Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-03-10
GEN. FRED FUNSTON
Tells Lotus Club About Military condi
tons in Philippines.

| New York, March 9.-Brigadier Gen
eral Frederick Funston was the guest
of honor ut a dinner Saturday night, at
the Lotus Club. Among those present
We're Capt. Charles d. Coghlan, U. S.
NJ; Rev. Minot J. Savage, and J. H.
| Garfield of Columbia University, who
taught q school in Kansas which Gen.
| Funston attended when a boy.
| Upon being introduced by the presi-
dent of the club, Gen. Funston said of
the military situation in the Philip
pines:
ITO talk about war over there is not
| an agreeable subject but what l say
| may aid some of you in forming opin-
| ions as to the condition of affairs in the
| islands. The army has been doing as
well as it could under the circum-
stances.
when Manila was surrendered to
| Dewey and Merritt, some thousands of
| Spaniards were in the city. In the eyes
| of the world these people looked to us
| for protection, and to have turned them
| over to the uncomfortable mob known
IS AguinaldO's army would have been
| the blacklist page of American history
| one that thousand years of repent
ance and restitution would not have
satisfied
Gen. Funston then mentioned sew
aral instances of personal bravery on
| the part of the men in the army, which
| resulted in their death. including those
of Capt. Godfrey and Sergt. O'Brien.
| He was present when Sergt. O'Brien
| was shot, and he said it was zone of
those wild moments that are worth 10
years of hum-drum existence" His
listeners cheered the remark. Then
Gen. Funston said:
''All of those men who have fallen
since December, 1900, have been vic
Tins of lot of misinformed and mis-
guided people here in the United States
1t Is perfectly proper for us to have all
sorts of opinions as to what we should
10 with the Philippine Islands, but for
heavens sake, let US keep them to our
selves until every square inch of that
territory recognizes the sovereignty of
he United States
Gen. Funston then gave many exam
| pies to show that the Filipino leaders
were not true patriots. He mentioned
me staying of Antonio Luna, who was
| ordered killed by Aguinaldo. Gen. Fun
ston said that Aguinaldo has told him
| in regard to Luna's death: II had him
| killed simply because he would have
been dictator, instead of myself
Would you lima CINE George Wash
ington doing anything like that?" asked
Gen. Funston.
The general said there was not one
| of the so-called Filipino patriots but
..f. 6 L.
| tried by jury. He declared that there
| had never been a war in the worlds
history wherein the soldiers had shown
| such humanity as had the American
| troops, in the Philippine Islands. He
| then told of "a American soldiers who
| joined the F'ilipinos and were afterward
captured and executed as traitors, and
added:
There are many men in the United
| States who did more with their mouths
| and minds to aid the insurgents than did
these poor men with the Krag-Jorgensen
| rifles. l would rather see these men
| hanged for treason than to see one of our
| soldiers dead on the field of battle
| The general then declared the Filipino;
| could not be classed with the CubanS,
| and that if the United States troops
| should now leave the Philippine Islands
| there would be nalf dozen different
| kinds of civil wars there. and the world
would hold the United States responsible
| for them.
| Gen. Funston told the story of the cap
| ture of Aguinaldo. He said he talked
| with Aguinaldo on their way back to Ma
| Mia on the warship VicksburS and that
| Aguinaldo told him that neither Dewey
| nor anyone else had promised him any
! thing, but that he and his people had
| faith in the Americans.
|