Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1902-06-14

Ken place. In each case It Is we'll 70 CON
eeLln the deed, and 1t is we'll also to refrain
from including both guilty and INNOCENT in
the same sweeping condemnation.
IN every community there are peopIa who
conlinlt acts OF Well-night inconceiyable hor-
Tor ana baseness. If we fix our ewes only
upon - stnese individuals and upon their acts
anu IL we forget the far more numerous cIti-
zens of upright and honest life and hind
ourselves to their countless deeds of wisdom
ana Justice and philanthropy. ii is easv
IL Oos TO TO- condemn the community. There
thus condemn If we fixed our ewes purely
upon Its police record and refused to look
at what 1t had accomplished for decency and
justice and charity
Yet this Is exactly the attitude which hoe
Deen taken by too many men with reference
TO our army In the Philippines and it is an
ATTITUDE both absurd and cruelty unjust
Plain Rules of War.
Inc rules OF warfare which have been pro-
nnutsateu Dy the War Department and ac-
cepted as the basis Of conduct by our troops
IN the neld are the rules laid down by Abra-
ndin Lincoln when you, my hearers. were
I ngeIhtlng for the Union. These rules pro-
VIDE, OF course, for the just severity neces-
sary in war. The most destructive Of all
forms OF cruelty would be to show
weakness where sternness Is demanded by
iron ire need. But all cruelty Is forbidden, and
need. ~
Our enemies in the Philippines have not
merely violated every rule of war, but have
OF carrying on the war We would have been
justified by Abraham Lincolns rules Of war
IN Infinitely greater severity than has been
SHOWN. Inc fact really Is that our warfare
IN the philippines has been carried on with
singular humanity. For every act of cruelty
by our men there have been innumerable
acts OF forbearance. magnanlmity and gen.
erous kindness. These are the qualities
which have characterized the war as a
whole. The cruelties have been wholly ex-
cepttonal on our part.
The guilty are to be punished, but in pun
ishing them let those who sit at ease at
home, who walk delicately and live In the
soft places Of the earth, remember also to do
them common justice. Let not the effortless
and the interrupted rail- Overmuch at strong
men who with blood and sweat face years
of toll and days and nights of agony, and at
need lay down their lives in remote tropic
jungles to bring the light of civilization into
the worlds dark places. The warfare that
has extended the boundaries of civilization
at the expense Of barbarism and savagery
mas been for centuries one Of the most pO-
tent factors In the progress of humanity.
Yet from Its very nature it has always and
everywhere been liable to dark abuses.
1t behooves us to keep q vigilant watch
who commit them, but If because Of them
we finch from finishing the task ON which
we have entered we show ourselves cravens
and weddings, unworthy Of the sires from
Recalls the Civil War.
There were abuses and to spare In the
Civil War. Your false friends then called
Grant butcher" and spoke of your who
are listening to me as mercenaries, as Lin
coins hirelings." Your open foes-as in the
resolution passed by the Confederate Con-
gress in October, 1862-accused you, at great
length, and with much particularly, of
"cOntemptuous disregard of the usages of
civilized war;" of subjectng women and
children to Punishment, Imprisonment and
death" of murder. Of 'rapine,' Of out;
RACES on women" of ''lawless cruelty Of
graceful to savages," and Abraham Lincoln
was singled out for especial attack because
of his spirit of barbarous ferocity.,
Verify, these men who thus foully SIAN
dered you have their heirs to-day in those
who traduCe our armies in the Philippines,
who fix their eyes on individual deeds of
wrong keenly that at last they become
blind to the great work of peace and free
dom that has already been accomplished.
Peace and freedom-are there two better
objects for which a soldier can fght2 Well,
these are precisely the objects for which our
soldiers are fighting in the Philippines.
When there IS talk of the cruelties commit
ted in the Philippines, remember always
that by far the greater proportion of these
cruelties have been committed by the In
surgents against their own people-as we'll
as against our soldiers-and that not only
the surest, but the only effectual way of
stopping them Is by the progress of the
American arms.
The victories Of the American army have
been the really effective means of putting a
stop to cruelty in the Philippines. Wherever
these victories have been complete-and such
is now the case throughout the greater part
of the islands-all cruelties have ceased, and
the native Is secure in his life, his liberty
surrection still smolders there is always a
chance for cruelty to show itself.
Our soldiers conquer, and what Is the OBJ
ject for which they conquer? To establish
a military government? No The laws we
are now endeavoring to enact for the gov
eminent of the Philippines are to increase
expense of the military authorities, and to
render even more difficult than in the past
the chance of oppression.
Must Establish Peace.
The military power is used to secure
peace in order that it may itself be sup
planted by the civil government. The prog
ress of the American arms means the abo1-
ton Of cruelty, the bringing of peace and
the rule of law and order under the civil gov
eminent. Other nations have conquered to
create irresponsible military rule. We con-
Quer to bring just and responsible civil gov
eminent to the conquered
But our armies do more than bring peace,
do more than bring order. They bring free
dom. Remember always that the independ-
ence of q tribe or community may and
often does have nothing whatever to do with
the freedom of the individual IN that tribe
or community.
There are now in Asia and Africa scores
of deSpotic monarchies, each or winch is ln-
dependent, and in no one of which Is there
the slightest vestge of freedom for the indi-
yidual man. Scant indeed is the gain to man
kind from the independence" OF a blood
stained tyrant who rules over abject and
brutalized slaves. But great is the gain to
humanity which follows the steady though
slow Introduction of the orderly liberty, the
law abiding freedom of the individual, which
is the only sure foundation upon which ma
tional independence can be built.
Wherever in the Philippines the insurrec-
ton has been definitely and finally put down
there the individual Filipino already enjoys
such freedom, such personal liberty, under
our rule, as he could never even dream of
under the rule of an independent Aguin-
aldian oligarchy.
The slowly learned and difficult art OF
seIf-goyernment, an art which our people
have taught themselves by the labor OF
thousand years, cannot be grasped In day
by people only just emerging from con-
ditIons of life which our ancestors left be
hind them in the dim years before history
dawned We believe that we can readily
teach the people Of the Philippine Islands
not only how to enjoy but how to make make
good use of their freedom, and with their
growing knowledge their growth In self