The Tucson citizen., 1902-05-30

carrying 10 completion a small but Pc
culiarly trying and difficult war In
which Is involved not only the honor
of the flag but the triumph Of civili-
cation over forces which stand for the
back chaos OF sayagery and barbar-
ism The task has not been as diff
cult and important as yours, but, oh
my comrades, the men In the uniform
OF the United States, who have for the
last t,ite years patiently nnd uncom
piainingly championing the American
cause in the Philippine Islands are
your younger brohers. your sons. They
have shown themselves not unworthy
OF you. and they are entitled to he sup
port OF all men who are proud OF what
YOU did.
These younger comra,lvs of yours
have fought under terrible difficultie3
and have received Terrible prov ocation
from a very cruel and very treaeherous
enemy. Under the strain Of these pro
vacations deeply deplore to say that
some among them have so far forgot
ten themselves as TO counsel and COM
NIT, In retaliation acts of cruelty. The
fact that for every guilty act commit
ted by one OF our troops n hundred
acts of far greater atrocity Lave been
committed by the hostile natives upon
our troops. or upon the peaceahie and
/ law abiding natives who are friendly
/ To- MS. can not be held to excuse any
wrongdoer on our side. Determined
+ and unswersinR effort must he made,
and Is being made, TO find out every In
stance OF barbarity on the part of our
troops to punish those guilty OF IT.,
and 10 take, II possible. even stronger
measures than have already been TAX
en- to minimize or prevent The occur
renee of all such instances in the fu-
ture.
From time TO time there occur In
our country. TO the deep and lasting
shame of our people. lynchinEs carried
on under circumstances IT inhnrlan
cruelty and harbarity-a cruelty Inn
nilcly worse than any that has ever
! / zen t'otarnitted b. any of our uonps
In the Philippines: worse to
the victims and worse to those
guilty OF II. The men who fail
! TO condemn these lynchings. and yet
clamor about what has been done in
the PHILIPPINES, are indeed guilty OF
reglecting the beam In their own eye
while taunting their brother about the
mote In his Understand me. These
llynchings afford us no excuse for fall
ure to stop cruelty In the PHILIPPINES,
Every offort Is being made, and VIII
be made. to minimize the chances OF
cruelty occurring.
But keep In mind that these cruel
;les In the Philippines have been wholly
exceptional, and have been shameless
" exaggerated, We deeply AMI Bit
terly regret that any such crueities
should have been committed, no mat
ter how rarely, no matter under what
proyocatlon, by American troops
But they afford far less justification
70. a general condemnation or our
army thar these lynchings afford Tor
The condemnation of the communities
in which they have taken place, IN
zach case II IL well to condemn the
deed, and 1t is we'll also to reirain
from including both guilty ana lnho-
cent In the same sweeping eondemna-
ton
In every community there are people
who commit acts Of weli-nlgh ihcoh'
ceIyable horror and baseness. Ii we IN
our eyes only upon these individuals
and upon their acts. and II we forge'
the for more numerous citizens OF up
right and honest life and blind our
selves to their countless deeds OF WIS
dom and Justice and philanthropy, Il
, IS easy enough to condemn the com
munity. There Is not a city In thl'
, land which we could not thus con
denim If we fixed our eyes purely upo,
, ,ts poiice record and refused to 1901
at what 1t had accomplished for de
: censy and justice and charity. fe
? this Is exactly the attitude when ma
been taken by too many men with rel
erenre to our army in the Philippines
: and II is an attitude both absurd ant
} cruelty unjust. Aoo,
The rules of warfare which have bee'
4 promulgated by the War Department
. and accepted as the basis or cohaue
a NV our troops In the field are the RUE
r laid down by Abraham Lincoln whe'
h Won nv hearers, were fighting FOR IN
4 Irnion These rules provide, OF course
p for the lust severity necessary IN wal
i Tho most destructive of all forms Q
A crneltv would be to show weakness
n,horo sternness is demanded by lro
need But all cruelty IS forbidden an
q ali harshness beyond what Is caiie
> for Inv need. Our enemies In the fhl
!, ;ninoS have not merely violated ever