Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-29
lNrL1MPERlALTsr oB1Rers.

The charges made against the army
by the committee OF anti-imperialists
cannot fail to attract general attention
and to revive public discussion Of a
subject which 1t had beer assumed was
disposed of. The citizens who make
the allegations are of high standing and
responsibility and 1t must be presumed
would not bring such serious accusa-
tions against the army in the Philip
pines except upon evidence which they
regard as ample. They say that there
has beer an extent Of Generalization in
the army which is not fully shown by
the investigation thus far and urge that
there should be a continuance Of the
inquiry into the conduct Of the Philip
pine military forces. They allege that
officers high in command are involved
and offer to hold themselves prepared
to s~ubstantiate any or all charges ad-
vanced should courts Of inquiry be or
dered. The letter to the president speci-
fes the crimes as to which the commit
tee states evidence can be produced.
1t is a. sweeping indictment which
these undergraduates submit and It
would seem that 1t must receive con
sideration from the authorities at Wash
ington. yet a majority Of the American
people will not accept this statement as
conclusive and believe that the Philip
pine army as a whole is chargeable
with the crimes alleged. 1t will still
be the opinion Of a large majority Of
our people that the president and secre-
tary of war did not misrepresent when
they declared that the cruelties and
other improper acts of American SOL
diers in the Philippines were excep-
tional and that the higher officers gen.
orally had so borne themselves as to
supply the necessary check over acts Of
an improper character by their subordi-
mates. Fair-minded men will hesitate
to think that President Roosevelt and
Secretary Root have had knowledge Of
such crimes as the anti-imperialists
charge and have ignored or winked at
them. They are certainly not the men
to do this. Neither is It easy to be-
lieve that Generals Macarthur and
Chaffee and the commanders Of divis-
ions generally have knowingly tolerated
such crimes. 1t is doubtless true that
some and perhaps all of the things al
legged have been done. There have been
more than lac, 900 soldiers In the Philip
pines and 1t would be marvellous II there
had beer none among them of brutal
and criminal instincts. The clrcum-
stances Of the service, as all reasonable
persons will understand, were such as
to stimulate such instincts. But the
number Of soldiers inclined to be brutal
and criminal constituted, there is no
doubt, a very small minority of the
army and we believe 1t to be a libel
upon the higher officers to intimate that
they had any sympathy with or showed
any federation Of the misdeeds Of this
element.
Whether or not the Washington
authorities will give attention to the
charges Of the anti-imperialist commit
tee remains to be seen, but we think II
would be unwise to ignore them. Let
these gentlemen be given an opportunity
to produce the facts and the evidence
which they claim to have and If the
crimes they charge "a be established
the guilty should be punished. That
seems to us to be the proper course and
we assume that it will be adopted.