The National tribune., 1902-08-07

ueaNy udHu. one never iet one Suiu tue
| headway acquired by Aguinaldo's move
ment under our hnlting and foolish policy
of doing nothing to make the filipinos
contented with American rule or to pre-
vent the inevitable consequences of dis
content. With less than half the number
of troops We now have in the islands she
maintained her authority, but she did it
by never letting il become seriously queS-
toned. Whenever an insurrection was
on foot she acted with vigor and cruelty.
Every person suspected of having deal
ings with it was ARRESTED summary and
thrown into prison. Men of property
were executed publicly in many cases and
their property lcontiscated, while numbers
of others Were shot without ceremony
within the prison walls.
There is a corner i'll Fort San Felipe,
in Cavite, where the wall is sprinkled
with Mauser bullet-holes, an execution
corner for insurgents. Bilibid Prison, so
l was assured, was another place of exc
cution, as we'll as of tortures too horrible
to write about. There are dungeons i'll
the massive granite walls of Fort San
tiagO, the corner of the great city wall
horde ring upon the river and the bay,
which are below the level of the river.
In one of these 80 men, political prison
ers, were suffocated one night because the
trap door was left closed, purposcly, so
the Filipnos believe. This place was
tiagO."
The same policy was pursued in the
country. Every suspect who could be
| captured was imprisoned, and many of
them were summarily executed. lnsur-
rections gained little headway under such
treatment, No army could be organized,
drilled and equipped, such as .Asuinaldo
was permitted to bring into existence TO
fight the Americans, and therefore the
Spanlards never were compelled to hight
an organized force, as were the Ameri-
cans. Yet the Americans have coniis-
Gated no mans property, have arrested
no man for mere sympathy with insur-
rection, have executed no person for trea-
son or rebellion, have pursued none of the
cruel and reprcssivc measures of SPAN.
Because of this leniency and liberal pol
icy the iIisurrection gained force and vol
ume and has lasted much longer time
than would have been the case under the
repressive policy put into execution for
Spain by the harsh and cruel PoivIeJa
but who shall say that the final result
Shall not be the better for it, and the
EilipinOs be made ut last to recognize the
difference between Spain and the United
States and realize what the latter will do
for them if they will but give her Il
chance and try the upward path pointed
out to them:
Two long rows of arc electric lights
border the Luneta and make it brilliant
after the darkness of the tropics has
settled down upon it. These lights we
used to watch night after night from our
quarters in Cavite before the surrender
and wonder what they were and when we
should have Il nearer view of them. In
former years the Luneta was evidently
lighted with fambcaux, for rows of iron
posts still border it, each post surnount-
ed by Il grated fire-bOx of iron.
In the rear of the Luneta was a large
open field, on which we did much of our
drilling in the early morning, and where
our extended lines learned to do the rush
ing which later enabled them to capture
the enemy's trenches so handily. Here
also were held the dress parades of the
various regiments, scarcely an afternoon
passing without one, witnessed by Il large
crowd of curious people. Then came the
concert on the Luneta, the regimental
bands taking 1urns i'll supplying the mu-
sic. There werei several good bands, the
one from Colorado being the best. Sev-
eral thousand people assembled to listen
to the music, whil. hundreds of victorias,
nilords, vis-a-vises, quileZes, carromatls
and other vehicles thronged the bOuie-
wards, driving in continuous procession
around from right to left. They have
there this English custom, as well as that
of turning On to the left in passing by
pedestrians, instead of the right, the lat
ter extremely awkward custom apparent
ly being confined to this country, where
we are wont TO boast of our intense prac-
ticability. 1t WAS said that the carriag ge
of the. Governor General was the only one
which was permitted 10 go inf the opposite
direction, and thus he passed in review
the entire thrOng of promenaders and was
enabled to see if any of the prominent
people of the city failed to come out to
what was practically the Governor Gener-
ais reception.
The Americans continued the rule of all
the carriages driving in the same direc-
tion to prevent cOngestiOn but they made
no exceptions, and the local police en-
forced it against Gen. Otis as freely as
against Il private who was squanderng
his money on n quicZ. 1t was some time
before the old custom was resumed by
the populace generally, and the Spaniarls
never came out as before but after Il few
weeks the foreign residents and the Mes
tiZOs again made their appearance ON the
I.uneta in their carriages, while American
ladies and officers supplied the place Of
the vanished Spaniards. American and
English ladies could be distinguished cas-
lily, not only by their costume. but by
their habit of wearing hats. the native
ladies going uncovered according to Gus
tom immem0rial Because of the common
costume and the extreme friendliness of
manner it was not always possible to dis
tinguish the rich MestiZo sonora from her
servant, and possibly some of the young
sprigs of officers who "made googOO eyes"
may have chosen the wrong objective at
times, but with no serious consequences,
l am led to believe.
To be cOntinued)