Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1902-07-09


Z $ ::;:::: : Is =: !: go: !: :::: +: &: J:
N@TB1TFE missioned officers of the United
.A#NSMtsfL~ States Army have summarily order
5(RS2E ed the execution of natives without
6aGa9g trial; have ordered the torture of
others; and that these orders have
been unquestOningly Obeyed by nOncOms and pri-
vatesf" If so, how can it be eXplainedf How can
the average American citizen of education and en-
lightened civilization who, on the way to his office,
reads in creditable newspaper account OF these
atrocities committed by other American citizens OF
very possibly his own type and associations; how
this Well-Ordered well-reguated, modern mind
ed individual conceive such hOrrOrsf He cannot
For him to try to deduct from his observation
and experiences the psychic Teversion avatsm
by which, in a few weeks time, civilized individ-
ual can bark back to primitive state OF savagery,
would be as difficult as it would for him to follow
the chemical diathesis by which few minutes in
cineration of his physical self might cause it
to be resolved into it's original elements.
To presume that these reports OF atrocities are
wholly or partially untrue, would be to eliminate
the necessity of this argument for the sake Of
which we will grant the following:
ID That United States commissioned officers
have ordered the execution without trial OF natves
(2) that United States commissioned officers have
ordered the torture of natives; and (3) that these
orders have been carried out without protest, by
subordinate; ie, nOn-cOmmissioned officers and
private soldiers.
1t is easy to understand a mOnomania of blood
thirstiness existing in the individual the result
OF heat, fever, exposure, and other climatic cOndi
tiOns. History is full of such cases. The difficult
task for us is the conception of obedent fulfill
ment OF cruel and savage orders by exactly such
men see about us every day. II our troops
we're bound by such Intangible ties OF discipline
characterize the rank and file of certain continental
l.
mOsphere from infancy, and to whom the obedience
of an order is as much of an unconscious reflex as
the act OF closing the eyes at the report of gun,
the matter would be clearer.
This, however, is by no means the case The
average American soldier is a comparatively recent
production, and although in an allTOund military
capacity we refuse to admit the existence of his
periOr, it is true that blind implicit obedience to
orders is not his highest qualification. On Teceiv-
ing order his first instinct is to analyze its
son, not with any idea of questioning it, but in
der that he may carry it out with the greatest nd
vidual intelligence. He presuppOses that the order
is proper One but If by any chance it was not, he
would be very apt to discover the fact at once.
He is supposed to think. It is required of him.
The result is that where three orders would be nee
essary to obtain a certain result with platoon Of
Russia peasants, the American soldier would re-
guire but one; that suggesting to his mind the
other two. When he is advancing in open order
his own fight in his way that is, he is expected
to use his head We know of one regiment which
during its service in LuzOn, able TO take entire
charge of the repairing and turning Of the Manila
and Dagupan Railroad. In the ranks were to be
found experienced civil and mechanical engineers,
train-crews lnemen, telegraphic operators, train
dispatchers, switchmen; in fact, all Of the COM
pOnent parts of a complete railroad system. The
start of one OF these trains a for nostalgia.
The engine-driver is the customary blue jean over
alls and leather artisans cap would lean from the
window OF the dimnutive cab: the fireman would
loll back with the bell-rOpe in his hand, and some
wit from the ranks, who was playing the role of
conductor with 200 rounds swung from his waist
and revolver in the place of ticket punch, would
wave his arm and cry, 'All aboard for the North
ern Limited, stopping al MalOlOs and Calumpit,
junction of the railroad and the dirt rOadl"
When a man Of this sort is ordered to shoot at
some One he is apt to know that it is not a saluting
charged II he was ordered to shoot his brother, or
a 'bunkie" we fear that he would not act with the
lofty martial selfsacrce to duty chrOnoled in his
tory. The chances are that he would shoot high,
perhaps toss his piece into the cuprits hands with
an admonition to ''hike for the woOdsl"
A knowledge OF these conditions forces us to ad.
NIT that in the case of trialless, wholesale
tOn of which read, the orders to kill carried
out BY the men, not in blind obedience, but because
such orders seem to them good. The factor in the
production Of such state Of mind cannot be distin
guished at a range Of 1900 miles, An intelligent
comprehension Of them demands either personal
experience or an accurate reproduction. Reading in
his morning paper Of the torture and wholesale ex
termination OF helpless FilipinOs the average New
Yorker or Mssissippian thinks at once OF the Tom,
Dick, or Harry whom he happens to. know in the
Philippines, and is assured that if only all Of the
-