The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-06-04
ROOSEVELT AT ARLINGTON.
HE MAKES AN ATTACK
ON THE SOUTH.
Defends the Army in the Phil
ippines and Excuses the Cruel.
ties Practiced.

WIS h"ethSSus
Decoration Day was generally o
served in Washington, and the ia
that President Roosevelt delivered u
Grafton at Arlington drew vast col
course of people to that historic city
the dead. The ceremonies were elal
crate and imposing, and touchin
feature Of the work of decoration ws
the strewing of flowers over the grave
of the Confederate dead who lie burie
in section of the cemetery.
President Roosevelt was greeted wit
enthusiasm and his remarks were give
the closest attention. He spoke a
follows
These younger comrades of your
have fought under terrible dlfficultie
and have received terrible provocatiol
from very cruel and treacherous EN-
envy. Under the strain of these pro
vocations deeply deplore to say tha
some among them have so far forgot
ten themselves as to counsel and com
NIT, in retaliation, acts of cruelty
The fact that for every guilty act com
mitted by one of our troops hundred
acts of far greater atrocity have beer
committed by the hostile natives upon
our troops, or upon the r'a,,nl lie and
law-abiding natives who alc i,lrhdl,
to us, cannot be held to excuse any
wrong-doer on our side. Determined
and unswerviDg effort must be made
and is being made, to find out every
instance of barbarity on the part of
our troops, to punish those guilty of
it, and to take, if possible, even
stronger measures than have already
been taken TO minimize or prevent the
occurrence of al such instances in the
future. ..
Is it Only in the army of the Philip
pines that Americans sometimes do
acts that cause the rest of Americans
regret? (Cries of Oh! no, noD
From time to time there occur in
our country, to the deep and lasting
shame of our people, lynchings carried
on under circumstances of lnhuman
cruelty and barbarity--a cruelty in
finltely worse than any that has ever
been committed by our troops in The
Philippines; worse 10 the victims and
far more brutalizing to those guilty of
il. The men who fail to condemn
these lynchings, and yet clamor about
what has been done in the Philippines,
are indeed guilty of neglecting the
beam in their own eye while tauntiug
their brother about the mote in his.
Understand me. These lynchings af-
ford us no excuse for failure to stop
cruelty in the Philippines. Every ef-
fort is being made, and will be made,
to minimize the chances of cruelty oc-
curing.
But keep in mind that these cruelties
in the Philippines have been wholly
exceptional and have been shame
fully exaggerated. We deeply and
bitterly regret that any such crueltes
should have been committed, no mat
ter how rarely, no matter under what
provOcation, by American troops. But
they afford Tar less justification for q
general condemnation of our army than
these lynchings afford for the condem-
nation of the communities in which
they have taken place. In each case
it ls we'll TO condemn the deed, and it
is well also to refrain from including
both guilty and innocent in the same
sweeping condemnation.
In every community there are peo-
pie who commit acts of wen-nigh i'm
conceivable horror and baseness. If
we fix our eyes upon these individuals
and upon their acts, and if we forget
the far more numerous citizens of up
right and honest life and blind our
selves to their countless deeds of wis
dom and justice and philanthropy, it
is easy enough to condemn the COM
munity. There is not city in this
land which we could not thus con-
denim if we fixed our eyes purely
upon its police record anil refused to
look at what it had accomplished for
decency and justice and charity. Yet
this ls exactly the attitude which has
been taken by too many men with
reference TO our army in the Philip
pines; and it is an attitude both alb
surd and cruelty unjust.
The rules of warfare which have
been promulgated by the war depart
ment and accepted as the basis of con.
duct by our troops in the field are
the rules laid down by Abraham Lin.
coin when you, my hearers, were
fighting for the Union. These rules
provide, of course, for the just sever
ity necessary in war. The most dc
structive of all forms of cruelty would
be TO chow weakness where sternnes.
is demanded by iron neel. But al
cruelty is forbidden, and all harshnes
beyond what is called for by need
Our enemies in the Philippines hav,
not merely violated every rule of war
but have made of these violations thei
only methO,l of carrying on the war
We would have been justified by Alb
raham Lincoln's rules of war in in
finitely greater severity than has beer
shown. The fact really is that ou
warfare in the Philippines have beel
carried on with singular humanity
For every act of cruelty by our me-
there have been innumerable acts @
forbearance, magnanimity and genel
ous kindness. These are the qualitle
which have characterized the war as
whole. The cruelties have bee
wholly exceptional on our part.
1t is q good custom for our counti
TO have cei tain solemn holidays in con
mem0ration Of our greatest men an
of the greatest crises in our histor,
There should be but few such holiday
TO increase their number is to cheape
them. Washington and Lincoln I'll
man who did most 10 found the Unio
and the man who did most to preser,