The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-28

ter cure" met with an indignant denial One general, recently promoted for the capture or killing of those whose bread and salt he. starving. had just begged ! for and eaten. even went to the length of recording his belief that in no case had the water cure" ever been admin ; istered by an American. When the actual notoriety of the practice thus deemed was proven, evidence of utter demoralization is found in the testi- mony given before sympathetic courts martials by officers, apparently inclined to be humorous, to the effect that, be- fore administering to others torture not unknown to those familiar with the processes of the mediaeval inquisition. they had first had it tried on them selves. As SC applied. they had found it productive of no injurious effects; in certain cases even, they alleged. it had proved most beneficial to the health. With state of demoralizatiOn such as evidence of this character implies in both witness and tribunal, it is not easy to deal either seriously or with pa tience The impudence of the mockery is manifest.
 "IEHTe, III UlHeT CdSeS, lIluuIIy IG- vealed the systematic use of torture by subordinates, the officer in responsible command is pronounced free from blame on the ground that his praise worthy absorption in other duties of his position was so complete that such trivial incidents failed to attract his notice. Such finding is certainly sug- gestive; it is also reminiscent of Drey- fus incidents; but, in France, as here, "the honor of the army was alleged to be assailed. Much, indeed, has in these connections been heard of the "honor of the army" French and American. the good name of the United States the godo name of the United States now. as of France then. is also entitled to some degree of considera tion? Of the national conscience in either case We do not speok.
 Finally, every severity known to a state of war-practices which have ex- cited the special reproduction of the American people when reported as fea- lures of the possibilities in Cuba under the Spanish regime, or in South Africa during the Boer war-have been of un-
 
 Philippines. From the early beginning of operations there it has been the gen. eral practice, if not actually the order, to kill those wounded in conflict; and, in this matter the depth of the general demoralization reached can perhaps best be studied in the statement of an officer high in command, when con- fronted with statistics undeniably showing that the killed of the enemy in all engagements with us largely out numbered the wounded and the prison CTS combined, that this unprecedented result-admitting of but one explana- tion-was due to the fact that our sol diers were so trained as narksmen that they almost invariably struck vital points; and, moreover, that the Filipi- nos, even in panic flight, made prac- tice of carrying off their wounded with them. Such evidence. gravely given, is not only proof conclusive of utter mili tary demoralization but, we submit, it is with difficulty distinguished from what is usually known as audacious mendacity.
 In like manner as respects concentra- ton camps. These, as a feature in re- cent Spanish and South American ope- rations, excited in us as a people the deepest indignation, combined with the most profound sympathy for those thus unmercifully dealt with. When resort ed to by our officials in the Philippines. these camps are represented as spe- cies of recreation grounds, into which the inhabitants of large districts re- joiced to be drawn. and from which they departed with sorrow. Reports to which we can, on the other hand, refer in a responsible army journal, give of them accounts not essentially different from the accounts received of similar camps established elsewhere. By one army officer they have been likened to suburbs of he'll" Meanwhile, the most persistent effort on our part as a committee has failed to bring to light any statistics of disease or mortality in those camps. The published statistics relating to the British camps in South Africa of a similar nature were, on the contrary. precise and periodical. Such being the case, the reports of our medi- cal inspectors on the concentration camps in the Philippines are contrary to reason and opposed to all human ex- perience. As such, we hold them to be little less than an insult to the intelli- gence of those to whom they were ad- dressed.
 In the course of a communication ad- dressed to the chairman of the senate committee on the Philippines, on the 14th of February, the secretary of war, the Hon. Elihu Root, took occasion to express himself as follows: "The war in the Philippines has been conducted by the American army with scrupulous regard for the rules of civilized war fare, with careful and genuine consid- eration for the prisoner and the non- combatant, with self-restraint, and with humanity never surpassed, if ever equalled, in any conflict. worthy only of praise, and reflecting credit upon the American people,"
 These words of sweeping commenda- tion and unqualified indorsement were written by the honorable secretary when all the essential facts since brought to light were within his official cognizance. You have given public as-