Dakota reg
iment turned back, and in the southern
a cannon shot beyond Manila and Cavite.
To-day more than 300 towns are occupied
by our troops, and there is no vestige
left of the so-called Filipino republic
1t is true that Aguinaldo still issues proc
| lamattOns, but SO thorough is our oCcupa-
ton that he does not give them a date
known. / imagine, however, he is in
the mountains between Manila and the
| Pacific ocean. In this part of the island
it is very quiet. We have little trouble
with the LaGrones, but not much. We
allow two soldiers to go between station
and station, and we have had no attack
for the past nine months. The Wo1k o1
our soldiers, however is not yet done
They are still needed to protect these
people from each other. Practically thes;
islands have been ir a state of Insured
ton since 1896.
E"The insure lection of that year hai
been nearly Quelled when the Spanish
American war occurred, and it broke on
with increased violence. During this pc
| Rod of four years of disorder and VIC
lence many feuds were engendered am
: natives have been and are now 'Settln:
even' with each other and avengins
real and supposed wrongs by robbery ar, arr
the army has to deal with, and w
: are gradually but surely solving it
After being established in pueblo 10
some time we became acquainted witt
the people, and they are learning t.
have confidence in US, and we are 81.
abled TO begin to distinguish betWeel
the good and the bad people, and haV
begun to have confidence in somc
.'This mutual confidence is continu
ally growing stronger as time passe'
You know I mad great confidence i
4 these islands by the Americans, an
added years of experience with ana ou
servation of these people only Confirm
0 the opinions and views 1 have so otte
= MY health continues good, I have be
come thoroughly acclimated, and mag
4 inc that when | get back to South la
kota and get taste of zero weather
will long for the halmy breezes of Lu
zon. l am well satisfied with the Wor
a I have to do and the climate, but woul
| Iike TO see home and friends once more.