The Lafayette gazette., 1902-02-01

osess ssa Saturday Of each month, At court
A0o0e. 10 .. N.
UNCLE san nv his NE n
ROLE.
People may call it .'benevolen
assimilation, ssmanifest destiny,
ssimperialism," or strenuous Amer
lcanism," but its does not mattel
what they choose to term it, thi.
country is cutting some very funny
capers in the Orient. A recen,
dispatch relative to the Philippine.
0aV0s
ssCen. J. Franklin Bell, commander oi
the forces in the province of Batangas, has
ordered >reconcentratioo camps established
inhabitanss are to be settled, for the double
purpose Of protecting them from insurgent
esoelty and preventing the evilly- disposed
from eranforming themselves from amigos
to bolomen aud vice versa, as the notion
serikes them.
ssFurthermore, he has commanded re-
lentless pursuit of the insurgents known to
be in the field, and directed that they shall
be dealt with according to order No. 100.
which Was conceived and enforced by the
Union authorities during the cival war in
This country. Under this order insurgents
will be treated as guerrillaS and outside the
pale Of civilized warfare, and subject to the
death penalty wherever they do not engage
Continuously in the war and observe all the
sules Of war. 1t is provided however, that
there shall be no executions without the ap-
proval of q superior officer.
SIT Is hoped by these means to break up
eolored natives have been playing with our
forces, making professions of friendship one
day and boloing our soldiers the next. And,
indeed. il appears to be the only effective
way o6 dealing with them.''
This reads in cold print like one of the
ordinary exactions of cruel war, but free
Americans a. thsy sit by their 6rsides with
the quietude and comforts of family and
home, can not measure the fathomless abyss
OF grief and sorrow, the wretchedness and
distress of the people of whole section of
country driven from their homes; the sick,
feeble. old and infirm; women and children,
all herded together and held-for whats
OF course no one will blame the
United States authorities for adopt
ing summary measures to put an
end to the guerrilla warfare in the
but many will question
the wisdom of the policy which led
70 the very embarrassing conditions
which now confront this republic.
Now that this government has
committed the folly of going
3eyond the seas to worship the false
zod of imperialism, and has gotten
tself into serious trouble, it Can not
l1tord to adopt half-hearted meas
ares. Conquering nations, like
who are in the bust
less for blood, do not, as rule,
'ecede without the spoils. No
loubt the news from Uncle Sans
colonies will crafty the vanity Of
hose American citizens whose
reads have been turned by the clap
rap about this country beng a
world power" Millions have al
eady been squandered and millions
ire being spent every day to prolong
his monumental farce. Prior to
he war with Spain the cruel
aethods employed by Weyler to
'ppress the Cubans aroused in the
reasts of the American people feel
ags of profound indignation.
rom the forum, the pulpit and
ress was heard in one acclaim a
>rrible arraignment of Spanish des-
otIsm, which, after all, was then
to do wnat we are trying
, do in the Philippines to-day
overn a people against its con-
mt. If the United States have
gal or moral right to kill a bolo-
ian because he refuses to swear
leeiance to American authority,
ID not Spain, for the same reasons,
I'VE the right to put the Cuban re-
'lutionist to death7 Spain claimed
'vereignty over Cuba because it
Id conquered the island and does
It this country's title to the Philip $
mes rest upon conquest But the 9
merican people appear to have 8
.come callous and a change has {
me over the spirit of their dreams. {
Ianish oppression In Cuba was
and Weyler vas stigma n
ed with the brand of butcher, but o
oppression in the Philip o
nes 10 described with the milder q
nFf2n of sshenevolAnf aeeimila a <;on ,, D