The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-21

! NNlIltts IS d B1Gdl duN et DiCSSAi'
 to the people. It is curious thing tha
 the people who come to us from the in
 land towns where they have seen Il
 Americans except the soldiers and tn
 soldiers at their Worst-that these poo
 people have such favorable ideas to
 ward the Americans. Yet this has beel
 the case, though they have suffered
 much at the hands of the soldiers
 While l can join with Christian Ameri
 ca in condemning the lust and drunk
 enness of the American army, anc
 while l must always plead with God tt
 stay the terrible forces of sin that are making ravage in their ranks. l must
 with all my might protest against the | extreme and inconsiderate condemna-
 ton the army has received ard is re-
 ceiving in a large percentage ot the l press in America.
 | When the islands are thoroughly pa | cified, and it is wise for them to do so,
 it will be best for the army to retire. ] It is an instrument of war, to be em- | ployed only when the needs are grave | In the meantime, the Christian attitude
 of those at home should in all fairness | be less of censure, and more ana more of faithful prayer and Christian sympa- l thy for the military powers Tn these lsl- | ands. No other nation has so clean and so moral an army. No other nation, eX- | cepting England. has an army that the | Filipinos could afford to have supplant our army here. And the best of the Filipinos are waking up to this fact and | acting like men. One of the leading
 men in Jaro, full -blooded Visayan, told
 me in all sincerity that he had been inn pressed with two things in the Amerl- can soldiers that had much to do With
 changing his thinking and attitude to-
 ward America. First that the soldiers, as they met Filipino cart or vehicle in
 the road always gave half the road,
 even doing the same with poor peas-
 ant, and that the like of that had was
 never seen on the part of soldier,
 either native or Spanish before the
 Americans came. The other fact that
 he considered as of greatest import IS
 that all Americans soldiers, otfi-
 cers, civilians, always speak
 ippnes are undergoing as misfortune,
 or Spanish before the Americans came
 The other fact that he considered as Of greatest import, civilians, always speak of the war and the hard times the Phil
 ippines are undergoing as misfortune; and that he has not yet seen any
 American gloat over the disasters the Filipnos are meeting as they are learn ing hard lessons and passing through the trying time of transition. That is the testimony from the heart of an hon. est Filipino who was bitter hater of all that is American until recently. Despite all that may be said against the cruelties and abuses of the war ours is, after all, the more humane way to deal with the problem. If the native forces are allowed their right of way, the poor people are forced into insurrec- to ranks or butchered; they must sup port the insurrection with money and supplies, and then be treated as slaves for their pay. Eternal slavery is the re- suit of ultimate insurrecto victory, Most of the peasants know this only too well, and pray for our speedy coming and quick victory.
 In some half-lights the war may look can; but in the conditions that | are met here to prosecute this war is the most humane thing that can be done. Insurrection schemes have been | unearthed and quietly attended to be- | fore they brought untold suffering upon i innocent people. Only in this way have | our men been able to deal with the | Katipunan movement and it's terrible | methods Gor a description of which | read Review of Reviews for November. | 1901, article by Captain John Fl Park er) Let us at least judge all this fair 1,- IntI et1 1nr of fn1y inc twice before we condemn.
 I have heard of natives being shot down without quarter, prisoners being bayoneted without mercy. Such things have happened. War is hell, and hu man passions are terrible when aroused and turned loose. But these are only phases of the war that are exceptional, scattered, incidental and inevitable to the conditions No other army, no oth- CT war in history has so clean a record as has our army in the Philippines. Oh, for the time to hurry up and come when the American people shall use their eyes and their reason, and be fair with the facts We are living in an actual world of cold, hard facts, in many cases ter rible facts. Our army, our government has been meeting these facts, and meet ing them as a Christian nation could best meet them. Some men and writ ars have tried to believe and tried to make others believe that we are living n the ideal world, and that this treat !. nent which meets the facts so ade- 1uately is bad policy because it does not accord well with their ideal world. We are in a world of cold, hard facts, md our army has been meeting such old, hard facts, and we may well be proud of them for so doing. Nothing is nore certain than that the verdict of history will be that one of the greatest ,vidences of the advance of true ideas if God and human worth were being ealized in the 18th century in the fact hat in the closing years of that cen ury a mighty nation interfered in Cuba md in the Philippines though it cost hem much trouble money and blood, nd freed two great masses of oppress- d people from worse than slavery. May Tod help us to realize this and appre- fate it in our own day. Nothing but he power of Almighty God could use : var and wicked armies to advance his j. urposes in the world. But God can do |. He can work with the famine, with he earthquake with the cataclysm of 'ar and carnage, because God is deal