Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1902-05-15
CONC E N TRATION
DENOUNCED AS TO CUBA. UP.
HELD IN THE PHILIPPINES,
The Spanish Policy Of Concentration was De-
nounced as Brutal in Cuba by President
Mckinley, Yet the Administration Adopts
It in the Philippines. Modified Titles do
Not Alter Methods.

Not Alter Methods.
| A Washington dispatch to the Kansas
City Journal says that General John E..
Wetson has received an interesting letter
from Major Woodruff, dated in the
Philippines, March 18th. In this letter,
referring to the concentration camps,
Mr.. Woodruff says: Tnstead of being
called camps of concentration, the pro-
per name would be camps of instruction
and sanitation. really think, outside
of the military standpoint, the natives
will be decidedly improved by virtue of
having lived in these we'll regulated
camps of instruction and sanitation"
1t is the characteristic of the republic
can policy Of today that modified titles
be applied to obnoxious methods. GA
rose by any other name would smell as
sweet" and the objections to these con-
centration camps are not removed when
thev are called "camps of instruction
and sanitation"
| We have very high authority on this
point. In a message to congress under
date of December 6, 1897, President Nc.
Kinley said:
The cruel policy of concentration was
initiated February 16, 1896. The pro-
ductive districts controlled by the Span
ish army were depopulated. The agri-
cultural inhabitants were herded in and
about the garrison towns, their lands
laid waste, and their dwellings destroy
ed. This policy the late cabinet of Spain
justified as necessary measure of war
and as means Of cutting off supplies
from the insurgents. 1t has utterely
failed as war measure. 1t was not
civilized warfare. 1t was determination
Against this abuse of the rights of war
have felt constrained on repeated &C.
casions to enter the firm and earnest
protest of this government.
1t must be humiliating to every Ameri-
can citizen that "the cruel policy" adj
opted by the Spaniards, the policy which
with Spain utterly failed as war
measure" the policy that was "not civ
ilized warfare" the policy which Mr..
Mckinley branded as determination, :"
the policy, indeed, to which Mr.. McKin.
ley referred as "this abuse of the rights
Of war;" and concerning which he said !:
81 have felt constrained ON repeated
occasions to enter the firm and earnest
protest OF this government"-it is humi-
lating to think that this same policy has
been adopted by the United States of
| America
In message to congress under date
of April IL, 1898, MIR. Mckinley pointed
out that Spain had referred to these con-
centration camps as "zones of cultiva-
tion," but referring to these "zones of
cultivation" Mr.. Mckinley said:
''The unfortunates, being for the most
part women and children, with aged and
helpless men, enfeebled by disease and
hunger, could not have titled the soil
without tools, seed, or shelter for their
own support or for the supply of the citi-
zens. Recommendation, adopted avow-
eddy as war measure in order to cut off
the resources Of the insurgents, worked
its predestined result. As said in my
message of last December, it was not
civilized warfare, it was determination.
The only peace it could beget was that of
the wilderness and the grave"
So it will be seen that while we have
adopted for these concentration camps
in the Philippines the more agreeable
name of "camps of instruction and sani-
tatio-," the Spaniards also adopted the
But Mr.. Mckinley, realizing that the
change in the name did not involve a
change in the methods, nor lessen the
cruelties of the policy adopted, insisted
that such methods were not civilized
warfare, but rather came under the de-
signation OF determination, and, re-
fering to these zones of cultivation"
Mr.. Mckinley said, "The only peace it
could beget was that OF the wilderness
and the grave"
And SO it may be said of this same
policy even though it be adopted by the
United States of America. The only peace
it can beget is that of the wilderness and
the grave, and it is Of no moment that
the authorities seek to designate that
policy by a more agreeable name in spite
of all they do and say "the only peace it
will beget is that of the wilderness and
the grave.