The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-04-26

7
Major Walters record is magnificent.
During the last twenty years no man has
reflected higher credit upon the United
States Marine corps than: he. He has al
ways had the good fortune, to be where
things were happening, and, once there,
he has always got to the 'front.'. He won
his spurs in. Egypt, when with handful
of men, he cleared burning Alexandra of
the remnant OF Arab Pashas dissolving
army. He led the marines on. the march
to .Peking a colonel's command, with such
distinction that he was brevetted a lieu
tenant colonel in lieu of the solid rewards
which his comrades of other Municipalities
obtained but which we do not glye.
General Smiths record is: equally ex.
,cellent. A volunteer from Illinois during
the civil war; he was retained in the reg
ular establishment for meritorious SER
vice. During the Santiago campaign he
commanded a battalion of the Second in
fantry. On San Juan Hill he was shot
through the chest, wound which would
have disabled most men for the war.
Smith declared that, while it hindered him
a little, it was not sufficient to separate
him from his command, and the First
aid bandage was all the attention his
wound received until the Spaniards hoist
ed the white flag. The division command
err General Kent, who had ordered Major
Smith to the rear several times, acqui-
esced In his disobedience when Smith
made his explanations: Il couldn't leave
them, general; you see how it was..setThey
unloaded a hundred and fifty recruits on
me in Tampa and I wasn't Ssure-but
they all veterans now
His weakness, If he has any, has always
been picturesque extravagance of Ian
guage and a beWildering flow Of words
which have earned for him In the army
to distinguish him from the others
Smiths, his sobriquet of Hell roaring
Jake"
In the Philippines his success and adj
vancement have been phenomenal He was
the. right hand man at the front of Mac
Arthur and Wheaton. When Aguinaldo's
forces. ceased to exist as an army he was
given the command of Pangasinan, then
regarded, and justly, as the most dis
affected province in Luzon. When Smith
was relieved and sent. to. Samar, 1T was
the most tranquil and his success here
indicated his selection for the tremen-
dous task in that island. OF course, he
was not very popular among. the half
educated half-bree who fawn' around, the
average civil governor, wheeling we'll
paid positions out Of him, the salaries Of
which they, divide with. the revolutionary
treasury. He was hated, by the men in
side our; lines who sustain the insurrec-
ton while they furnish his excellency the
civil governor with the material Of the
pipe dreams upon which he plumes him
self as a great pacffieator, which are so
plausible that he sometimes believes
everything would be lovely If only the sol
diers (who are keeping his throat from
being cut could be removed 1890
"A Savage General Order, .as..
General Order 100, - was the answer
when T asked General Smith how he had
succeeded. "And I enforced it to the let
ter: Or course ! understand why the in
surgents hate me. 1t is because L, have
knocked them out If that order had been
uniformly enforced throughout Luzon
there would not even be the ghost Of a
rebellion to-day. Inhuman? / think
not. II 1T was not too severe for our own
people at home during the civil war 1t is
not too severe for these Malays.''
These lines are not Written in defense OF
what, has happened, but in explanation
Major Walters point was we'll taken, and
every conscientious, truth-telling officer
will bear out his statement that the fight
Ing in southern Samar after the Balan-
gigan massacre was not, what goes by the
name of civilized warfare. twas simply
the slaughter and extermination, when
ever the opportunity presented, OF those
on both sides who were capable of bearing
arms, and venture to say that similar
conditions have produced like results
everywhere, even upon the humane and
self-restrained American soldier, whose
behavior during the China campaign was
our pride the and admiration Of all for
e1gners. / shall make no compart-
son between what has happened in
sanar and our recent Indian wars,
though the comparison would be
an apt one, the savage of Samar
1oo. 80 ftr3I ,{cr, tnf hn
truculent Sioux than any sfoeman the
American soldier has met with during
this century; but let us see what occurred,
what revenge was taken, after the
slaughter OF Americansi in the Alambo. And
vet 1t is clear as, day that the killing of
Travis, Crockett, Bowie and their gallant
comrades were not half as reprehensible
under the laws of war as was the butchery
at Balangiga.
Santa Anna made his~attack in the open
day with mis-; uniformed soldiers in their
oyerpoWering numbers, aftersseyeral sum
monses to surrender had been. declined.
In the last minutes Of the gallant de-
fence, when our people were scattered in
|l1tle lunches about the great Enclosure
7 they were too few to defend. each man
fought with desperation, not only fol, his
| own life, but because the position he had
been ordered to defend was Indispensable
to the common good, and as no one sur
vived it is quite possible, as Santa Anna
always maintained, that he quarter which
he offered was refused. ,Davy Crockett
was too old to learn how to surrender.
Here we have the killing OF 5fghting men
with deadly rifles in their hands, with
which they had already slain that day
three times their number, and in the. heat
as hard for the Mexicans to offer quar-
l. far 40 would ha va haorts fer f1o Aneri-