The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-08-01
Az OPEN LETTER TO ROOSEVELT

The anti-imperlalists held a meeting
in New York last spring and appointed
a committee to investigate conditions
in the Philippines. That committee at
a meeting held at Lake George, ". Y,
a day or two g drew UP an open let
ter to President Roosevelt on the SUBJ
ject they had under investigation, this
action resulting fIom the presidents
recent review Of the findings Of the
ccurt-martial &c General Jacob II.
Smith. This letter is signed by Charles
Francis Adams, chairman of the COM
mFttee; Carl Schurz, Edwin Burritt
smith, Moorefeld Story and Herbert
Welsh.
The letter. while expressing gratifica-
ton at the lofty lever reached by the
president, goes Oh to say hat his re-
view will, provided it be followed by
corresponding general action do much,
in their opinion, toward the re-estab-
lishment OF the national prestige and
the restoration OF the morale of the
army.
n committee tell the president:
Especially op~pOrtune. in our judg-
ment, is our very commendable re-
hinder TO officers in high and response
bic positions hat in a warfare with
national dependents, such as that re-
Gently waged by US in the east, it be-
hOoves all such officers to be peculiar
~ careful in their bearing and conduct,
so as TO keep a moral check over any
acts of an improper character by their
subordinates.' The level here reached
is lofty n in healthy contrast with
that spirit far too prevalent, which
seeks excuse if not justification for the
excuses of the present in every in
stance of inhumanity which can pos
sibly be eXhumed. either from colonial
history or from the regrettable records
of our Indian warfare"
The committee tell the president that
their investigation forces the c~onclus-
ion that the Generalization of the Off
GERS and soldiers in the. Philippines
was more general and more pro-
nounced than might be inferred from
his review of the court-martial. They
declare hat the official investigation
should not stop, that there are other
guilty ones besides General Smith and
Major Waller. nor should they suffice
in the character of s~capegoats.
on the subject of partial investiga-
tions and the suppression OF Informal
ton the letter says:
'In your review of July 14th, you
say that these cases were exceptional.
Your means of information on this
point should unquestionably be in
Enifn1Nr hnf4nr tLA4 nrYr- Me- -rr1;IA
=, g always to De borne in mind hat
ore side only of this painful story has
bee1 heard and that side only in part.
The testimony Of representative Fill
pinOs has been jealousy and system
atically suppressed. Judicial and inn
partial examination on the spot has
been denied or pronounced impracti-
cable. In the present case, occasional
1y and by -ccident merely, have frag-
ments of Information come to general
neutrality-suspicious. g1impses only have
been permitted to reach the public eye.
To our minds they indicate unmistak-
ably a condition of great and general
Generalization. OF this, the findings
OF the court-maTtial referred to afford
conclusive evidence, as also do the pub
Iished orders of commanding officers
and the reports of provincial govern
ors."
The letter goes on to charge that
all the seventies known TO the state
of Wharf.-The practices which excited the
indignation of the American people
during the Spanish regime in Cuba and
in the South African war-have been
of u~ndisputed and frequent occurrence
in the Philippines; that there has been
the practice, if not contained in writ
ten orders. to kill those wounded in
battle. The horrors of the concentra-
tion camps. an idea borrowed from the
Spaniards in Cuba, come in for
denunciation. n the false official re-
ports as to the conditions of these
camps are commented on.
The secretary of war is then criti-
cised in h following:
ION February 14th. in which Mr..
Root aid in a communication to the
senate: The war in the Philippines
has been conducted by the American
army with ~scrupulous regard for the
rules Of civilized warfare. with careful
and genuine consideration for the pris-
oner n the non-combatant, with self
restraint and with humanity never sur
passed, never equalled in any conflict
worthy Of our praise and rejecting
credit upon the American eople.
1.-THE Words continues the letter, ''of
sweeping communication and nQuali
fed endorsement were written by the
honorable secretary when all the es-
sential facts since brought to light
were within his official c~ognizance-
You hav given public assurance that
the secretary is more DESTROYS than
yourself even, if possible, to probe to
the bottom every responsible allegation
Of outrage to the end that nothing be
concealed, and no man for any reason
be favored or shielded. The draft on
our credulity thus presented is large,
but We accept you assurances. Mean
while, permit us to point that such
very sweeping and somewhat uncalled-
for commentator and approval, so far
as we are advised, altogether unprec-
edented in character, coming directly,
and in the midst of active operations
from the fountain head of military au-
thority, is scarcely calculated to keep
a moral check over acts of an improper
character by subordinates."
The letter, while containing some