The Minneapolis journal., 1902-04-22
THE DIFFERENCE CONDITIONS MAKE

army officers think the people in the
United States do not understand condl-
tions of warfare in the Philippines, I'M
plying that if they did there would not
be such a general condemnation OF severe
methods as is now to be heard on all
sides.
That is the defense that is always made
by soldiers and settlers who are harsh TO
native peoples. N 1t Is the tlme-honoreu
excuse for every injustice done on the
frontier to the American Indians. Every
time a person or paper in the east mas
criticized the conduct of cowboys and SOL
ders in killing Indians the answer mas
been that the critic did not understand
the conditions. .
Such an answer is an explanation, not
defense The conditions are different, but
they do not justify the crime, though
they may powerfully tend to make muir
derer of an ordinarily humane and tender
gentleman. Wherever the white races
have come into contact with the dark
races there have always been deeds that
shock the people at home, though the act
ual perpetrators Of these horrors defend
them. If our troops in the philippines
revenge outrage with outrage and deatn
with death they are doing only what has
been done on the American frontier
hundred times-if not by soldiers certain
ly by civilian and volunteer Indian fight
ers. The Seventh cRalry fourteen years
afterwards thought it was justified IN
"revenging" Clusters massacre by shoot
ing women and children in the fight at
Wounded Knee. When Colonel Chivlng-
ton and his regiment of Colorado volun-
teers killed $500 men, women and chill
dren at Cherry Creek they doubtless
thought that the peculiar conditions on
the frontier justified them in putting an
end to all friction with this particular
tribe. When the English bound Sepoys to
| cannon's mouths, in India they thought
thew we're justified. When Waller-shot
his treacherous scouts he thought he was
justified.
While it must be admitted that people
sitting quietly in their homes 5000 miles
| from the scene of war have no license to
make general criticisms, or attempt 10
say without full evidence whether par
ticular piece of severity was unjustltlable
and barbarous rather than warlike, it is
we'll known that the white man, sur
| rounded by foes and adverse physical
conditions in the distant tropics is apt
to decline in moral vigor and to replace
tenderness of feeling with callousnes
Far away from the scrutiny of all Off.
cials except those who take the same
view of conditions that he does, endowed
with absolute authority over his district
and in command Of soldiers who have
all of the white Americans CHARACTERISTIC
contempt for the black races, it is no
wonder that now and then an officer has
lapsed from the high standards required
of him.
The trial Of General Jacob H. Smith
will throw some interesting light on the
.peculiar conditions Of warfare in the
Philippines and how they affect officers
and soldiers. Here is a man known tc
be kind and tender hearted and consid-
crate. Yet he is charged with ordering
Major Waller to kill all hostile natives
over 10 years of age. II the charge Il
proved it will in turn give proof of the
moral deterioration that accompanie:
warfare in the Philippines. But while h
is on trial General Smith is entitled tt
the presumption of innocence, and hi
ready critics on this side Of the Pacifi
must remember that in the most civil
lied warfare spies and deserters ant
traitors are treated with scant consid
: Grafton and that the rule Of retaliation
, p
is not unknown or undefended.